petrified forest loop

Very Nice trails. Just note there are No bathrooms. It is a Nice day ride. We rode until the bison had the trail blocked. We decided to turn around.

The hike was nice. We intended to do the combined North and South Loop but ended up doing more than twenty miles. We learned the hard way that the Bison use the posts to scratch, and in doing so, rub off the trail descriptions. We ended up doing an extra trail and then went the wrong way once we finished the wrong trail. The mistakes, however, led us through a prairie dog town, close to bison, and we also saw pronghorns. Even though we were sore the next day, the experience including our mistakes made it the highlight of our trip to the park. I could see it being slippery if you chose a rainy day.

We intended to do the entire 10 mile loop, but decided instead just to go out and back on each side of the loop to the petrified wood. We felt the wood going to the left of the loop (north) was a bit better than the south. However, the north seemed to be more visited as well (we didn't see anyone on the south side). The grasses on the south were more intruding on the trail - so I felt pants were the correct choice.To get to the trailhead, it is a gravel road - we were fine in a sedan on a dry September day. I would pay attention to the weather for I wouldn't want to be caught on parts of the road during a storm. There is no bathroom at the trailhead - so make sure to use the ones at the visitor center in Medora before you hit the road.There is a ranchers gate you have to open and close to get to the trail - very simple. The trail is well marked with wood posts. It is about 1.5 miles to the wood from the trailhead. So, if you do the north and the south, you are at about six or so miles. We didn't see any wildlife the day we were there, but I suspect that isn't always typical. We saw a lot of animal droppings - and also a lot of areas where the grasses were pushed back by something.

This is a must do for everyone and especially parents. Have no reservations to drive out to the west side of the park. The road is "gravel" but very well maintained for the fracking operations you will see along they way: only a lowered or ultra sports car would have issues (and in reality probably not even these type will suffer. It is a nice smooth road). Please, even those whom question whether they can manage the "strenuous" hike, the distance to the petrified wood is minimal.The half mile walk to the gate is easy - follow the instructions previously written by reviewers. The hike in is flat until you meet the rise to the plateau. The hike up to the plateau is the equivalent of about three flights of stairs. One can rest as much as needed. Then at the "post follow the path to the left. You will be on an unspeakably beautiful sea of yellow flowered plain for a mile or less. then you will descend the plain on the same equivalent three flights of stairs into the basin containing the petrified forest. All can be accomplished in a leisurely two or fewer hours not including viewing time.

Because of time we did the short hike, not the 15+ mile hike. I won't go into driving directions too much since others here have given very helpful and detailed ones. There are also maps on the National Park Service web page for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We drove around the outside of the park on gravel roads in a two door car and had no issues. There was only one low spot that might be a little hairy if there has been a recent heavy rain.After parking you enter the park thru a lift up gate, sign in, and then it is a 1/2 mile walk to the trail head. The sign is very worn and needs to be replaced. This can cause some confusion, but you can't go the wrong way! BOTH DIRECTIONS lead to petrified wood. If you did the complete loop you would see them both. Doing the short hike from the marker it is approximately a 3 mile round trip hike in either direction. There is no short loop linking them though so you need to come back to the sign if you want to go to both areas.It was a cool day with occasional sprinkles and we appreciated having the trail to ourselves. We saw 3 bison off in the distance along with numerous birds, wildflowers, and lots of tracks including bison, deer, and coyote(?).Last but certainly not least, the petrified wood was very cool to see! It seemed like we were on another planet! On the walk back to the car we kept seeing pieces of wood we missed initially. Wear appropriate shoes, sunscreen, and bug spray is never a bad idea in ND!

My boys loved this hike, but my wife didn't enjoy it quite as much. It was a little muddy on the way down, but it started to rain when we were at the petrified wood. We made it most of the way back without incident, but towards the begging of the train there is a hill made of bentonite. A very slippery clay that absorbs water. Well three of us went down in a heap! The boys were laughed and laughed, my wife not so much. I loved the wilderness aspect of the hike.

My husband and I hiked the Petrified Forest Loop Trail in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Overall, the trail is well marked and traveled. We started in the morning and it took about 5 hours (with stops) and the temperature that day started in the mid-50s and got up to the mid-70s. Together, we went through a gallon of water (almost 4 liters).Trailhead starts about 7 miles off of I-94 (exit 23, going west on I-94...there is no exit 23 going eastbound). The 7 mile road is a dirt road.We saw tons of buffalo...adult males by themselves and in small groups...and two very large herds of adult females and babies. Saw some antelope as well.We would recommend that you wear long pants versus shorts due to the high grasses. We also used gaiters and our hiking poles came in handy a time or two. If it has rained within the last day or two, portions of the trail can be quite muddy and very slippery. We would recommend the 10 hiking essentials and plenty of water and sunscreen (which, of course, are 2 of the 10 essentials).Gorgeous views and definitely worth the hike. Traveled mostly through grasslands...open wilderness areas where you can see for miles.

