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- Theodore Roosevelt National Park (personal favorite) — Badlands drama, wild bison, rugged buttes and wide-open skies that actually feel wild. Great short hikes, scenic drives and real solitude if you get off the main overlooks. It’s the landscape that shaped Teddy’s conservation ideas and nowhere else in the U.S. quite matches this particular mix of prairie, hoodoos and wildlife watching.
- Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site — Earthen lodge ruins and riverbank villages where Hidatsa and Arikara people lived for centuries. You can walk the trails, see reconstructed lodges and get a real sense of how life on the plains was organized long before European contact. It’s an unusually intact Native cultural landscape right along the Missouri River.
- Fort Union Trading Post — Remote,
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park (personal favorite) — Badlands drama, wild bison, rugged buttes and wide-open skies that actually feel wild. Great short hikes, scenic drives and real solitude if you get off the main overlooks. It’s the landscape that shaped Teddy’s conservation ideas and nowhere else in the U.S. quite matches this particular mix of prairie, hoodoos and wildlife watching.
- Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site — Earthen lodge ruins and riverbank villages where Hidatsa and Arikara people lived for centuries. You can walk the trails, see reconstructed lodges and get a real sense of how life on the plains was organized long before European contact. It’s an unusually intact Native cultural landscape right along the Missouri River.
- Fort Union Trading Post — Remote, windswept fur-trade post on the Missouri River that was a hub for trappers, traders and Native partners. The reconstructed stockade and river views make it easy to imagine the 19th-century commerce and cultural exchange that shaped the northern plains. Far from flashy, but deeply atmospheric.
- Maah Daah Hey Trail — A long, wild trail that threads the badlands for dozens of miles; built for mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders who want real backcountry solitude in North Dakota. There are primitive campsites and epic ridge-top views — this is for people who want to earn their scenery. (Hidden gem for long-distance trekkers.)
- Enchanted Highway — A wildly quirky stretch of highway dotted with massive scrap-metal sculptures (giant geese, tin family, etc.) by a single artist. It’s roadside kitsch done with heart: the scale is surprising and the story behind the pieces is pure local character. Perfect for a slow, photographic detour.
- Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area — Steep river valleys, mixed forest and eroded sandstone cliffs far north of what most people expect in ND. Hike, paddle or pick a fall day and watch the colors pop. Locals swear by this place because it feels like a different state squeezed into the northeast corner. (Hidden gem — few tourists make the trip.)
- Lake Metigoshe State Park — A cluster of clear lakes, rocky outcrops and boreal-influenced forest up by the Canadian border. Canoes, quiet campsites and trails that feel unexpectedly northern make this a peaceful escape from the prairie monotony. Good for summer paddling or cross-country skiing in winter. (Hidden gem.)
- Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park & On-A-Slant Village — A rare combo of reconstructed Custer-era buildings and the On-A-Slant Mandan village site with earthlodge reconstructions. You get military frontier history and deep Native history in one riverside spot, plus easy trails and river views just outside Bismarck.
- Fort Buford State Historic Site — The frontier fort where Sitting Bull sought refuge and where the Army’s presence shaped the region’s transition in the late 1800s. The site sits in a remote stretch of the Missouri and gives a tangible sense of the post-contact, Plains-border tensions and transitions.
- National Buffalo Museum & “Samson” (World’s Largest Buffalo), Jamestown — Okay, this one is goofy and beloved: a real bison museum next to a massive fiberglass buffalo statue. You can see live bison, learn about ranching and plains ecology, and appreciate an oddball piece of Americana that’s actually rooted in the state’s working bison culture. It’s kitsch with context, and locals love it.
Spotted a mistake or missing something? Contact us.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour
Chasing Horses Back to Nature Experience in North Dakota
Self Guided Audio Tour of Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Murder Mystery Detective Experience in Fargo ND
Theodore Roosevelt National Park Self-Guided Audio Tour
An Exciting Scavenger Hunt: Beautiful Bismarck
Missouri River BBQ Dinner Cruise with Laughing Sun Brewing Co
Afternoon Missouri River Leisure Cruise
Sunday Pizza Cruise feat. Craftcade Pizza
Best Backpacking
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past decade, I’ve backpacked through 80+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.