Teddy Roosevelt National Park was an unlikely stop for us! When you think “vacation,” North Dakota is not usually at the top of one’s list. Generally speaking, it wasn’t at the top of mine either. But as I started touring the US national parks over the past few years, North Dakota made the list – Theodore Roosevelt National Park, here I come! Visiting Teddy Roosevelt also holds a unique interest for me – it is named for the same president as my middle school. I remember learning about Theodore Roosevelt and his affinity for nature in 7th grade history. Those history chapters really came to life as we visited the park.

Broken into three sections (North Unit, South Unit, Elkhorn Ranch), this national park beautifully combines rolling green prairie lands with rugged badlands terrain. The two days we had for this park were easily and thoroughly absorbed exploring a selection of hiking trails.

Our itinerary focused on trails in the North Unit and South Unit. Hopefully the Elkhorn Ranch area is in one of our future travels, but it wasn’t in the cards this time. (It’s also a completely remote part of the park, accessible only by gravel roads).

Visiting Teddy Roosevelt National Park: Scenes of Beautiful Buttes

1. North Unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park
2. South Unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park
3. Insider Info about Teddy Roosevelt National Park
4. Final Thoughts on Teddy Roosevelt National Park

North Unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park

The North Unit entrance is on the northeast side of the park, located 54 miles north of I-94 / 15 miles south of Watford City. We stayed in Dickinson, ND (east of TRNP by about 40 minutes), so we approached the North Unit entrance from the south. Much of Route 85 felt indistinguishable to the rest of the western Dakotan lands – endless prairie lands with occasional turnouts to farms.

The 28 mile North Unit Scenic Drive is an out-and-back drive, with several outlooks and hiking paths along the way.

Visitor Center

The visitor center is on the right of the road, just past the entrance. Be sure to ask the the rangers which animals may be most prevalent during your visit. They’ll also let you know where in the park you are most likely to encounter them (e.g., rattlesnakes are present in the areas by river beds). You can also pick up a park pamphlet at the visitor center; we didn’t find them at the trails like we did at Yellowstone or Glacier National Park.

Wildlife

Being an outstanding national park for wildlife and amazing landscapes, we expected we’d be stopping to take pictures along the way. Accordingly, we drove all the way to the end of the scenic road and stopped at hiking spots / outlooks on the way back, as time allowed. This turned out to be a great decision, as we encountered a herd of bison grazing and watched them for 10 minutes before continuing on.

As a generality, I strongly recommend you drive slowly if wildlife observation is a goal of yours. Keep your eyes on the sides of the road! You’ll never know what you’ll miss if you try to speed your way through the park!

Oxbow Bend and Sperati Point

The end point of the North Unit scenic drive is “Oxbow Bend.” Just beyond the parking area, visitors can look out at the Little Missouri River weaving through valley between the badlands. Hikers looking for easy-to-moderate hikes are also able to access a portion of the Achenbach Trail from the lot. Keeping walkers atop the plateau, the trail goes through the prairie, around the “U” of the plateau to Sperati Point. With only a few other people on the trail, we took in the scenery, sounds, and scents of the park at our leisure.

For the more adventurous hikers visiting Teddy Roosevelt, the Achenbach trail continues beyond Sperati Point, down into the valley.

River Bend Outlook Trail

On the return drive, we first stopped at River Bend Outlook Trail. From the parking lot, visitors walk down a path to a stone structure standing at the edge of a butte. Under this structure, you get an incredible view of the Little Missouri River in the valley below, with buttes popping up on the other side of the valley floor.

Caprock Coulee Trail

We then stopped at Caprock Coulee Trail (about the halfway point of the North Unit scenic drive). At the trailhead, visitors can turn left for a nature walk to learn about vegetation in TRNP. There are markers along the trail to indicate which plants to look for in the park pamphlet. This path walked along a small valley between two hills of badlands terrain. The path was relatively flat, with a few inclines/declines along the way.

Continuing straight at the trailhead, visitors can walk to “Prairie Dog Town.” While we didn’t walk that way, I’ll venture a guess it’s a field with lots of prairie dogs to observe.

Partway through the nature walk, we saw storm clouds rolling in and decided to get back to the hotel. We heard Dakota storms can be intense and wanted to avoid getting caught. We had otherwise earmarked The Little Mo trail as our final stop, a short trail to the Little Missouri River.

South Unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park

The South Unit entrance is on the southwestern part of the park, accessed through a town called Medora. With ample restaurants, shops, a western look & feel, and direct access for those visiting Teddy Roosevelt, many park-goers choose to stay in Medora. Our time in Medora was primarily to get into and out of the park, but we did stop off for some ice cream (summer vacations generally meant the occasional ice cream treat for me 😋) after visiting Teddy Roosevelt South Unit.

The South Unit Scenic Drive is a 48 mile long loop drive. When we were visiting Teddy Roosevelt, a portion of the loop was closed. The trip instead became a 75-80 mile long out-and-back route through the south unit. Similar to the North Unit, we drove to the “end” of the road, with intermittent stops to look at roaming wildlife, and did more hiking on the way back.