First of all we did not do the loop, we hiked in from the grasslands to the west, which is the shortest route, and chose the left portion of the loop, hiking in and back the same way.I found the maps and descriptions for this access point a little vague in my on-line searches. You can see the access road off of I94 on the maps, but I didn't think it was described very well. Once we got to the park and we checked the park newspaper, we saw that the maps showed the route more clearly and described the in and out hike option in more detail. Heading west on I94 you take exit #23 or the first exit after the last Medora exit. Turning right, you are immediately on a gravel road, which in some cases is much more rock than gravel. Most cars are going to do fine, but if you are motoring in your low clearance sports car, you might want to skip this drive/hike. The driving route is signed excellently, with small but very noticeable brown signs with white lettering indicating every turn you need to make. Basically, if you don't see a sign saying "Petrified Forest" with an arrow, don't turn off the main route. The actual newspaper map route road designations are 730A at the freeway exit, left on 730, right on 7302 and then 7303 and 7305, but those road markers are very small - stick with using the signs already mentioned. If a gully washer rainstorm is imminent or has just occurred, I might skip this one though, I don't know how well that road would hold up, especially for non-pickups or 4WDs.After arriving at the trailhead, you go through a metal gate on the park border fence. Lift the gate up, don't try to push it. It will close on its own. There is a log in/out sheet in a metal box a few steps further up the trail, make sure to enter the time in and time out upon your return. The first part of the hike is through typical Badlands terrain up from the trailhead floor to a prairie plateau. Once you arrive at the prairie, about .5 miles in, you will be faced with a choice of right or left access to the petrified forest. If you do the whole thing it is a loop, with this as the start/end point. We chose left, and after a nice walk across this little prairie, we descended again into badlands, with the white colored petrified wood immediately visible in great quantities. The trail actually leads through another section of grasslands in the middle of the bowl, which has petrified wood almost all around it. At this point you can hike to and see as much of the petrified wood and other rock formations as you want to. The wood is in great abundance. This is not the spectacularly colored wood of Petrified Forest in Arizona, but is quite stunning in its own right. After getting our fill, we retraced our route back to the trailhead. There are periodic tall wood posts to mark the trail, and sometimes you have to have a keen eye to spot them, but at least for the route we took the trail is well worn by both humans and bison, so there's virtually no chance of getting lost. Our total hike was less than three miles round trip, and we saw plenty of petrified wood. Both my wife and I agreed that this was the high point of our trip to Teddy Roosevelt N.P.

Beautiful, fun,and worthwhile! See the painted desert at sunset! The historic hotel is great to visit before 5. Rangers are very knowledgeable. Petrified forest is amazing!

Unfortunately, didn't have time to do the whole ten mile loop from inside the park, so decided to chance it by taking the shortcut from outside the park. The directions are shown on the park map from the nps website, but I found the road well marked so didn't have to rely on "turn right at ND 730A". One thing to note is that the exit to the road (exit 23) is only accessible westbound, so if you are heading eastbound you will have to get off at exit 24 to get back on the highway in the other direction. It was a lovely hike, with a nice progression from grasslands to badlands and forest. Didn't see any bison, but did see signs of them, so watch your step! After about half a mile you can go either left or right on the trail, I went right but assume that either way is good. It took about another half mile until I hit a big bunch of petrified tree stumps. Turns out I had passed others along the way but had no idea that's what they were, they look just like bleached stumps, so I thought they were still wood! As others have mentioned, there isn't much in the way of shade, so make sure to bring water. While there were a few other cars in the parking lot, I only saw two other people and that is because they parked around the same time I did. It was extremely quiet and peaceful, and if you can't get in a longer hike it is a must do.

We drove to the trail. Had to walk about 3 miles total. Not a hard trail. The cross trail was not real clear. We went to the left and was so glad. The petrified forest was awesome! So worth it.

One of the first trails we hiked in the part, I liked the grassy plateau past the "forest", as well as the beautiful petrified trees. Try not to hurry, but keep an eye open for snakes.

Took the South loop this past weekend and was a nice slow paced 3 hour hike (stopped for lots of pics). A fair amount of ups and downs with some loose "soil" so you need to pay attention where you put your feet. If it is raining I would avoid this hike. Lots of Bison mines so if you don't like poop this is not the hike for you. There was no oder and it was all dried out. The trail takes you across a flat area and then down into a valley where are the stumps are. Very pretty area and some amazing views. However it is not a loop! The trail continues for like another 10 miles to the campground and there are no signs that will tell you this. When you get through the valley and up the hill onto another large flat area the forest loop is over so turn around. Saw some bison that were fairly close to us along the walk. There is no shade or wind protection so dress for the weather and bring water. Not the place to be on a hot day.

