View Larger Map

Located 7 miles west of Medora via I94 and 1/4 mile north at exit 18; the campground features two comfort stations with sinks and flush toilets, one vault toilet, 75 person picnic shelter, 11 water hydrants, 37 camping units with picnic tables and fire rings, 5 units are handicap accessible, and 3 coin operated showers. All roads and camping spurs are paved.

Scenic features include a prairie dog town and a paved trail to a scenic vista overlooking the Badlands. The campground is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and the cost is $6.00 per night.

View Larger Map

From the Sentinel Butte exit on I-94 go east 3 miles and then 14 miles northeast, on road #726 to the camp.

The camp has 6 single unit camp spurs and 4 pull-through camp spurs. This fenced campground has a handicap accessible vault toilet and a potable water well available during the summer months. A day use parking lot is located ¼ mile south of the camp along the south side of road #726.

A great meeting area for the north end of the Buffalo Gap Trail. The switchbacks located on the Maah Daah Hey Trail offer a sweeping vista of the region, including a scenic view of many large buttes.

View Larger Map

From the Camel Hump (Sentinel Butte) exit 10, on I-94, go west and northeasterly 15.5 miles on County Road #11 to Road # 708. Then travel 11.5 miles north and east on road #708 to road FH2; then travel east for 1 mile to the camp entrance.

This fenced campground has a handicap vault toilet, 8 camp spurs and 1 pull through camp spur.

Features a scenic canyon (2.5 miles west) of the Theodore Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranch Site.

I have picked up info that tells me you can cross the little missouri during certain times of the year with a four wheel drive vehicle and save a lot of time on getting to this point. I will post more info once I find out more.

It takes along time to get to the elkhorn campground by car. Because of this we have never ridden there. I am going to ride it this year also there are reports out there that you can ford the river with a four wheel drive if conditions are right so I will also follow up on that. When we do ride it expect a report.

View Larger Map

Located 15 miles south of Watford City, off Highway 85, south of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Turn west on road # 842 just south of the Long X bridge over the Little Missouri River, travel 1 mile west to the entrance.

This newly remodeled and expanded campground remains a favorite for those planning on traveling on the Maah Daah Hey Trail from the North Trailhead. The campground has three loops, containing 38 camping spurs, a parking area at the North Trailhead of the MDH Trail, and access to the Long X Trail and Summit Trail.

The campground has handicap accessible vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings. There are horse tie-up areas on the west and east ends of the campgrounds and a well with potable drinking water. The campground also contains an informative kiosk at the entrance. Overnight camping is $6.00 per night during the summer months.

* Distance: all distances are out and back unless otherwise stated
o Sixteen miles out
o eight mile loop this is if you take the Long X trail loop back to camp

This trip will take you from the CCC campground to the entrance of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and back again. You do have the Option at about the half way point to take the Long X Trail back to the camp ground, this will easy to find since it is mark with a sign post. This is a good way to shorten the ride more or give your self a different view on the way back. Since none of us on the Staff have ridden it we don’t have a clue what it is like.
We will tell you though what the Maah Daah Hey trail is like. In this are the forest service is doing a great job of rebuilding or building in some cases switchbacks and fixing wash outs in this portion of the trail, kudos to them for the job they are doing. Because of this the first mile and a half is nice single track with a couple of creek crossings these are usually low water with not to much to worry about. After this part you start a mile long climb, going up about five hundred feet. It starts out gradually but this starts to wear on you. Eventually the trail moves into a steep and virtually impossible climb I say this because of the grade of the climb and the terrain it goes over very tight switch backs and in some areas the water bars have eroded to form a drop of which will stop you deep in your tracks. At this point you will be forced hike the bike up the last few hundred yards. After this the trail comes up on a plateau, which with the exceptions of some excellent views and a few rollers is mainly flat. This goes on like this for about four miles and if it wasn’t for this section this would be one of my favorite areas to ride but it is just too long and boring. The last couple of miles before the park are pretty well all kick asses downhill with some nice switchback areas. The bigger suspension guys will love this downhill and the downhill back into the campground on the way back. Once the downhill ends, you will come to what should be a dried up (most of the year) creek bed named Collar Draw. The park is less than a quarter of a mile from here and this is where we usually turn around. This is an easily manageable day ride with two nice down hills or two shitty up hills depending on your outlook in life, with a four mile jaunt in between. My thought on it is divided on one hand you have some nice views everything in the northern part of the badlands seems bigger. I love both downhill sections but like I said you have to climb them both to enjoy them. Overall this is a nice ride, I look at the flat in between as a time to rest and the views are nice.

View Larger Map

Turn west on Road #712 at the Magpie Camp sign, located 1.5 miles north of Fairfield on Highway 85; travel 15.5 miles on gravel road #712. The campground is located 1/4 mile northeast off road # 712. A day use parking lot right adjacent to the MDH trail is located 1/2 mile south of the campground.

