Happy Christmas Eve to those of you who celebrate, and welcome to another Travel Tuesday! This was one of our last stops near Badlands National Park. We couldn’t leave without hanging out with some prairie dogs! We went to the Badlands Ranch Store (and also the Roberts Prairie Dog Town)!
Prairie Dogs at the Badlands Ranch Store
The Ranch Store of the Badlands (or Badlands Ranch Store) opened up in the 1950’s and has a ginormous 6-ton (yes, really) prairie dog statue chillin’ at the entrance (pictured above!).
It has some pretty unique/dedicated artwork too!
The Ranch Store has all kinds of different knick-knacks–t-shirts, locally made products, postcards, snacks and drinks. Its biggest attraction, however, is the fact that you can buy a bag of unsalted peanuts to go chill with/feed the prairie dog colony that lives next to the store!
Address: 21190 SD-240, Philip, SD 57567
Hours: 8am – 6pm MST (The Ranch Store is open from late May to mid-September!)
Jaclyn and I had a bunch of fun attempting to lure the prairie dogs over to come hang out with us. In the beginning, we had varying degrees of success but they eventually decided we weren’t dangerous individuals and that it’d be safe to spend some time sitting close to us.
They were so cute! <3
Before leaving, we decided to make one more stop over at Roberts Prairie Dog Town, which is located back in Badlands National Park. There are a couple prairie dog families there and you can see em’ popping up all over the field!
Address: Sage Creek Rim Road, Badlands National Park, SD
You can also see a whole ton of buffalo! (This reminds me of the song, Home on the Range…)
- Check out my other treks through Badlands National Park on the Notch Trail, Window Trail, Door Trail and Fossil Exhibit Trail!
- Have you ever seen a prairie dog (or a buffalo)?
- What are you doing for the holidays?
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Badlands National Park sounds like a lovely place to visit for wildlife and nature lovers. Prairie Dogs are adorable and so cute, it’s good you were able to see them up close.
It definitely was! It’d be cool to go back again someday! :]
Great post! This place looks awesome and I am definitely adding it to my travel list. :)
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Yay! I hope you get to go sometime!!
All those Prairie Dogs are so adorable!! Would love to visit Badlands national park one day to get to see them! :D
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It was awesome to get to see em’ up close! Hope you get to go visit sometime! :]
I LOVE the Badlands! I stopped here as well on my trip and it was so fun! You took some great pictures!
It was such an awesome national park! This was a really fun stop too! :]!
Awwww the Prairie Dogs are so flipping cute! I would love to spend some time chilling with them.
I have a genuine question (and I am not trying to be rude) but how does the leave no trace principle fit in with feeding them? Back home in the UK where I grew up, we were taught to feed birds, ducks and squirrels. Here in Canada I learned not to feed any wildlife as part of the leave no trace… but I wasn’t sure how it works in the States. You guys have larger predators like bears, so doesn’t that make it more like Canada, so we shouldn’t feed wildlife??
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It’s not a rude question at all! In general, it’s recommended not to feed the wildlife in the US (e.g. in national parks). It used to be okay, but not so much anymore). The ranch store isn’t part of the national park and the prairie dogs are kinda in the “backyard” of the store and have gotten super super used to people over the last several decades.
These prairie dogs are so darned cute. I have always wanted to go to badlands Park. We have small badlands in Ontario, but nothing like the US
I haven’t been to Canada in ages, but there are so many parks there that I’d love to explore! *-*
Such a fun post again! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for stopping by! :]!
Ok seriously, where do I get a prairie dog? lol. They are cute! What a great looking place
haha, aren’t they?! I’d never seen one in real life last summer!
Love prairie dogs!! See them a lot in Alberta and they are adorable :) Will have to go to badlands one day!
Aww, that’s so cool! I’d love to visit there someday! Still haven’t had a chance to yet!
Badlands looks like an amazing destination to visit. I love prairie dogs, they look quite cute. I will have to visit it one day.
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It’s a gorgeous park with so many pretty views! I hope you get to go sometime! :]
OMG how cute are those prairie dogs! Sounds like such a fun visit!
It was definitely fun! :]
Awww these prairie dogs are so cute!! Definitely have to visit them when I travel through SD 😍
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Aww, yay! I hope you have fun when/if you do! :]
Wow, I’ve never seen prairie dogs before, maybe in movies… had no idea that there are special parks for them, how cool! I should add this to my bucket list, thanks!
I hadn’t either til I came here! They happened to live next to this store (+ in the national park) so it was awesome getting to see em’ up close! :] I hope you have fun if you go visit someday!
I’ve always been interested in visiting the Badlands, but woah, those prairie dogs are so cute – the Badlands are now officially on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing!
hehe, yay! I didn’t expect to see em’ so close! Badlands is definitely worth a visit–I hope you have fun when you go! :]
This is cuteness overload! I’ve never seen prairie dogs in person, only through photos. I’ll definitely have to make a visit to the Badlands.
hehe, yay! This was the first time I’d ever seen em’ (I don’t know if I ever even saw them in photos before this[?])! I hope you get to go sometime! :]
Oh my gosh. I’m in love. Those Prairie Dogs are so cute. I hope one day to make it to the Badlands. Thank you for sharing.
I hope you get to go sometime! :] it’s such a beautiful park + the prairie dogs are absolutely adorable!
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