The Badlands' limited trail system is not always enough to satisfy the more adventurous and ambitious hiker. Fortunately, the Park places few restrictions on cross-country travel. The 64,000 acre Sage Creek Wilderness Area is an exceptional choice for backcountry improvisation, as it encompasses some of the Badlands' most beautiful and diverse terrain and topography. The Deer Haven section of the Sage Creek Area is a great place to set up camp as it contains the highest concentration of trees in the park, and therefore, cover.

Erosion is an ever present force which is constantly sculpting the landscape

Deer Haven provides a unique experience for backpackers in the Badlands - Trees flourish in Deer Haven yet are conspiculously absent elsewhere in the park

Deer Haven, seen here from a distance, is a popular basecamp for those venturing into the Badlands backcountry

Morning fog envelops the tallest badlands in Deer Haven

Eerie lighting adds to the already surreal badlands formations

A groups of Big Horn Sheep take rest on badland formations near Deer Haven

Deer Haven provides access to the backcountry where the plains and badlands formations collide

Backcountry terrain in the Sage Creek Wilderness Area

Quickly eroding sod tables make their way back towards the colorful badland formations

Following a wash from the Deer Haven area will lead out into the vast backcountry

A well worn social trail leads around the badland formations and into Deer Haven

A storm moves in over Sage Creek