Theodore Roosevelt National Park
When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison in 1883, he was a skinny, young, spectacled dude from New York. He could not have imagined how his adventure in this remote and unfamiliar place would forever alter the course of the nation. The rugged landscape and strenuous life that TR experienced here would help shape a conservation policy that we still benefit from today.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in the Badlands of western North Dakota. There are three units to the park. The South Unit entrance is in the town of Medora, ND off of Interstate 94 exits 24 and 27. The North Unit entrance is on Highway 85 approximately 14 miles south of Watford City, ND. The remote Elkhorn Ranch Unit sits roughly in the middle of the North and South Units and is accessed via gravel roads. Consult park staff for directions to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit.
- Auto and ATV
- Scenic Driving
- Astronomy
- Stargazing
- Biking
- Road Biking
- Camping
- Backcountry Camping
- Car or Front Country Camping
- Horse Camping (see also Horse/Stock Use)
- Group Camping
- Food
- Picnicking
- Guided Tours
- Self-Guided Tours - Walking
- Hiking
- Backcountry Hiking
- Front-Country Hiking
- Off-Trail Permitted Hiking
- Horse Trekking
- Horse Camping (see also camping)
- Junior Ranger Program
- Wildlife Watching
- Birdwatching
- Park Film
- Museum Exhibits
- Shopping
- Bookstore and Park Store
- Colonization and Settlement
- Farming and Agriculture
- Ranches
- Great Depression
- Presidents
- Westward Expansion
- Homesteading
- Animals
- Birds
- Bison
- Cats (wild)
- Elk
- Fish
- Horses (wild)
- Tortoises and Turtles
- Fossils and Paleontology
- Petrified Wood
- Geology
- Mineral Deposits
- Grasslands
- Prairies
- Night Sky
- Astronomy
- Aurora Borealis
- River and Riparian
- Rock Landscapes and Features
- Buttes
- Scenic Views
- Wilderness
River Bend Overlook, North Unit
The River Bend Overlook offers one of the most popular views in the park's North Unit.
A View from the Maah Daah Hey Trail
The Maah Daah Hey Trail follows the Little Missouri River for several miles before it enters the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness.
Ekblom Trail
The Ekblom Trail is the gateway to the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness. All you have to do is make it across the river!
Raise a Ruckus
In the summer, bull bison wage furious battles over the right to breed.
Milky Way
Though light pollution in the area is increasing, the night sky over Theodore Roosevelt National Park remains beautiful and inspiring.
Bison Trail
Bison roam the badlands from top to bottom, surprising visitors with their agility and ability to cross even the most rugged terrain.
Sunset on Buck Hill
A short climb to the top of Buck Hill in the park's South Unit rewards hikers with a sweeping panorama and a fantastic place to watch the sun rise or set.
Fall Bugle
The ghostly bugles of bull elk can be heard wafting through the badlands in the fall.
Hoodoos
Theodore Roosevelt described the badlands as "so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth."
Maltese Cross Cabin
Imagine waking up on a crisp winter morning in Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin. It is no wonder that his heart was captured by the romance of life in the West.