Across 44.5 million acres, which is why the gaps between services are long
A bed where the gravel starts
Book close to the road you came for. Medora sits at the start of the South Unit loop, Watford City is 14 miles from the North Unit entrance, Dickinson and Belfield cover the middle of the badlands from I-94 and US 85, and Bottineau and Walhalla serve the two northern trail systems.
The season runs opposite to the mountain states: summer is the busy time, and winter closes portions of the park drives for snow and ice without publishing dates. A room in a town beats a cold night in a remote unit with no cell signal.
Nobody plans a trip around motels, and almost every long trip uses a few. After a week of wind, when the weather turns, while the truck is in a shop, or when the people you travel with have simply earned a hot shower.
What makes lodging work for overlanders
It comes down to parking and attitude.
01Room to park tall and long vehicles, and trailers without unhitching
02Parking you can see from the room, or that is lit
03Late arrivals and early breakfasts
04A hose, a laundry, and no fuss about dust
05Staff who know the local roads and what is open
Before you book
Call rather than click when you have a big vehicle.
01Ask about parking for your height and length.
02Ask about the access road in wet weather.
03Ask about pets, and about leaving gear on the vehicle.
Questions people ask
Will my rig fit?
Ask before you book. Roof tents, campers and high-roof vans do not fit many parking garages, and trailers need pull-through space. Small-town motels and lodges are usually easier than city hotels.
Is it safe to leave gear on the vehicle?
Use judgment, park where you can see the vehicle or under lights, and bring in what you cannot replace. Ask the front desk where they would park it.
How high is North Dakota?
From Walhalla at 981 feet to White Butte at 3,506.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
02,0004,000
Feet above sea level
Towns
BowmanServices in the southwest where US 12 meets US 85. Much of the BLM’s North Dakota public land lies in this county and in Dunn.2,969 ft
BeachThe first town inside North Dakota on I-94 from Montana, at the west end of the badlands.2,769 ft
BelfieldWhere US 85 meets I-94. The North Unit entrance is 50 miles north up US 85, through grassland and oil country.2,582 ft
DickinsonFull services on I-94 and the home of the BLM’s North Dakota Field Office, which manages about 58,000 acres of public land and the mineral estate under the western third of the state.2,412 ft
KilldeerUnder the Killdeer Mountains, which the Geological Survey says stand about 700 feet above the plains around them. Little Missouri State Park and its horse trails are north of town.2,285 ft
MedoraThe gateway to the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where the 36-mile paved scenic loop starts and ends. Rough Rider State Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail are minutes away.2,268 ft
Watford CityServices for the North Unit, 14 miles south on US 85, and for the north end of the Maah Daah Hey Trail at the CCC Campground about 16 miles south.2,123 ft
GarrisonNorth of Lake Sakakawea and Garrison Dam, near the Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds at Wolf Creek and East Totten Trail.1,925 ft
New TownOn the north side of Lake Sakakawea, between the badlands and the Minot road.1,901 ft
WillistonThe main town of the northwest, with Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site out on Highway 1804 toward the Montana line.1,876 ft
BismarckState capital and home of the Dakota Prairie Grasslands Supervisor’s Office. Kimball Bottoms, the Corps of Engineers motorized play area, is eight miles south.1,694 ft
MandanAcross the Missouri from Bismarck. The 22-mile Roughrider OHV Trail runs south from Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park along Highway 1806.1,648 ft
BottineauServices for the Turtle Mountain State Recreation Area, about six miles northeast, which keeps motorized trail open to off-highway vehicles.1,637 ft
MinotThe largest city in the north, on US 2 and US 83, between the badlands and the Turtle Mountains. Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge and its 10,500 acres lie northwest.1,614 ft
Valley CityOn I-94 where it crosses the Sheyenne River, in the country served by the Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway.1,221 ft
WalhallaThe town at the Pembina Gorge, where the state park keeps the only off-highway vehicle campground in the North Dakota park system.981 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
White ButteThe highest point in North Dakota, in Slope County. The USGS publishes 3,506 feet; our own reading of the elevation surface at its map point gives 3,5073,506 ft
Black ButteA badlands summit in Slope County, west of White Butte3,461 ft
Sentinel ButteIn Golden Valley County, west of Medora and south of I-943,426 ft
Bullion ButteA flat-topped butte in Billings County, south of Medora3,339 ft
Killdeer MountainsThe high point of the Killdeer Mountains, which the Geological Survey says stand as much as 1,000 feet above the Little Missouri floodplain3,314 ft
Pretty ButteIn western Slope County, near the Montana line3,171 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
