Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park covers 70,447 acres of badlands in western North Dakota, in three separate units. The South Unit lies at Medora, the North Unit near Watford City and the small Elkhorn Ranch Unit between them. It had 729,893 recreation visits in 2025. The Park Service calls it the only one of the country's 63 national parks named after a person.

Late October is when the park empties: visits fell from 50,520 in October 2025 to 7,946 in November. We checked the figures below on 28 October 2026 on the park's own pages and alerts, Recreation.gov, the Presidential Library's site, the State Tax Commissioner's guideline and NOAA's normals.

Which Theodore Roosevelt visitor centres stay open after Painted Canyon closes?

Theodore Roosevelt's South Unit and North Unit visitor centres stay open all winter, on shorter hours, while Painted Canyon Visitor Center closed on 25 October. The park's page lists Painted Canyon as closed until 15 June. An older park page calls it open "generally May - October", and on 28 October it showed "Closed today".

The park's page prints no time zone for these hours; the Park Service says the South Unit keeps Mountain Time and the North Unit Central. The South Unit centre sells entrance passes, shows a 17-minute film and issues backcountry permits. The North Unit centre, a temporary building, shows the same film and issues permits too.

Painted Canyon is not a park entrance, and the Scenic Loop starts 7 miles west, in Medora. The Park Service describes it as the first, and sometimes only, glimpse of the park for drivers on I-94. A sidewalk follows the rim, and a 0.9-mile nature trail drops into the canyon and climbs back out.

How long does the South Unit's 36-mile Scenic Loop take?

The South Unit Scenic Loop is a 36-mile paved road from Medora, two-way and open to cars and cyclists, and the park suggests at least two hours for it. Its Cars page says about 90 minutes instead. An older Things To Do page still calls it a 48-mile drive; the South Unit page and the reopening notice both give 36.

The Park Service reopened the whole loop on 25 November 2025 after a rebuild of about $51 million. Slides had badly damaged more than six miles of it. The park counts about 100,000 vehicles a year on the road, and the speed limit is 25 mph unless signs say otherwise.

On 28 October 2026 the park's road-status page was an empty template, and its alerts listed no current road closure. A closure from mile 6.5 to mile 15.5, from 11 to 15 May 2026, has ended. The Park Service warns that parts of the loop may close in winter for snow and ice, which can begin as early as October.

Cottonwood Campground is 5.5 miles along the drive, and Peaceful Valley Ranch, the South Unit's only original ranch house still standing, is at mile 7. The road passes three large prairie-dog towns, and bison, mule deer and horses are often visible from it. The 0.6-mile Ridgeline Nature Trail is listed as "currently inaccessible due to road collapse".

What does entry to Theodore Roosevelt cost now that cash is refused?

Theodore Roosevelt charges $30 per private car for seven days, $25 per motorcycle and $15 per person on foot, bicycle or horse. Children under 16 need no pass. The ticket covers all three units, and the park issues no timed-entry permits.

The park has taken no cash since 1 May 2026, only credit cards, debit cards and mobile payments. Visitors with cash only can buy a pass from one of two local vendors, which the park does not name. Entrance stations collect the fee from May to September and the visitor centres the rest of the year. When the centres are closed, the pass is sold on Recreation.gov.

Theodore Roosevelt is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks with a $100 surcharge for non-residents, so two adults from abroad in one car pay $30 in all. The park's own $55 annual pass is for US citizens and residents only. The $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass does not pay off at this park alone.

The fee-free days, including Veterans Day on 11 November, now apply to US residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks where the surcharge applies.

Where can you see Theodore Roosevelt's own cabin and belongings in Medora?

Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin stands behind the South Unit Visitor Center in Medora and is open for self-guided visits all year. Rangers lead tours of it in summer. Its logs are the original 1883 ponderosa pine.

Roosevelt arrived in 1883 to hunt bison and put $14,000 into cattle and a brand on the Maltese Cross Ranch, seven miles south of Medora. The cabin later went to expositions in St. Louis and Portland, then to Bismarck. The Park Service brought it to the park in 1959.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, on the bluffs above Medora, opened to the public on 4 July 2026. The Park Service lent it more than 50 artefacts, among them a Rough Rider uniform and Roosevelt's compass. The library is privately funded and sells its own tickets: $26 for adults aged 13 and over, $16 for children aged 3 to 12.

Entry is by timed ticket, with walk-ups let in as space allows, and the library suggests about three and a half hours. Until 30 November it opens Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at weekends until 6 p.m., and it closes on Thanksgiving. From 1 December it opens Wednesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it closes on 25 December and 1 January.

What changes when you drive on to Theodore Roosevelt's North Unit?

Theodore Roosevelt's North Unit keeps Central Time, an hour ahead of the South Unit's Mountain Time, in the Park Service's own words. The units are about 70 miles apart by road. The Park Service puts the drive at 1 hour 10 minutes; our own routing gives about 1 hour 20.

The North Unit entrance is on US 85, about 15 miles south of Watford City, and 50 miles north of I-94 exit 42 at Belfield. Clocks in both zones went back an hour on 1 November 2026. Watford City has lodging, food, fuel and groceries, and the unit itself has none.

The North Unit's scenic drive runs 14 miles one way, 28 miles out and back, paved except for one gravel stretch. The park suggests at least 1 hour 15 minutes. The first half follows the bottom of the badlands. The road then climbs to River Bend Overlook, which the park calls the unit's "most iconic view", and ends at Oxbow Overlook.

North Unit bison are often visible from the drive at any hour, and mule deer around dawn and dusk. Bighorn sheep keep to steep cliff edges, and a small demonstration herd of longhorns grazes near mile 2. No prairie-dog town can be seen from this road; the nearest is about a mile's hike from the Caprock Coulee car park, the park says.

