North Unit, North Dakota, United States

5AC97 5:00 PM Jul 12, 2022

Driving the Loop Around the North Unit
Amazing trip! We arrived at approximately 12 pm and made our way towards the entrance of the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We paid the admission fee and proceeded to enter the visitor center. The north unit visitor center was extremely small, and only contained a single room that had a movie playing. The movie was 16 minutes in length, and talked about Theodore Roosevelts early life and how the park was created. I really wish the visitor center contained more information about the surrounding area. We also read some plaques that contained information about several hiking trails inside the park. We then proceeded to drive the 14 mile one way (28 mile round trip) scenic drive around the park. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and there were several points along the way where one could stop, and enjoy the views around them. Each stop along the trail also contained an informational plaque that detailed what we were seeing in front of us. There were also multiple hiking trails along the way as well. We went on one hike, Prairie Dog Town via the Buckhorn Trail, and enjoyed it greatly. Towards the end of the trail was the prairie dog town, where we saw several prairie dogs, and their mounds. The prairie dogs were quite active, and we saw several of them running through the grass, standing on top of their mounds, and talking to each other. We also saw several bison in the distance as well. Tip: I recommend spending 4 hours here if you want to have a nice relaxing drive around the park. We were able to stop at all the sightseeing stops, and hiked a 1 mile (2 mile round trip) trail. If you want to do more trails, then I recommend allotting more time here.

5travelgirl93463 5:00 PM Aug 28, 2022

Our Dream Came True!!!!
Oh my gosh! An earlier reviewer had said the North Unit was where the magic happened and I could not agree more. After three previous unsuccessful trips to see bison ? (twice in 2006 at Custer State Park in South Dakota) and once at South Unit the day before on this current trip we struck gold! We were truly thrilled! Our visit was launched by super nice rangers at the North Visitor’s Center and a truly beautiful drive thru the park there, a picnic at Juniper campground, visiting the concretions x the street from the campground (DON’T MISS THIS!!!!!), spotting a large herd of bison, hiking in to see them (at a safe distance of course), stopping at each of the lookouts, and five more bison sightings. It was a super wonderful day. SO glad we followed the advice of other Trip Advisor writers and went to the North Unit!!!!