Theodore Roosevelt National Park | North Dakota Hiking

Well we were already in the area, being in South Dakota to visit Badlands National Park, so why not visit another national park? These particular parks are located in the Dakotas, probably one of the least visited states in the United States so I am not sure when I am going to be in the area again. 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is separate, there are three units (technically), but we went to the north and south unit. It wasn’t the “best” weather being overcast, cold, windy, a bit rainy, and maybe that meant less people visiting the park. Jaron, the park ranger at the Visitor Center, assured us that there was not a big chance of rain. And it turned out still to be gorgeous and maybe just the right weather for visiting. 

At the north unit, there’s a scenic drive (actually at both units) and at the end of this one there’s a beautiful scenic lookout. Then, we hiked Caprock Coulee which can be a loop, depending on the path you take. I prefer loops so you don’t see the same thing more than once. At that time, we could not park at the Caprock Coulee parking area because they were doing construction on it, which actually also required a detour to the loop trail but it was not super significant. This trail was beautiful with its outlooks, but also we seemed to drop in elevation to get a close up with the cliffsides, as well. 

Little Mo Trail was short and easy. There’s a small informational board at the beginning of this trail with a box full of guides. Actually, that day it only had one guide so if you’re one of the lucky ones, think about returning it to the box so that others can enjoy it too! I feel like we were fortunate because of the autumnal colours that were taking over the area. Although I love autumn, Texas doesn’t really see much of it. The leaves are green, and then they’re brown. Overnight, it seems. So I really got the opportunity to take in the range of reds, oranges, and yellows.

While somewhat in the area, we went to Stonehome Brewing Company in Watford City for lunch. In a town this small, I lowered my expectations. Especially after having visited the Long X Saloon in Grassy Butte where the flow of right-wing politics wafted around generously. It was a new building, and we had an extremely friendly waitress who started Austin off with a flight of beers. He claims that they were really good, but I refused to believe that any beer could be “good”. I’m not a fan of hops. But the pizza we ordered?! Absolutely incredible. We got two, but could have gotten away with just one with the appetizer. Have you ever had gouda mac bites? We had them several places on our visit to the Dakotas and we can highly recommend them. Especially here. Also will absolutely recommend jalapeno popper pizzas. They’re sweet. They’re spicy. They’re everything that’s missing in your life. Well, maybe not that much, but they were incredible.

The next day, we travelled down to the South Unit, which kind of reminded me of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains National Park. Just like those two, this one had Medora with all of its restaurants, hotels, and tourist shops. Luckily, the previous weekend had been the end of high season. We stopped at Hidden Springs Java for a cup of warm pumpkin spice latte (don’t judge me), before heading out to the trails. 

First stop was the Petrified Forest, and I’m glad we stopped at the Visitor Center to ask for directions because if we had taken this route on our own without knowing that we’d be driving on a gravel road in private property roaming with cows for 30 minutes, I might have thought we were lost. Fortunately, there were a few signs along the way, guiding visitors to the Petrified Forest.

That little rental car got us through other gravel roads, though, to Roberts Prairie Dog Town in Badlands National Park, and White Butte which we had visited a few days prior. Fun fact: White Butte is the highest point in North Dakota. It is also on private property.

The Petrified Forest was really cool. Literally, they were rocks that looked like wood! I had never seen anything like it. The thing is that the trail is a lot more than the sparse patches of petrified forest, so once we had seen the cool rocks, we were pretty much done with this trail because it reminded us so much of the Castle Trail in Badlands, which just went on and on with not much landscape variation.

Like the north unit had a scenic drive of 14 miles (and is a there and back), this one had a scenic drive of 36 miles. Well, I think it would have been as long, but there was construction being done blocking the loop passage, so it also turned out to be a there and back. We took that opportunity to hike on some trails that we would not have otherwise, but were along the way and short enough to get a feel for the geography around the park. 

So we stopped at the Old Entrance, which as it turns out is not a real entrance to the park, so do not try to enter or exit here. On this trail though there were so many prairie dogs alongside the path! They were just sunbathing and used to the foot traffic (some of them). So we got some really cute pictures. After that, was Coal Vein Trail which had a lot of numbered markers that probably went along with a guide that we did not have. So do not forget to pick one up at the Visitor Center, just in case there aren’t any at the trailhead post. We also went to the Wind Canyon Trail, which was just a short hike up to this lookout of a beautiful canyon; I am positive it is meant for sunset. It also looked out into this area where buffalo like to gather. 

Exiting the park, we also made a stop at the Painted Canyon Trail, and I guess we would only recommend this if you were not already going to stop at the main north or south units. And don’t try using the vending machines with coins. They won’t work. We tried.

Out of the north and south units, we enjoyed the north unit more. It seemed further away from civilization, so more rugged, and isolated. Although it is nice to have restaurants and a gas station nearby… 

The following is how we rank the national parks that we have been to so far:

Zion (Utah)
Rocky Mountains (Colorado)
Big Bend (Texas)
Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota)
Bryce Canyon (Utah)
Arches (Utah)
Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico)
Badlands (South Dakota)
Hot Springs (Arkansas)

“"I grow very fond of this place, and it certainly has a desolate, grim beauty of its own, that has a curious fascination for me.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

What is your favourite thing about Theodore Roosevelt National Park?