This fenced camp features 11 camp spurs. A handicap accessible vault toilet and a potable water well are available during the summer months.

A convenient meeting area for those traveling to Devil’s Pass or the Ice Caves. A great shaded area in the summer!

The North Ride:

This is about a thirty miles total out and back, this will take you north to County Rd. 50. Which will be where you left off the Bennet Creek South Ride. Ok, once again we are going to have to buck up and say that it has been about three years since we went this way, this should tell that we don’t think much of going this way or at least didn’t at the time. But to each his own, and it has been three years so our memories are foggy and hell you might enjoy it who are we to say. From what we can see through fog and pick up from the map, we remeber and have pictures of some cool sandstone formations a short hike off of the trail where at, drawing another blank and that is about it from the cob webs between our ears. The thing we noticed from the map is that there is something call the Ice caves a short distance off of the trail. There is a trailhead about 3 miles up the Maah Daah Hey from the campground to get there, the trail to it branches off the Maah Daah Hey and goes to the east for a little under a mile. How easy it is to notice or find is unknown, just like we don’t half clue what the hell the Ice caves are. We will ride this section this spring so check back to see what we have discovered.

The South Ride:

From the Campground south along the Maah Daah Hey this will be roughly 23 miles total out and back. In our opinions this is one of the best if not the best one day rides on the Maah Daah Hey, if you want to ride a different section, besides south of Medora come here you will not regret it. This section starts out with a small climb and small downhill that leads into a steady and grueling climb for about 2 miles until you cross 711 road. From here it is a nice downhill and doable uphill until you eventually come to Devils Pass. Devils Pass is an old jeep trail with some awesome views, this is a good area to take break and look around a little. A short but steep climb brings you back out of Devils Pass and into a nice downhill where you will cross 712 road. It is a good idea to remeber roads where you can since, if you get caught in a rainstorm you can ride back to you vehicle on them alot easier than the trail. From here you have a rolling up and down with some nice switchbacks basically following 712 road until the trail crosses it again. From here it is pretty much downhill (give or take a short jaunt up) to the Little Missouri River. Also along this downhill you will pass the midway point, mile marker 49 which is a by now familiar turtle post, but this one is made of Stainless steel and adorns a plague. This ride is a great mix of things, nice scenery, good swithbacks, an awesome downhill (or shitty uphill depending on your mood and bike) which all gives it a nice flow that makes it seem shorter than it actually is. This is why it gets our vote for best one day ride on the Maah Daah Hey (so far, we may change this when we ride everything).

View Larger Map

Located 7.5 miles north of Grassy Butte on Highway 85, then west 4 miles. Turn south on road #824 across the green cattle guard, and approximately 1 mile south and west to the camp.

This fenced camp has 9 camp spurs and 4 pull through camp spurs. A handicap accessible vault toilet and potable water well are available during the summer months. This is the Bennet trailhead for access to the MDH trail, 3 miles west of the camp.

A day use parking lot is located west of the campground.

Peacefulness and serenity are major attractions of this camping area.

The Rides:

Since both rides start after your ride the Bennett Creek Trail two miles out to intersect the Maah Daah Hey You have to remeber to add four miles to your trip no matter which way you choose. The north ride to the park is sixteen miles total out and back this includes the four miles of Bennett Creek Trail. This is a good day ride with plenty of things to seen and some nice areas to play around. The south ride is up to you, and we will admit we have not gone that way yet but we will so check back soon(actually some time after march is what we are calling soon weather up here sucks) and we will let you know all about it, now on with the rides.
From the campground you go west through the swing gate. This is the start of the Bennett Creek Trail, it is about two miles of freshly made trail. It is rough in spots and is a little challenging to find at times, but not impossible, it is marked with it own post so you can just watch for them. After the two miles you will come to the Maah Daah Hey trail, here there is a mile marker sign that shows how far it is to the Park to the north or to Magpie Campground to the South.

The North Ride:

This ride starts with a climb to China wall, it has nice switchbacks and is very managable. The China wall is a very senic sandstone formation good for pictures and overall nice place to stop. From here it is all downhill until you hit a creek, Bennett’s Creek by the way, on the way down make sure and watch for a huge petrified tree stump trust us you can’t miss it (well hopefully you do miss it). From the creek it is a gently climb that becomes a rather long climb that gets steep and loose in areas but is ridable. Then you have what is pretty much three miles of downhill, give or take a slight climb (you can roll up them). This will bring you to where the trail enters the park and we are banned, this is a good spot to rest for a while and then turn around and do it all in reverse.

The South Ride: I will ride this section this year and tell you more.

Hell we don’t know none of us have gone this way. This should be update sometime, it isND so I cannot give a good date since the weather can very disagreable. We will give you our idea for a day ride south. You could go to county road 50 which seven miles south of the Mile marker sign, this would be a total of 18 miles out and back to the campground. We are just speculating but this probably would be a good day ride.

View Larger Map