Fall 2026 - Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, 9.8.2026 - 10.5.2026, Part 3: Theodore Roosevelt National Park/North Unit
So far on this trip we had been to three different places we’d never been before. Now we were set to go to a state we had never been and a national park that would be new to us as well. It was only about a two and a half hour drive from Makoshika State Park to Theodore Roosevelt National Park just over the border into North Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is divided into north and south units. Oddly, the north unit is in the Central time zone and the south unit is in the Mountain time zone. Due primarily to its location, it is on the lower end of the visitation scale. The northern unit gets even less visitors than the south unit again due to not being near any major freeways. This was all just fine for us.
Seven miles up Scenic Drive, we pulled in to the Juniper Campground in the north unit and set up shop. This campground used to be all first come first serve. Just this year they made it reservable so we had booked a site along the Little Missouri River. Our site was nestled in the juniper trees that were starting to turn to fall color with a short path leading to the river. Maybe it was just the time of year but unfortunately, the Little Missouri River was almost dried up.
We stopped into the visitor center and the ranger there (who seemed a bit pessimistic to me) said that due to the rains, most of the trails would be impassable. That would have been a big blow as we had already missed out on a hike or two in Makoshika State Park. A couple were on his “approved” list so we drove up the Scenic Drive. Scenic Drive is a mostly paved (except for one little spot) road that winds up fourteen miles to a dead end and turnaround. The scenery going up this road was really beautiful. Lots of colorful badlands formations, lots of color in the rock and lots of trees and grasslands. After climbing out of the valley the road cruises along through open grasslands with many pullouts and overlooks. We knew we would check all those out on our way back down so we continued to the very end of the road at Oxbow Overlook. The overlook provided great views looking down to a bend in the Little Missouri River. Lush cottonwoods lined the banks with their leaves just starting to turn yellow. Rugged badlands flanked the far side of the river and a greeat wall of badlands stretched out to the east of the overlook.
After taking in the views at Oxbow Overlook it was time for a hike. Starting at Oxbow Overlook, the Achenbach Trail took us 1.2 miles to a spot called Sperati Point. The trail wound around the side of a hill and then gently climbed to a high point on a ridge. Then we just followed the ridge out to the point. About halfwsy to the point we came upon a lone bison grazing a little wasy off the trail. We’ve seen tons of bison all over in Yellowstone, Custer State Park, Badlands, heck I grew up a few miles from a small herd in Genesee Park, Colorado. But the bison is the country’s national mammal and they seem to truly capture the imagination of the American public. Actually, I would say the world’s public. First of all, they are huge. Their massive heads seem to large to hold up. They look cumbersome, but in an instant a two thousand pound bison can run forty miles per hour. We never get tired of seeing bison and we would see a lot of them on this trip.
Sperati Point had similar views to Oxbow Overlook but because it jutted out a bit further, the views were more expansive. On our way back we stopped at several overlooks and viewpoints with some incredible views of the badlands surrounding the Little Missouri River.
View east from Oxbow Overlook
View from Sperati Point
The Little Missouri River from Sperati Point
Foliage just starting to get its fall colors
Bison against the North Dakota badlands
Beautiful badlands formations in Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Badlands along Scenic Drive
The Little Missouri River
Bison along Scenic Drive with mule deer in the background
Incredible evening light along Scenic Drive
The shelter below River Bend Overlook
Right across from the entrance to Juniper Campground was an oddity called Concretions Pullout. It’s right next to the road and required no hiking but there are some strange looking things there so we stopped by just before dusk.
Concretions Pullout
Concretions Pullout
Concretions Pullout
Last light on Concretions Pullout
No help at all explaining the cannonballs
With one more day allotted to the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, I was concerned about the conditions. The pessimistic ranger had told me that most of the trails were too muddy and that we might even see more rain. I don’t know where he gets his information from but NOAA called for sunny with a high of seventy-two. Everywhere we had been so far around the park seemed fairly dry so we decided to ignore the ranger and go for a hike the next day.
Map of the Caprock Coulee Trail. We hiked it counter-clockwise.
Well it turned out to be a darn good thing that we didn’t listen to the ranger. Our last morning in the north unit we got up and had a leisurely breakfast before driving a very short way to the Caprock Coulee Trailhead. This was the hike I most wanted to do based on my advance research. It is a 4.2 mile loop trail that really showcases everything great about the park. We hit the trail at 9AM. The weather was perfect. Cool but not cold, sunny with marshmallow clouds against the blue skies. We opted to do this loop counter-clockwise and in hindsight that is definitely the best way to go. The Caprock Coulee Trail starts out up Caprock Coulee. The trail was easy to follow a very gently gained a little altitude along the way. The coulee had nice rock walls on either side that were catching the morning sun. Shortly after starting out we passed a couple coming back who had only hiked as far as the end of what is considered the Nature Trail section at .8 miles. They were the only people we saw on the entire loop except for one other couple doing the loop clockwise when we had .8 miles to go. We went up over a couple of small hills and the scenery steadily improved. One last low area did have a couple of muddy spots but they were easily either hopped over or bypassed.
We took a short break at a cool rock formation before beginning the climbing portion of the loop. We gained about seven hundred sixty feet as we climbed out from the bottom of the coulee. It was easy climbing and before we knew it we had topped out on an open ridge. The next section from there to River Bend Overlook was as pleasant a ridge walk as you could ever hope for. First we slowly ascended further up on the ridge with tremendous views looking back down Caprock Coulee where we had come up from. On the other side of the ridge we could see down to Scenic Drive far below us. Once we hit the high point of the ridge we just ambled along the ridge top through open grasslands. As we came around one corner, we were greeted by another lone bison just off the trail. He was beautiful and had his head up just watching us. I switched to my long lens and got some great shots. We never felt threatened and we just observed each other as we hiked past him. This totally made our morning extra special.
Near the beginning of the Caprock Coulee Loop
Cool spot to take a break
Looking back down Caprock Coulee from the ridge. We came up from the right.
Our bison buddy
After a very pleasant ridge walk, the trail crossed Scenic Drive and then made its way to River Bend Overlook. Now that we were on the opposite side of the road, we paralleled the road a very short way and then began a slow descent back towards the trailhead. This side of the road provided many great views down towards the Little Missouri River and lots of great badlands formations.
We came to a section of hoodoos and fluted mudstone that we had to climb up through before continuing along a high ridge with great views on both sides. To the east we were looking across the deep cut that held Scenic Drive. It was deep enough that we couldn’t even see the road but we had great views across to the ridge we had traversed earlier where we saw the bison. The following half mile dropped steeply down until we popped out right across the road from our Jeep. It was an absolutely fantastic hike and looking back one of the highlights of our entire trip.
A section of hoodoos we climbed up through to the top of the hill behind
Looking towards Oxbow Overlook from the Caprock Coulee Trail
Great trail shot of Bridgit descending the Caprock Coulee Trail
That evening Bridgit and I drove Scenic Drive back up to Oxbow Overlook and back. We drove slowly because we were “on safari”. We LOVE driving around at dawn and dusk looking for animals. On this last evening in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we didn’t see any wildlife but it was a beautiful drive nonetheless and a great way to cap off our visit.