The badlands get tighter and wilder once you cross into North Dakota’s North Unit: According to reports

Wikimedia Commons/Acroterion

The North Unit’s wide-open secret

Theodore Roosevelt National Park splits into two halves, and most people only see one. The South Unit near Medora gets the crowds and the headlines. But drive about 15 miles south of Watford City off US Highway 85, and you reach the North Unit, where the badlands close in tighter and the Little Missouri River cuts deeper. The overlooks here tend to sit empty. The views, though, hit harder. And at the heart of it all stands a hand-cut stone shelter on the edge of a butte. Wikimedia Commons/Acroterion

A stone shelter the CCC carved from the cliff

River Bend Overlook sits on the rim of a butte, topped by a small shelter made from local sandstone. The Civilian Conservation Corps cut every block by hand around 1937, part of a stretch when the CCC ran three work camps in the park between 1934 and 1941. The shelter still stands, and it still frames one of the finest views in the park. Down on the grasslands below, the North Unit keeps a small herd of longhorn steers, a nod to the cattle drives that crossed this land in the 1880s. Wikimedia Commons/Farragutful

The Little Missouri bends 800 feet below you

From inside the shelter, you look straight down at a wide bend of the Little Missouri River. Layered cliffs and buttes fan out in bands of tan, gray and rust. A short walk from the parking area brings you right to the edge, and paths along the clifftop lead to more angles in both directions. Many visitors who see both units call this the single best view in the whole park. You can stand here for 20 minutes and not see another person. Shutterstock

One road in, same road out, 14 miles of badlands

The Scenic Drive runs 14 miles into the North Unit and dead-ends at Oxbow Overlook. Then you turn around and drive back out. Without stopping, the trip takes about half an hour one way. But you will stop. The road twists and climbs along the rim of the badlands, and pullouts, picnic spots and trailheads line the way. Every curve opens a new cut of canyon or a flat where bison graze beside the pavement. Shutterstock

Giant stone balls scattered across a hillside

The Cannonball Concretions look like someone rolled boulders down a slope and walked away.

They formed underground over millions of years, as mineral-rich water cemented sediment together around a small core. The softer badlands eroded. The hard round stones stayed put. Some are as big as small boulders, sitting loose in the clay like they were placed there on purpose. A short walk from the pullout gets you close enough to put your hand on one. Shutterstock

Bison graze so close you can hear them chew

Bison show up right next to the Scenic Drive at any hour. Herds sometimes cross the road, and you just stop the car and wait. The open, uncrowded setting means you can spot them from a distance and watch a whole herd move across the broken hills. Mule deer tend to appear most around dawn and dusk. With so few visitors on the road, the animals here act like they own the place, because they mostly do. Shutterstock

Longhorns with horns that span several feet

The North Unit is the only place in the park where you can see Texas longhorn steers. The herd honors the big cattle drives that pushed through this land in the 1880s, and their horns can stretch several feet from tip to tip. They often graze near the Longhorn Pullout early on the drive, so keep your eyes on the flats as you start in. Pull over, roll down the window and watch them from the car. Wikimedia Commons/Acroterion

Oxbow Overlook glows at the end of the road

Oxbow Overlook sits at the very end of the Scenic Drive, where the road runs out and the canyon takes over. It takes its name from a sweeping horseshoe bend in the river below. A short paved path leads to wide views in both directions, and the colored canyon walls pick up gold and orange in early and late light. If you time it right, you can watch the sky shift over the badlands as the sun drops toward the prairie. Shutterstock

Four miles of juniper draws and deep canyon ridgelines

Caprock Coulee is the signature hike of the North Unit. The loop runs about four miles and earns its moderate-to-strenuous rating fast. You drop through juniper draws and clay hills, then climb to a high ridgeline where deep canyons, buttes and the river valley spread out below you. Bison, deer and bighorn sheep all use this stretch of the park, so scan the slopes as you walk.

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The post The badlands get tighter and wilder once you cross into North Dakota’s North Unit appeared first on When In Your State.

The trail gives you the North Unit on foot, not just through a windshield. Shutterstock

Bighorn sheep rest right on the cliff edges

Bighorn sheep like the steep ground near the overlooks, but they blend into the rock so well you can miss them. Scan the slopes slowly, especially the broken ledges along the canyon walls. Coyotes and golden eagles also live in the area, and pronghorn occasionally wander into the park. The mix of prairie, river and cliff here supports a wide range of animals, so the longer you stay at any one pullout, the more you tend to see. Shutterstock

Prairie dogs pop up and yell at you

Out on the grassy flats, the North Unit has busy prairie dog towns. Unlike some parks where you drive right past them, here you walk a bit to reach the colonies. The animals pop up from their burrows and bark out warnings the second they spot you. Their tunnel systems also create homes for other prairie creatures that move in below ground. Kids love watching them dart between holes, but adults end up standing there just as long. Shutterstock

The river carved all of this and it has not stopped

The Little Missouri River shaped these badlands over hundreds of thousands of years, and its bends and floods keep reshaping the valley floor right now. Layers of rock show up as colored bands across the cliffs, each one a different chapter of time. Rolling green prairie sits right beside rugged, eroded slopes, sometimes separated by just a few feet. That contrast is why each stop on the Scenic Drive feels like a different park entirely. Shutterstock

Visit River Bend Overlook in North Dakota

You can reach River Bend Overlook by driving the Scenic Drive in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, about 15 miles south of Watford City off US Highway 85. The shelter sits roughly halfway along the road, a short walk from the parking area. The full scenic drive covers about 28 miles round trip, so give yourself at least an hour and 15 minutes without stops and more if you plan to get out at the pullouts. Check with the North Unit before you go, since weather can affect road access. This article was created with AI assistance and human editing. Read more from this brand:

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The post The badlands get tighter and wilder once you cross into North Dakota’s North Unit appeared first on When In Your State.