North Unit

August 10, 2023

An unusual fact about “Theodore Roosevelt National Park” is that the South Unit is in Mountain Time Zone, and when we traveled to the North Unit we noticed that we entered Central Time Zone and lost an hour. We visited this part of the park on Thursday, August 10.

It was sprinkling and cloudy as we traveled north from the campgrounds but the countryside is beautiful and breathtaking whether it is cloudy and raining or not.

The North Unit Entrance and Visitor Center is located on Highway 85. The small visitor center doesn’t contain much but you can get your National Park book stamped here and purchase stickers or small souvenirs. They also show the same 17-minute video that we already watched at the south unit.

The rugged solitude of this wilderness is not to be missed or underestimated. This section is much less visited than the south unit, probably because it is more than 50 miles north of the interstate. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it isn’t worth the trip. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The scenic drive here is 14 miles long one way to the end at the Oxbow Overlook and then you have to turn around and come back the same way. The first half of the drive stays low in the badlands and the first sight to stop and see is the Cannonball Concretions.

These large round rocks littering the ground and protruding from the side of the cliff are mysterious and bizarre. It seems they simply formed this way from the sediment, and erosion is slowly exposing them within the walls of the mountains. Eventually, they fall out and land on the ground.

The rain and clouds cleared away and a blue sky appeared. I just love the look of the photos when the sky is this blue.

As we continued down the path, we did see one buffalo lying by the side of the road and one deer up on a hill. We were told that the deer in the park were mule deer. I can never tell the difference from a distance.

The middle area of the park is filled with grasslands and prairie. It’s almost like leaving one world behind and entering another totally different landscape. Sometimes the change is as quickly as you can drive around the bend in the road.

Here we saw some more prairie dogs, which some countries, I think, call ground squirrels, and even caught a glimpse of a few wild turkeys in the distance.

We were told to keep our eyes out for bighorn sheep on the steep cliff ledges, but it just wasn’t our day to see any, even though they say driving is the best way to view wildlife.

Most of the road through the park is paved, with a few small exceptions where it must have been washed out and temporarily fixed.

The Little Missouri River winds through the countryside and there is a short 0.7-mile easy nature trail that explores the river valley, or you can hike the longer 1.4-mile moderately difficult long loop trail.

Other trails include the 4.2-mile Caprock Coulee Trail loop which contains some of the most scenic views in the park. The River Bend Overlook has a wheelchair-accessible viewing deck or an overlook shelter down a short trail. And at the Oxbow Overlook, there is a 2-mile round trip trail up to Sperati Point by way of the Achenbach Trail. You can also take a short stroll up a sidewalk to the rim of the badlands.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit is remote and rugged. The landscape is beautiful and I want to see as much of this country as I can while I can.

Thanks for coming along with us on our travels and journeys. I appreciate the time you spend reading my articles and stories.