badlands petrified gardens

Worth the stop:) Nothing like i have ever seen and totally worth seeing. Fun for all ages.Cool little gift shop too! Don't miss it

this was something that I wanted to see as I love rocks. it was a very good stop, not very big but big enough. plus I got some stones to bring home for our garden and some for me to polish. can't wait to do that to make some jewelry. had some fossils too. good stop .

Great on a motorcycle But if not wearing a helmet remember sunscreen espically on your lips! Hot, wonderful great bike ride.

We had no idea what to expect and WOW! The Badlands are beautiful! Glad we did not skip this beauty of nature. We went hiking and had a blast! I would definitely recommend this!

This place is worth the $6. The items on display have been gathered by the owner and his family over the years and placed at this location - they were not found on this site. One has to look at the collections to be educated, not entertained. There are also fossils and various stones in addition to the petrified wood. The gift shop is actually pretty good, with many of the items for sale made by the owners. There is also an area outside where one can sort through piles of different types of stones and buy by the pound. Nothing glitzy going on here, just a basic education on a geological phenomenon from millions of years ago.

I found the self guiided tour nice. My family was able to go at their own pace. The sample sizes, or should I say piles, of rock outside were nice sized. You could touch the rocks, get close, and at the end you can buy rocks by the pound. I am glad I went, however once you have experienced it you have seen it all. The exhibits do not change over the years.

Lots of information about the rocks of the Badlands. Great display outside in the garden and in the museum inside. Very unique items in the gift shop. We were glad we found this place and stopped. It is an unusual place and very educational.

We stopped at the Badlands Petrified Gardens on our trip to the Badlands. Very unusual, with a old roadside attraction feel to it. Outside garden features a wide variety of petrified wood that can (mostly) be touched, climbed on, etc. The petrified wood is fascinating, especially some of the larger log and trunk samples.The gardens aren't fancy - it's really like someone's fenced backyard with 30 or so petrified rock displays put on the ground. If you are expecting something slick or glitzy, this isn't it! This attraction doesn't seems like it's had a lot of updating in the last 30 or so years. We enjoyed the experience.Be prepared if the day is hot; there's no shade or water fountains outside. Admission was less than $18 for our family of 5.One of the best parts of our visit was the 'rocks by the pound' area in the back garden. $2/lb, with a minimum $2 purchase. We know little to nothing about rocks but it didn't matter! We spent less than $8 and got a very fun selection, including some petrified wood, interesting 'mud' rock, rose quartz, and blue (?) quartz (?). The inside museum is tiny but very educational. Kids liked the the dinosaur tracks and other fossils. I liked it all! In particular, the ammonite display was beautiful. Gift shop was quite large. We spent another $20 or so and purchased an ammonite buffalo and several small rock samples. All in all, an enjoyable and quirky visit. We probably spent about 1 1/2 hrs here overall. The rocks we purchased are some of our favorite souvenirs of the trip. The older couple running the museum was very friendly to us and our kids.

As we first walked in and presented the coupon. The man wouldn't take the coupon and was a jerk. Sir, look in the traveler coupon book, you have the same coupon in there. The outside garden looks run down but the inside display was descent. Overall was a waste of money and could of skipped this unless your into geology.

Out of everything we did in South Dakota I have to say this was the best value. Be sure to get your coupons from there site and be prepared to buy some rocks as they sell them by the pound. I am not into rocks but I had to buy a couple of pounds of rocks there. I got some rose quartz that I saw at other rock shops later on for much more money than I spent here. They also have some bargains inside that I couldn't resist. The person working there was very friendly and told is a lot about places to do and see in South Dakota. This is a cheap place to take the family and get a nice memento of the badlands.

We visited in July for our second time. This is a great little museum to stop at. We visited a second time as our kids were young the first time we went and didn't remember, otherwise one stop will do here.Not only is it at a great location between visits to get out and stretch your legs there is a lot on neat things here.One hour is about all you need here. Very neat displays with a nice rock area to buy unfinished rocks at $2 a pound. There is also a gift shop qith lots of differents kids of polished rocks.Check in the local brochures and also on their website for a $1 off coupon.

My expectations, which were probably building because of all the billboards leading up to the Kadoka exit, may be a bit dashed a bit when we first approach the Badlands Petrified Gardens because the whole "garden" is completely surrounded by a tall wooden fence. No peeking! However, dollar-off coupon in hand, we went in ad paid our now $4 fee per person and were directed to the first display (indoors) -- naturally glowing (fluorescing) rocks. The outdoor garden is a self-guided tour. The kids ran from display to display, while the grown-ups made a more organized circular tour. Unlike a collection at a museum, you can actually get right up close to petrified logs and tree stumps, marveling at their colors and even touching their varied textures. We easily spent a half hour or 45 minutes out there reading and learning and marveling at what nature can do. (We arrived right after a rain. If you come on a dry day, ask if it is okay to bring a bottle of water and wet down some of the pieces -- their gorgeous colors, rings, and sparkles are greatly enhanced by a sprinkling of water.There are opportunities both inside and out to purchase interesting little treasures. Outside they literally sell rock "by the pound." I found a couple nice, small pieces that will soon be in my aquairum after I confirm they won't leach anything into the water. The tour ends inside with a marvelous collection of geodes, agates, and other natural and cut stones. The final stop is a rock-filled gift shop. Prices range from 40 cents for a rock specimin on a labeled card to many hundreds of dollars for more impressive pieces.There are no blinking lights, video screens, or smells from greasy food vendors here. That in itself may have been worth the cost of admission!

This is a family collected and owned exhibition – but what an exhibition!The grandfather of the current owner collected it from all around the badlands, in a time when fossils were not so rare as today. The petrified trees are really unbelievable, a very good and diverse collection that can compete with any leading natural history museum in the US and in the world (and we visited many of them along the years). So are also the other fossils, as well as the fluorescentic rocks. The shop is nice and prices are HALF and less comparing to most museum shops of minerals and fossils.Spend some more time in asking the owner about the history of the collection, it is very interesting (and not explained anywhere in the site).The inner exhibition is well air-conditioned but outside main exhibition is not and there is no shade, so try to avoid mid-day hours. In any case, it worth the 5$ per person! (If you’ve found this review helpful, you can let me and others know it by clicking the green Yes below)

La visite du musée vous donne le nom des cailloux que vous trouverez en promenade, en foret, a yellowstone ou ailleurs. Il y a un arbre petrifie gratuit a voir a yellowstone !