4 Best Sights in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Traversing the full length of the 144-mile Maah Daah Hey Trail is a true multiday wilderness adventure. A popular and well-maintained route, it runs through private and public lands—including the Little Missouri Grasslands and both the North and South units of the national park—with several access points and numerous campgrounds. Maps are available at the park visitor centers and through the U.S. Forest Service and the Maah Daah Hey Trail Association. The 7.1-mile one-way segment that runs through the park's South Unit will take you three or four hours; plan on a full day out and back. Moderate–Difficult.

A huge triceratops—whose complete skull was excavated in 1992 west of Dickinson—greets you at the entrance of this museum, which houses dozens of dinosaur bones, fossilized plants and seashells, and rocks and minerals collected from around the world. The museum, which is part of the greater 12-acre Dickinson Museum Center complex with the Joachim Regional Museum, Prairie Outpost Park, and Pioneer Machinery Hall, has North Dakota's largest dinosaur display.

Rangers host hour-long presentations and discussions on such subjects as park history, astronomy, fires, and wildlife. Look for times and subjects posted at park campgrounds.

Rangers take visitors on the trails of both units and through the backcountry and Elkhorn Ranch, discussing such subjects as geology, paleontology, wildlife, and natural history. Check at campground entrances or at the visitor centers for times, topics, departure points, and destinations.