Little Mo Nature Trail

Large hard spherical boulders emerge here from the soft cliffs. When mineral-rich water seeps through porous layers of earth, deposited minerals glue together the surrounding sediments, building these concretions much like a pearl.

A stone shelter built by the CCC upon the most dramatic viewpoint in the North Unit.

This viewpoint at the end of the road, above an oxbow bend of the river, is a gateway to the wilderness area below.

In 1884 Roosevelt selected the location for a second ranch, naming it the Elkhorn. He purchased the rights to the site 35 miles (56 km) north of Medora from the previous occupant for $400. Roosevelt's last known visit to the Elkhorn was in 1892. He sold the ranch and buildings to Sylvane Ferris in 1898. Gradually the buildings were stripped of their furnishings and, according to a local stockman, by 1901 "every scrap of the Elkhorn Ranch had disappeared with the exception of a couple of half rotted foundations." In his writings, Roosevelt often referred to the Elkhorn as his "home ranch". His vivid descriptions of it, and of ranch life, enable his readers to imagine how things must have been.

A short but steep 0.3 mi loop to along the cliffs of the Little Missouri River to a hilltop overlook.

10.4 mi loop to one of the largest petrified forests in the U.S., with extensive paleontological deposits from the Paleocene era. Fossils of several plants, freshwater snail species, and vertebrates including crocodile-like creatures called champsosaurs, crocodiles and alligators, turtles and fish.