Visiting the Elkhorn Ranch
T.R.'s home ranch sits on the Little Missouri River about 35 miles north of Medora, in the most remote unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Nothing of the house stands today. The drive out, the quiet walk through the cottonwoods and the view from the riverbank are the reasons to go.
The Elkhorn Ranch site today, where none of the ranch buildings still stand.
About 46 miles
From the Library, 30 of them on gravel
90 minutes or more
Each way
0.7 mile
Flat, mowed path to the cabin site
No signal
No cell service, water or facilities at the ranch
The light has gone out of my life.
Why T.R. came here
Theodore Roosevelt wrote that line on February 14, 1884, the day his wife, Alice, and his mother, Mittie, died hours apart in the same New York house.
That summer he went back to Dakota Territory. His first ranch, the Maltese Cross, sat close enough to Medora that it offered little of the solitude he was after. He rode north and settled on a stretch of river bottom about 35 miles downstream, and called it the Elkhorn.
Two woodsmen from Maine, Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow, came west to run it. They cut cottonwoods from the bottom and built the house over the fall and winter of 1884. It became T.R.'s home in the Badlands, and he wrote about it in Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (1885) and Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail (1888). The hard winter of 1886–87 broke the open-range cattle business on the northern plains, and T.R. stepped back from ranching soon after.
Roosevelt mounted in ranch costume near Medora in Dakota Territory, 1885 — the hard riding and physical vigor he prized. (Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library)
Start at the Library
The cabin is gone, so the story is easier to see before you make the drive. The Elkhorn Ranch gallery recreates T.R.'s ranch house against the real Badlands, framed through the Library's windows, and his 1884 diary, on loan from the Library of Congress, is on view in the galleries. Pair a morning in the galleries with an afternoon at the ranch, or the reverse.
The drive
This is the route the National Park Service gives from Medora. From the Library it is about 46 miles: 16 on pavement to I-94 exit 10, then 30 on gravel across ranch country and the Little Missouri National Grassland. Allow 90 minutes or more each way, and longer if the roads are wet.
The road between my upper and lower ranch houses is about forty miles long, sometimes following the river-bed, and then again branching off inland, crossing the great plateaus and winding through the ravines of the broken country. It is a five-hours’ fair ride; and so, in a hot spell, we like to take it during the cool of the night, starting at sunset.
Turn by turn
- From the Library, follow Chateau Road and Pacific Avenue to I-94, then drive west about 13 miles to exit 10.
- At the end of the ramp, turn right onto County Road 11 (gravel). Go 8.8 miles.
- Turn right onto Westerheim Road (also listed as 160th Ave SW). Go 6.5 miles.
- Turn left onto Bell Lake Road (spelled Belle Lake Road on some maps). Go 11.7 miles.
- Turn right onto FH 2 toward the Forest Service's Elkhorn Campground. Go 3 miles, past the campground and the Maah Daah Hey trailhead, to the Elkhorn Ranch parking area.
Parking area coordinates: 47.2349, -103.6274.
The North Dakota Badlands that shaped Roosevelt’s conviction that natural resources are a trust to be passed on undiminished to the next generation. (Photo: Acroterion, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
What the roads are like
- I-94: paved interstate. Winter storms can close it.
- County Road 11, Westerheim Road and Bell Lake Road: gravel. Expect loose stones and dust in dry weather, and slow down for blind hills and oncoming traffic.
- The last 3 miles on FH 2: the Park Service warns this stretch sometimes needs four-wheel drive or a high-clearance vehicle, especially in winter and during and after rain.
- After rain or snow: conditions get worse fast. If it has rained recently, call before you go.
- After dark: there are no lights on these roads. Plan to be back on the interstate by sunset.
Check conditions before you go
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park: ask at the South Unit Visitor Center in Medora, or call (701) 623-4466.
- Little Missouri National Grassland roads: Medora Ranger District, (701) 227-7800.
- North Dakota highways: dial 511.
Before you leave Medora
- Fill the tank. There are no services on the gravel roads.
- Bring water and food. The ranch has none. The Forest Service's Elkhorn Campground, on the way in, has vault toilets but no drinking water.
- Save the route offline. Phones lose signal well before the ranch. Download an offline map or print this page.
- Save the walking guide. Open the Library’s Elkhorn Ranch Walking Guide below and tap Save for offline, then allow location and the compass while you still have signal.
- Wear sturdy shoes. The path is flat but can be slippery when wet.
- Tell someone your plan and when you expect to be back.
The Little Missouri River curves past cottonwood groves and open prairie, the green thread running through the heart of the Badlands. (Wikimedia Commons)
The walk to the cabin site
From the parking area, a flat, mowed path runs 0.7 mile through the cottonwoods to the riverbank, about 1.4 miles round trip. The Library’s walking guide below follows the Park Service’s eight stops, with a live map and compass to lead you to each one:
- Trailhead. Where the path leaves the parking area.
- Returning to the Badlands. The loss that sent T.R. west in 1884.
- A business proposal. His offer to Sewall and Dow, neither of whom had ranched before.
- Building the Elkhorn. Cottonwood logs, cut and hewn on site.
- A growing ranch. The herd arrives in 1885.
- A home on the Little Missouri. The view he wrote about.
- Life at the Elkhorn. The Sewall and Dow families, and two babies born a week apart.
- The cabin site. The foundation stones on the riverbank.
Walk it with the Library’s guide
Open the guide on your phone at the trailhead. A live map and compass point you to each of the eight stops, and each stop opens the story of the ranch in T.R.’s and Bill Sewall’s own words. There is no cell service at the ranch, so tap Save for offline before you leave Medora.
At the riverbank
Foundation stones mark where the house stood. Face the river, and the scene is the one T.R. described from his veranda in 1885.
My home ranch-house stands on the river brink. From the low, long veranda, shaded by leafy cottonwoods, one looks across sand bars and shallows to a strip of meadowland, behind which rises a line of sheer cliffs and grassy plateaus.
The Elkhorn Ranch corrals and buildings in a historic photograph.
Can’t make the drive?
The Library photographed the ranch site in seven 360° panoramas: the foundation stones, the cottonwoods and the river. Look around from your phone or a screen at home.
Elkhorn Ranch FAQs
About 35 miles north as the crow flies, and about 46 miles by road from the Library, 30 of them on gravel. Allow 90 minutes or more each way.
The Park Service says the last three miles sometimes require four-wheel drive or a high-clearance vehicle, especially in winter and during and after rain. Call (701) 623-4466 before you go.
No. Foundation stones mark the site. The Elkhorn Ranch gallery inside the Library recreates the house.
No visitor center, restrooms, water or cell service. The nearest vault toilets are at the Forest Service’s Elkhorn Campground on the way in.
Pets are not allowed on the trail.
Plan the rest of your trip
Visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park
The South and North Units, and how to fit them around the Library.
Elkhorn Ranch in 360°
Seven panoramas of the ranch site, photographed by the Library.
More ways to explore the Badlands
Badlands Geology
Tap a map of the park to see the rock under your feet, from red clinker to petrified stumps.
Wildlife Watching
Bison, wild horses and elk: what to look for, where to find them and when to go.
Camping Near Medora
Free camping on public land, park campgrounds and how to tell public land from private.
Northern Lights in Medora
A live aurora outlook and the best nights ahead to see the lights over the Badlands.