A helicopter roundup, set for 18 to 23 October 2026, was to move up to 100 North Unit bison live to Tribes. The park announced it only in an alert, and those dates have passed.

How rough is the road to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit?

The Elkhorn Ranch Unit, 218 acres on the Little Missouri River between the two main units, ends every route on unpaved roads. From the South Unit, the Park Service's route leaves I-94 at exit 10 for about 30 miles of gravel and dirt, by our sum of its directions. The last three miles sometimes need four-wheel drive or a high-clearance vehicle, especially in winter or after rain.

Much of the route, and the ranch site, has no phone signal. The unit has no visitor centre, facilities or scenic road, and the park asks visitors to check road conditions at a visitor centre first. From the North Unit the Park Service's directions add up to about 97 miles.

Roosevelt chose the site in 1884 and paid $400 for the rights. A 0.7-mile mowed path leads from the car park to the cabin site, where only the foundation stones remain.

Which Theodore Roosevelt trails fit into a short visit?

Theodore Roosevelt's short trails, most of them under a mile, start from the South Unit loop, the North Unit drive and Painted Canyon. The lengths below are the park's own figures. Pets, bicycles and motorised equipment are banned on every trail.

The longer trails run deep into both units: the Petrified Forest Loop is 10.3 miles and the Achenbach Trail 18 miles, with two river crossings. The Maah Daah Hey Trail links all three units; the park's hiking page gives it 96 miles and its pets page 150. Backcountry camping needs a free permit, there are no set campsites, and the park lists no approved drinking water in the backcountry.

Why must you stay 25 yards from Theodore Roosevelt's bison and horses?

Theodore Roosevelt's rule is at least 25 yards from all wildlife, the length of two full-sized buses, and it covers bison, elk, deer, pronghorn and horses. The park repeated it in July 2023 after a bison badly injured a visitor at the Painted Canyon trailhead. Bulls can turn aggressive in the rut, from mid-July through August.

Feral horses live in the South Unit only, descended from domestic stock and kept "as a cultural resource". The park's April 2026 update counted about 198 horses. The Park Service's 2020 figures put the bison herds at 200 to 500 in the South Unit and 100 to 300 in the North. Elk, too, live only in the South Unit.

On a trail, the park says, bison have the right of way: if a bison or horse approaches, step off the trail and give it 25 yards. Feeding any animal is prohibited, and prairie rattlesnakes do not always give a warning. The park's skiing page asks for 100 yards from bison, the only page to give that figure.

Dogs are welcome on park roads, road shoulders, car parks, campgrounds and picnic areas on a leash of 6 feet or less. They are not allowed on any park trail. Outside the park, a paved path of about a mile leads west from Medora's park entrance to the Maah Daah Hey Trail. Dogs may walk the sections of that trail beyond the park.

Can you still book Cottonwood or Juniper for a November night?

Cottonwood and Juniper, Theodore Roosevelt's two campgrounds, are open all year and have been booked only on Recreation.gov since 1 May 2026, up to six months ahead. Both are primitive, with no hookups and no showers. A standard site costs $20 a night from May to September and $10 from October to April.

On 28 October 2026 Recreation.gov showed 37 of Cottonwood's 38 North Loop sites free on 1 November, and its 33-site South Loop closed for the month. All 46 Juniper sites were free that night. Recreation.gov's own notices and the Presidential Library still describe self-registration from November to April, so confirm the winter system before you arrive.

Drinking water is seasonal at both, vault toilets stay open all year, and stays are limited to 14 consecutive days. The park has no hotels, cabins, food or fuel. Medora has lodging, dining, fuel and very limited groceries, with fewer services in winter. The Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation lists its Rough Riders Hotel and Hotel 1883 as open all year.

A purchase in Medora carries 7.5% sales tax from 1 October 2026, and a room about 9.5% with the 2% lodging tax, by our own arithmetic. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.

How cold are Medora and the North Unit between October and April?

Medora, at 2,268 feet in the South Unit, averages a January high of 28°F and a low of 3°F. NOAA counts 33.7 nights a year there at or below 0°F, and 34.1 days at or above 90°F. The North Unit's station, at the entrance south of Watford City, runs a little colder in winter.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows. November in Medora averages 42°F by day and 18°F at night. Medora gets 15.79 inches of precipitation a year and 30.1 inches of snow, a snowfall figure NOAA marks as provisional; the park's own figure is about 30 inches.

Summer is the park's season: June to September brought 78% of the 2025 visits, and July was the busiest month, with 155,747. The park says summer highs run from 80 to 100 degrees, with thunderstorms and a lot of wind, and that there is very little shade.

How far is Medora from Bismarck, Fargo and the Dickinson airport?

Medora and the South Unit are 133 miles west of Bismarck by the Park Service's figure, and Dickinson is 35 miles east. The Park Service names Bismarck and Billings, Montana, as the nearest large airports, and Dickinson and Williston as smaller regional ones. There is no public transport inside the park, so a car is needed.

The Bismarck distance is the Park Service's; the rest of the table is our own routing, whose times run longer than the park's. The library prints "about 4.5 hours" from Fargo, against our 5 hours 20 minutes. Its directions page also warns that snow and high winds can close I-94 in western North Dakota from late autumn to spring.

Dickinson's airport is served by United, with two round trips a day to Denver. Williston Basin flies all year to Denver and seasonally to Las Vegas. Amtrak trains stop at Williston, about 60 miles from the North Unit. Fargo flies nonstop to Minneapolis–St Paul, whose airport lists over 160 destinations, Amsterdam among them.

Rapid City is also the way in to Badlands National Park, which has its own guide. The rest of the state is in our guide to North Dakota.