Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
Our travel dates were June 26 July 6, 2024.
Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts
Since we weren’t interested in the free continental breakfast at our hotel, we decided to head to one of the breakfast places that we had found online called the Farmhouse Cafe.
Click here for the best places to eat breakfast in Medora
We arrived around 8 am and there was already several people who were waiting outside to get a table.
After waiting about 20-30 mins, we were finally seated.
After looking over the menu, I decided on the farmhouse breakfast and the hubby ordered the breakfast sandwich.
The food was very good as well as the service!
Read reviews here
After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel to pack up and check out.
Tip: For more affordable lodging, look at staying in Dickinson, ND. It’s located 35 mins from Medora
Once we were checked out, we headed to our first stop of the day.
We would be doing the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park today.
Tip: The North Unit operates on Central time, while the South Unit operates on Mountain time.
On our drive, we passed lots of oil rigs.….they are all over the Dakotas!
In 2022, North Dakota produced on average more than 1 million barrels of oil per day, making it the number three oil producer in the U.S. behind only Texas and New Mexico.
Tip: It was only 53 degrees when we arrived to the park so always check the weather before heading out
The view as we were nearing the park 
We arrived to the north unit entrance around 10:45 am and decided to make a quick stop at the visitor center that was located inside a small trailer.
They didn’t have much of anything so, we headed inside the park.
Tip: The entrance fee that you paid at the South unit will be good for the North Unit as well. Your entrance fee is good for 7 days.
After getting our map of the park at the entrance station, we started our drive.
The scenic byway that runs through the park is 14 miles long.
The first half of the road traces the bottom of the badlands.
We thought the views in this unit were much nicer than the south unit.
About 15 mins after starting our drive into the park, we came to our first stop of the day, the Cannonball Concretions.
Tip: You can also access the 11.4 mile Buckhorn trail at this pullout
This is a must stop!
These big, round rocks definitely don’t seem to fit into the surrounding landscape!
These “cannonballs” were formed within the sediment layers of the badlands. Now, erosion is slowly exposing these buried treasures.
Some of the cannonballs have completely eroded out of the butte while others are just being exposed.
We spent about an hour here exploring the crazy rock formations and walking some of the nearby trails.
The views at this stop were very cool!
It’s definitely the most popular stop in this unit!
Click here for trails in the park
There were lots of cacti blooming along the trails.
We’re not sure if this was an actual trail or just made by people walking through this area because several areas were overgrown.
Keep your eyes open as there are many different types of snakes in the park, including rattlesnakes.
I would however, recommend that you walk these trails as you will discover lots of cool rock formations!
As well as a few other oddities lol!
There are 100-300 bison in this area and we saw signs of that as we were walking around.
I think we took the majority of our pictures at this stop!
A few more pictures of this area
Tip: Near this stop is the Little Mo Nature Trail
After leaving here, we continued our drive.
There are only a few stops in this unit.
After about 10 mins of driving, we came to our next stop where we spotted our first bison!
It was right across the road from the parking lot so we were able to get some good pictures of it!
Bison are very unpredictable and can run really fast so keep your distance!
Full-grown bulls weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet or more at the shoulder. They can run up to 35 miles per hour and spin around faster than a horse!
After taking our pictures of the bison, we walked over to the trailhead that we wanted to hike called Caprock Coulee Nature Trail.
Tip: Also located at this stop is the popular Caprock Coulee Loop trail that is 4.5 miles
The nature trail is 1.6 miles round trip.
We did have an encounter with bison on this trail!
Shortly after starting the trail, you will come to a split…take the trail to the left.
If you take the trail to the right, it will take you to either the Prairie Dog Town, which is 2 miles round trip or to the Buckhorn Trail Junction.
At the start of the trail, you will be walking through open grasslands.
You will then come to a few rock formations.
There were a ton of cacti and other blooming flowers on the trail!
The views were nice at the start of the trail.
But the further you walked, it turned into a wooded area with not much to see.
At this point, we decided to turn around and head back to our car.
After getting back to our car, we continued our drive through the park.
We hadn’t been driving long before we had bison cross the road in front of us!
They were huge!
Bison have been known to charge and damage vehicles so keep your distance!
After being in the park for about 2.5 hrs, we pulled over at what would be our next stop and had lunch.
Guess what we ate? Our pancakes from breakfast! Lol!
We didn’t eat them at breakfast so decided to take them with us since we felt they would be ok in the car.
There is no food in the park so make sure you bring your own food and water and have plenty of gas too!
After eating our pancakes, we got out of the car to check out the views.
