Theodore Roosevelt National Park — Attraction in Belfield

5 stars- North Entrance, 4 for South Entrance. Most reviews weren’t clear to me on how to camp or different entrances so I’ll try to make it clear. Teddy Roosevelt NP Painted Rocks is a Gorgeous overlook visitor center rest area on I94. . Can’t sleep here. Beautiful. You can hike. A few miles west on 94 you’re still driving through park, shiny beautiful wild horses grazing on grasslands and a few buffalo til you get off at Medora-the South entrance to TRNP through tourist town trap of Medora ND.,Park is nicely paved, 24 mileish loop is out and back since it’s closed for construction. Stopped in Cottonwood Campground to look at sites. Theyre $12 per night. No amenities, dry camping but offer a restroom. No showers. Most sites were taken quickly. Even sites are first come first served. Odd sites are reservation only. . This is the much more popular campground. Not many sites can see river. Good sized. The loop sites for pull through are nice.,Flat, hot, dry with cottonwoods. Prairie dog towns all along the road are adorable. Stopped at little White House, barn and cabin. All locked up tight and being redone modernly inside. Had to turn around by mile 18 since we’re an RV with toad. Stopped at South visitor entrance center , didn’t have time for the movie about Teddy Roosevelt but heard it’s nice..Cute museum with artifacts, the cabin behind the visitor center that TR lived in is cool to see. Worth stopping for 15 min if you haven’t time. Terrible parking, lot is much too small for RVs and doesn’t hold enough cars. We had T mobile service in most of the South Park. Get back on 94 East, pass Painted Ricks rest area visitor center exit and the next exit is art 85. It’s about an hour, 60 some odd miles to the North entrance which has Juniper Campground. IMO this is the nicest of the Teddy Roosevelt parks. Cooler and not sunbaked. 14 mile out and back paved drive ( a few dirt areas where it’s been washed out by mudslide cleaned up) bison, turkeys, cottontail rabbits. Far fewer ppl. No tourist traps or any stores for that matter. Peaceful. Definitely check out the natural formed mineral rich cannonballs. The drive is a cross between S Dakota badlands and the Rocky Mtns. You can see how the grasslands are stripped away to badlands by rain and wind. Gorgeous valleys and colors. We stayed in Juniper Campground ($14 night). Dry camping, really nice bathrooms, no showers in campground and nice restrooms a short walk to amphitheater area. All sites are first come first served. Drive to your site, park to claim it. Walk to board for envelope, fill it out and place cash, check or credit card info and slide it into pay post. Hang the white receipt on your campground post so others know it’s taken if you drive your vehicle away to your the park. Had 1 bar of T mobile service in campground and 2-3 throughout the park as we climbed higher. Nice paved walk around cottonwoods, grassland and Little Missouri River. We have visited more than half the national parks and the North side is in the top ten of my favorites- which also includes the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Cave, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Hlen Canyon, Natural Bridges, Capital Reef ( like Bryce and Zion put together with no crowds!) etc. Couple a trip to TRNP ( and plan a day for the north entrance) with Lewis and Clark’s Missouri River boat access ( beautiful to kayak) just before Route 2 while on 85, and Sleeping Buffalo hot spring and campground(4 hours away off Rt 2) which is next to Nelson Reservoir Wildlife Refuge on the Canada Saco, Montana line, add in Glacier NP and the areas around the Kootenai Falls Swinging Suspension Bridge only an hour from Glacier, and you have a wonderful week trip encompassing much of the most unique beautiful areas of N...

This was one of my dream parks to visit and I went back in July. It was fantastic. We visited three units: North, Elkhorn and South units. I think the major plus of this park is it’s isolated location and the quietness of it. This park is called small but mighty and I agree. It’s also super interesting because it’s the only park with a fence. If you look close enough you’ll see it. It’s to help animal population and safety which I find so interesting.

North wasn’t particularly busy and we saw some great wildlife. We did miss the Bighorn Sheep which are only viewable in the North unit BUT there are only a handful of them a ranger in the South unit informed us so it’s pretty hard to see them. Lots of Buffalo and beautiful scenery. The visitors center was small but the Ranger was helpful. We did a hike that was rated easy/moderate and woohoohoo baby it was a hard one. We ended up chickening out half way through and planned to walk to our car up the roadway, praying we didn’t run into a Buffalo after seeing many fresh patties. We were able to flag down a ranger and get a ride back which was appreciated. We felt a little underprepared for what we thought was going to be a relatively easier hike so just keep that in mind.

The next day we drove to Teddy’s Elkhorn Ranch. The drive was out there. And it was definitely a trust the process moment. But once we reached there and hiked back there was a wonderful sense of peace and appreciation. Honestly probably the highlight of my North & South Dakota trip. It was awesome to be in a place he loved so much.

The South Unit was much busier but still not comparable to other larger, more common parks. The visitors center was much larger with a full shop, movie, activities and talks held by rangers. We did the talk about Teddy’s Maltese Cross Cabin that is there. It was really awesome to see where he lived and hear how he lived. Water filling stations were located in the visitors center. Lots of amazing scenery again and saw bands of wild horses. We utilized our binoculars quite a bit here to see farther out but there were animals in closer range to view with the naked eye. We did a few different hikes here. All relatively easy. The weather changed quick and we hurried out when a huge storm was coming.

Overall really enjoyed this park. The rangers were all helpful (aren’t they everywhere? 😇) and the history was abound. Personally, I think the colors and scenery here makes this prettier than the Badlands and if you’re headed that way you should head...

One of the very best. Each trail had no more than 3 cars at them, and that was rare. This was peak time of the year for the park. Wildlife everywhere, stunning scenery. Here's my review of each unit:

South Unit: If you have half a day, do this. The hikes are short and you'll see a lot. Part of the scenic loop drive is closed at the time of writing this, so check if it's open. This is the busiest part but you will never struggle to find parking and besides Wind Canyon and maybe one other trail it's not common to see other people on the trails. Wind Canyon is the best trail l, with a great overlook and interesting geological formations. Coal Vein is an interesting one but not amazing. The Boicourt Overlook Trail is a really fun one and definitely the most scenic overlook in the park. I did not do the painted canyon trail but I did do the nature loop right next to it which was excellent. I also highly recommend the petrified forest trail.

North Unit: This part I believe is more scenic than the south unit. The badlands are just larger and more colorful. This is definitely the part I recommend most. There is not as much stuff in this unit, but the views are worth the drive. River Bend Overlook is by far the best in the whole park. It's saying something that it made my entire family gasp after already spending over a day in the park. I also highly recommend the Little Mo Nature Trail, which is not marked on Google and barely has a parking lot. This will take you right down to the river and when I was there we saw bison next to the river and drinking and wading in it, which was definitely my favorite bison sighting of the trip.

Elkhorn Ranch: If you're not really into history, skip it. The hike isn't very scenic and the former cabin is only marked by stone. You have to drive an hour on a dirt road to get there and you will need a deep clean of your car once you're back home. I can't really justify the journey unless you just want the nice walk, want to fully experience the park, or are really into...