Badlands Overlook

The scenic loop drive closed off right after the Badlands Overlook. The overlook has space for a handful of cars to park and take in a portion of the badlands that make up Teddy Roosevelt. Fortunately there were only 1-2 other cars, allowing us to peacefully sit and enjoy our lunch with a view.

Old East Entrance Trailhead

Making our way back toward the park entrance from the Badlands Overlook, we stopped at the Old East Entrance Trailhead. This was the original entrance to the park, established in the late 1930’s. The road leading to this entrance no longer exists. However, visitors can still walk to the entrance buildings via an easy 0.8-0.9 mile out-and-back trail through an active prairie dog town.

Walking on the trail, we saw hundreds of prairie dogs in the surrounding fields (they stayed off the trail or ran away if they felt us too close), calling to each other as we walked by.

Despite being over 80 years old, the Old East Entrance building has stood strong. While we didn’t go inside the building, we walked around the side of the building (sticking to defined paths), imagining back to when visitors could only access the southern part of the park through this point.

Sitting right in the middle of a field surrounded by buttes, the Old East Entrance must have provided quite the first impression of the park to visitors.

Buck Hill Trail

Our next stop was the Buck Hill Trail. A drive from the scenic loop road, we found ourselves in a parking lot at the base of Buck Hill. A well-defined, slightly steep path brought us to the top of Buck Hill, opening us up to a 360 degree park view. Lush green grass covered the rolling hills as far as the eye could see!

The main part of the trail is only 0.4 miles in length. However, we saw a few visitors venture further out to surrounding hills on (what looked like) reasonably well traveled paths. Any portions of descending/ascending trail looked only moderately steep, making it relatively easy to venture further out.

Boicourt Trail & Overlook

At about the halfway point on the loop road is Boicourt Trail & Overlook. A fully paved, accessible path, this stop allows everyone a chance to experience a hike in TRNP. At 0.8 miles out-and-back, visitors get access to stellar views for little walking time. There are also a few benches along the path for visitors to sit and enjoy the views.

Wind Canyon Trail

A short 0.4 mile walk, Wind Canyon Trail loop takes you to the cliffs overlooking the Little Missouri River and the western portion of TRNP. With the next badlands hills further in the distance, there is better opportunity to see wildlife at the river. We, unfortunately, were not so lucky.

If you go left at the trailhead, a stairs will take you into the cut of the canyon. Running short on time, we opted to walk the top part of the loop.

Beef Coral Bottom

For those still looking to see more prairie dogs on their way out, be sure to stop here! The parking space is at the foot of a massive field. Give it a few seconds and you’ll start seeing prairie dog heads popping out of the ground. Further behind the field The Little Missouri River runs, separating the field from the hills in the backdrop. With no other wild animals in sight, a few visitors took the opportunity to carefully venture into the field.

Painted Canyon Overlook

On our way back from visiting Teddy Roosevelt South Unit, we stopped at the Painted Canyon Overlook. Located off of I-94 between Medora and Dickinson, Painted Canyon Overlook looks north to the park from the southern boundary. There is also a visitor center located at this spot (Painted Canyon Visitor Center). The visitor center was closed by the time we reached, but it holds artifacts from Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency and time in the Dakotas (for the history buffs out there). Visitors can walk a nature trail that runs in a loop around close to the parking lot and visitor center. Since we were approaching dusk, we didn’t venture out on the trail ourselves. However, the main outlook provided another phenomenal view of the rolling prairies and buttes that comprise the park. Painted Canyon provided a great way to end our trip.

Insider Info on Teddy Roosevelt National Park

• Drive slowly if wildlife observation is one of your goals! There are some really great sights to catch if you’re willing to take your time to observe out your window.
• The North Unit is far less crowded and more “raw” than the South Unit is. Depending on your personal preference, schedule your itinerary accordingly.
• Dakotan summer storms can come fast and can be VERY intense. Upon our arrival to Rapid City, SD, the rental car agent showed us a car windshield completely shattered from hail. Check the weather to see if there is the possibility of a storm. But if you get caught in a storm, especially with hail, find cover! You may wait a bit, but it’ll be better than risking damage to the car!
• For easy access to both North and South Unit, Dickinson worked great for us to stay overnight. Depending on your desire to avoid massive tourist crowds (or prices), Dickinson had plenty to offer for our stay. For a day trip to the North Unit, Medora and Dickinson are about equidistant to the entrance.

Final Thoughts on Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Teddy Roosevelt National Park was a beautiful surprise. While I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going in (besides the occasional bison sighting), the combination of lush prairies and buttes was absolutely beautiful! A day to visit the North Unit felt sufficient. However I wouldn’t have minded an extra day to explore the South Unit or visit Elkhorn Ranch.

I definitely recommend Teddy Roosevelt National Park to all our readers!

Have you been to, or are thinking of visiting Teddy Roosevelt National Park? What piques your interest the most? Leave a comment below!

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