Cedar Pass is the park's service hub, with the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, exhibits, a theater, restrooms, picnic tables and a bottle-filling station. The center honors Ben Reifel, a Sičháŋǧu Lakota administrator from the Rosebud Reservation who served in Congress from 1961 to 1971 and was the sole American Indian there through the 1960s. It was the first Mission 66 visitor center completed in South Dakota. In summer the Fossil Preparation Lab lets visitors stand in the room while paleontologists work, a setup found at no other National Park Service lab. Its schedule is seasonal, so it is worth confirming before planning around it. Food at Cedar Pass Lodge is seasonal too. Anyone who finds a fossil anywhere in the park can report it at the desk.
The name on the visitor center is Ben Reifel, Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud, the first Lakota elected to Congress. If shutting the car off cuts me short, tap play. Fill your bottles here, because past Cedar Pass you can't count on water. Parked? His story starts on its own in a minute.
Photo: NPS, public domain · Public domain