South Unit Visitor Center — Attraction in Medora

The South Unit Visitor Center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the natural first stop for those entering the park from Medora. The visitor center does get busy, so be prepared for a lot of people in a smaller space.

Start with the park film shown in the theater, and then make your way through the interpretive exhibits to learn more about the park and Teddy Roosevelt. The Maltese Cross Cabin, one of Teddy's homes from North Dakota, has been relocated behind the visitor center.

There is a gift shop and clean restrooms. Make sure you fill your water bottles here before venturing into the park.

The Rangers on duty were helpful in recommending longer hikes for us, giving directions to remote trailheads, and answering our questions.

The parking lot is a decent size but doesn't have a lot of space for RVs or trailers. Since the visitor center is immediately adjacent to Medora, you could park your rig on one of the side streets in Medora and...

Theodore Roosevelt was a must stop for us on our drive through North Dakota.

Our original plan was only to come to the south unit, but at the Painted Canyon visitors center they told us that the north unit had more impressive views, so we went there first.

We still came to the south unit though. There's a $30 entrance fee. The entrance is right off the highway.

There's a 36 mile scenic drive that we did part of. Unfortunately, the end of the loop was closed, so if you did the whole thing that was open, you would have to turn around and drive back. There are a lot of overlooks to stop at along the way.

We ended up only doing a very small portion of the drive. We got to see several prairie dog towns which were awesome and you couldn't see at the north unit.

The views were pretty, but just not nearly as good as they were at the north unit. I think it's still worth stopping by, but definitely make time for the...

We truly loved our day filled with epic hikes through the vast grassy and rocky landscapes. We walked carefully by the bison, and forded a cold cold river in our barefeet. The highlight however, was Judith Krauss, park employee extraordinaire. Her knowledge of the trails and animals were very helpful. Not to mention her down to earth kindness and insistence on equality. She deserves a raise 👏🏻🙌 She also helped my girlfriend realize her own interlized ableism about having an invisible disability. And Judith made her feel super seen. We...