Established in 1978, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States National Park comprising three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. The park was named for U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who owned and worked for a few years on a ranch now preserved in the park. The park covers 110 square miles (285 km²) of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch.The park's larger South Unit lies alongside Interstate 94 near Medora, North Dakota. The smaller North Unit is situated about 80 mi (130 km) north of the South Unit, on U.S. Highway 85, just south of Watford City, North Dakota. Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch is located between the North and South units, approximately 20 mi (32 km) west of US 85 and Fairfield, North Dakota. The entire park is contained within the Little Missouri National Grassland, and the Little Missouri River flows through the park. The Maah Daah Hey Trail connects all three units.
Trails
Summary
Difficulty
Distance
White Butte - North Dakota's Highpoint
For those state peak baggers out there... here's a short fun one!
For those state peak baggers out there... here's a short fun one!
Easy
1.3 mi/
2.1 km
2.1 km
Guides
For those state peak baggers out there... here's a short fun one!
Community Trips
This was my first backroad tour of the North Dakota Badlands looping north of Medora. Mostly improved gravel/scoria roads but some small two-track trails. Once fording of the Little Missouri River near the Elk Horn Ranch historic site.
We got up early from Bowman, ND and headed the wrong way towards White Butte right off the bat!... 20 minutes later we discovered we were in the wrong area and had to turn around which set us back an hour. Thankfully White Butte was a piece of cake hike only about 2 miles long. Emily and I made it to the top and back to the car in less than an...
This is a faux trail trek. I didn’t have my GPS so using Google Earth and a trail map I retraced my steps. It was a good time and more details to follow.
I was off again to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I arrived at the Caprock Coulee trailhead at 7am and struck out on the Buckhorn Loop Trail by way of a short connector trail. Seeing the sun creep up over the edges of the eroded embankments of the Bad Lands is an awesome sight to see. About a mile into the hike I come upon a Prairie Dog town. This “town” has...
The Achenbach Trail turned out to be a much bigger task than
I anticipated. As planned I arrived at the trailhead before sunrise, did all my
stretching and headed up the first hill to get some good sunrise photos. After
taking some sunrise photos I dropped off the ridge down into the river bottom.
The neat thing about the river bottom is that it is mostly covered with
sagebrush growth and is crisscrossed with bison and longhorn...
No big story for this one. It was a good hike but I don't think I have ever had a bad hike. Oh, by the way, it rained on me the last two hours. But this rain in ND is not like rain in the south. I got me wet but there was never enough to drip off of me.
This was a ride exploring backroads in the North Dakota badlands southeast of Medora, ND. Three of us road everything from all season scoria roads to cow trails.
Two of us rode along west river road south of I-94 on mostly all weather scoria roads but got onto some two-track trails across the prairie. We forded the Little Missouri River in two locations.
Dirt Riders Association Badlands Rider - trail boss was Daryl BrandnerExcellent weather, great trail, lots of folks to share the ride with.
Reviews