My brother and I spent 4 nights camping in the South Unit and decided to see the Petrified Forest one day. The best directions to get there are located in the park newsletter. You must take a dirt road for a few miles. The signs were clear and we parked without any problems. We had to hike a few miles to the forest. Make sure you take the trail to the right after climbing to the top of the hill. We got lucky because the trail signs were not very clear. It is a few miles so you might think you walked the wrong way until you come over the plateau. You'll see lots of petrified tree stumps. We decided to turn around and go back instead of doing the entire 16 mile trail around the loop. Plan on about 3 hours total for the trip and walk.

Finally, after years of wanting to hike in the Petrified Forest at the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, on a beautiful Oct day with 80 degree weather, and no wind, we did. I’ve read this is the third largest petrified forest in the US. The trees are supposedly related to the modern Sequoia. I found two ways to get to the 10.5-mile PF loop trailhead. We went the quickest – we drove a few miles west of the main park entrance, then north maybe 6 miles on gravel/dirt roads through the National Grasslands. Follow the signs with the T. Roosevelt symbol. Saw lots of oil activity such as tan holding tanks, rigs, and gas flares. Park officials haven’t kept up with signs for directions and twice we took the wrong turn and ended up at the, “Warning! Do not go any further!” oil well ahead sign. The National Park Service owns mineral rights under the park, and according to the press, there will be no oil development or activity within park boundaries. That will depend on who controls Congress.But the noise. At first we thought the constant, “pop, pop, pop, pop,” was guns. We didn’t know it until hunters in the parking lot told us that October is Elk hunting season. Hunting is not allowed in the National Park, but is on National Grasslands. Elk that jump the fence from the park onto the grasslands are fair game. I worried about stray bullets, and would not hike again on the west section of the park during hunting season. But since we had driven four hours to get here, we hiked on. We realized half way into the hike that the, “pop, pop, pop, pop,” all during the hike, had to be oil well generators. From the dirt parking lot we walked a very short distance to the National Park fence and climbed through a park-made hole in the fence. The petrified forest, which can be reached only by foot or on horseback, was stumps that still stand upright where they once grew. We walked counterclockwise and after it was all said and done, thought going clockwise gets you quickest to the best part. Go maybe 1 mile. Can’t miss it as you’ll know when you’re there. We saw hundreds of stumps; some were up to 10+-ft in diameter. The landscape was once a subtropical forest at or near an Everglades-like swamp. Today it’s dry, scarred, and has few trees.Back to our 5-hour hike. Shade was nonexistent for most of the loop. Hundreds of bison and other animals roam free in this park and you might confuse a park trail with a wildlife trail. You won’t see cairns or trees with signs on them. The PF trail is marked by 4-ft maroon Metal posts. The 3-mi east part of the PF is the Maah Daah Hey Trail and it uses a turtle as the trail marker on 7+ ft Wood posts. The MDH part was high ground, easy walking, a lot of open sky and flat as a pancake for miles and miles. Most of the loop is well marked, but the bison use the trail markers to rub on, so some markers were knocked over or polished free of any writing. We walked by many buffalo wallows. Bison clean their hides by rolling in the dust. This dust bath creates shallow, saucer like depressions called wallows. We saw tufts of buffalo hair caught on trail markers and clumps of hair just lying on the trail. The heavy oil activity on the park’s boundary has to affect wildlife in some way. We didn’t see any wild horses, bighorn sheep, buffalo herds, pronghorn or deer. Twice we saw a lone bison. We heard elk. There was heavy rain here within the past week, and some spots on the trail had been trampled on when the ground was wet. There were no switchbacks as bison take a direct route to get where they are going. So when the ground was wet they really mashed up the clay. When it dried it left deep hoof prints carved in the clay and broken lumps of soil/clay. There isn’t much elevation on the loop, and the few times there was climbing/descending it was steep in places due to the deep, dried mud gullies of hoof prints we had to step around. If the rain had been recent the soil would have been loose and crumbly. But it dries fast here. If you don’t want to drive through the National Grasslands, then hike in and out from within the park. Walk north from the Cottonwood Campground area, cross the Little Missouri River, and hike northwest about 2-miles to the loop. Would we do this hike again? Probably not the loop. I would stick to the west side where there were clay buttes for kids to climb and petrified stumps to explore. But then you’re closest to the oil noise. And from Sept to Dec, some type of hunting, bow or gun.