This area is the River Bend Overlook.
This scenic overlook offers breathtaking views of the Badlands from a historic shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
We spotted some cool rock formations!
From this overlook, you had views of the Little Missouri River.
We saw more blooming flowers!
We made our way to the historic shelter for better views.
The views here are definitely worth the stop!
Before reaching the shelter, you will first come to a small wooden deck that has a couple of information plaques that describe the area and the views.
A lady offered to take our picture, so of course, we didn’t turn her down!
We then headed down to the shelter.
The views here are incredible!
We spent about 30 mins here taking pictures and enjoying the views.
After leaving this stop, we headed to our next stop.
We had a gorgeous day!
Our next stop was the Bentonitic Clay overlook.
At this stop, you will see blue-black popcorn like soil that caps the plateau 50 ft below the overlook which is called bentonitic clay.
The clay flows when it’s wet and can be traced for miles up and down the river.
There was another couple at this stop who offered to take our picture for us. 🙂
After this stop, we continued our drive to the next stop which would be the final stop and the end of the road at the Oxbow Overlook.
The road ends at a large parking area and turnaround. From here, you turn around and follow the same road out of the park.
A short 0.2 mile paved loop trail leads over a small hill to views of the Little Missouri River over 400 feet below.
Tip: Also located here is the Achenbach Trail
The views here are beautiful!
After leaving here, we headed back towards the entrance.
We saw tons of bison from a distance!
Other animals that can be seen in the park is mule deer, prairie dogs, pronghorns, coyotes, and golden eagles.
We spent about 4 hrs in the park.
Leaving the park 
Tip: Approx. 1 hr 15 mins from the North Unit is the Enchanted Hwy where you will find all kinds of huge, quirky metal signs….we really wanted to do this but ran out of time.
On the way back to Medora, we pulled over when we spotted a white cross on top of a small hill with a sign nearby telling why it was there.
We arrived back to Medora around 4:30 pm so we decided to drive through the town for a while.
We saw the Perception building as we were driving.
In this area is where you will find Medora’s newest attraction called Point to Point Park where they have miniature golf, zip lining, a lazy river pool and more.
We passed the historic Von Hoffman House. The house was built in 1884. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
After driving around for a few minutes, we headed to dinner at the Pitchfork Steak Fondue dinner.
I had purchased tickets for the dinner prior to us leaving for our trip.
I had read mixed reviews about it but lots of people recommended doing it at least once so, I decided to go ahead it book it.
The dinner is held next to the building where the Medora Musical is held.
Lots of people will do the steak dinner and then walk over and see the musical. However, it didn’t work out for us do it that way.
When you purchase your tickets, you will have to choose what time you want to eat….the time slots begin at 5:15 are are in 15 minute increments with the last time slot being 6:15 pm.
We purchased tickets for the 5:30 dinner and showed up around 5:15.
There were already several people in line waiting for the dinner to start.
This is a buffet style meal where they cook 12 oz new york strip steaks on a pitchfork!
You can watch the cooks load the steaks onto pitchforks, then dunk them in barrels of oil!
Once they tell everyone how it works, you will line up and they will scan your ticket…after they scan your ticket, you will go through the buffet line.
They had baked beans, baked potatoes, garlic toast, coleslaw, vegetables, fresh fruit salad, brownies, cinnamon-sugar donuts, lemonade, and coffee.
After making your plate, you headed over to the steaks and they would place a steak on your plate.
You would then find a seat at one of the many tables.
The steak was really good but the rest of the food was just average but we were glad we did it…it was a neat experience.
Read reviews here
After we ate, we walked around the grounds.
The views were beautiful!
We spotted the historic Chateau de Mores house.
Views of the Medora Musical amphitheater
After spending about 1.5 hrs here, we headed back to town to do a horse carriage ride.
You find the carriage rides parked near the Perception building or near the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
There are only two people in Medora that give carriage rides.
The rides last about 30 mins and you get to learn about the history of the town.
We were the only ones on the ride!
After the ride, we headed back to Bowman where we would be spending our 4th night as we made our way back to South Dakota.
Once we arrived to Bowman, we drove through the town.
It was a cute, historic area.
We passed the historic Bowman theater. This small town theater was originally opened in 1946 with seating for over 300.
We then headed to our hotel….we stayed back at the Bowman Lodge & Convention Center.
We arrived to the hotel around 8:30 pm. After getting checked in, we headed to our room.
Once again, we had a room with two queen beds.
Our bathroom in this room was bigger than the first room we had stayed in.
Read reviews here
After getting settled into our room, we called it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 5!
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