Scenic pullout · Theodore Roosevelt National Park
A good roadside pause for the longhorn story, not a sure sighting.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Longhorn Steer Pullout: The Cattle-Drive Story“Up ahead is Longhorn Steer Pullout, a quick stop for the cattle-drive story.”
Plays as you drive up to Longhorn Steer Pullout in the Parkwolf Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Longhorn Steer Pullout is a small roadside stop on the North Unit’s 14-mile scenic drive, with a concrete sidewalk above open prairie and low badland ridges. It’s a good pause if you’re interested in the ranching story; I wouldn’t make the drive just to see cattle. The longhorn herd is maintained in the North Unit, but the animals roam and may be far out in the grass or out of sight.
The park’s demonstration herd recalls the open-range cattle era Theodore Roosevelt encountered in the badlands. The first six steers arrived in 1967, and the herd has been supplemented since. Cattle drives such as the Long X Trail brought Texas longhorns north into Dakota Territory and crossed what is now the North Unit, so the stop ties the animals to the landscape’s ranching history.
Take the North Unit scenic drive from US Highway 85. It’s about 14 miles out and back (28 miles round trip), mostly paved with a gravel stretch. The sidewalk makes this an easy pullout stop without a trail hike. There are no restrooms along the drive, so use the North Unit entrance visitor center or Juniper Campground and Picnic Area before heading out.
Wildlife
1,082 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
346 sightingsWild HorseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
27 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
45 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
87 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
162 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Theodore Roosevelt. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingBuckhorn Trail11.4 mi · 7 hr · 0.8 mi awayA full-day loop through prairie dog towns and difficult open prairie.
EasyLittle Mo Trail — Unpaved Outer Loop1.1 mi · 38 min · 2.1 mi awayThe unpaved 1.1-mile loop pairs river-bottom woods with open badlands.
EasyLittle Mo Trail — Paved Inner Loop0.7 mi · 36 min · 2.1 mi awayA short paved loop beneath the cottonwoods, with a creek footbridge.
ChallengingAchenbach Trail18 mi · 11 hr · 2.3 mi awayA full-day loop with two Little Missouri crossings.
ModerateCaprock Coulee Trail4.3 mi · 2.5 hr · 3.3 mi awayA wooded coulee climbs to a narrow ridge over the Little Missouri.
EasyCaprock Coulee Nature Trail1.6 mi · 1.3 hr · 3.3 mi awayA short badlands walk where water has drawn the walls into folds.EasyPrairie Dog Town via the Buckhorn Trail1.5 mi · 1 hr · 3.3 mi awayA short Buckhorn walk to a prairie dog town.
ChallengingNorth Achenbach Trail5.5 mi · 4.5 hr · 3.3 mi awayA one-way badlands crossing to Oxbow's river overlook.
Scenic pullout · 0.6 mi awaySlump Block PulloutA quick geology stop in bighorn sheep country.
Campground · 0.7 mi awayCCC CampgroundA trailhead campground just across the river from the North Unit.
Visitor center · 1.5 mi awayNorth Unit Visitor CenterA 17-minute film before the North Unit's 28-mile out-and-back drive.
Sight · 2 mi awayCannonball ConcretionsSpheres reach about five feet across, just off the scenic drive.
Campground · 2 mi awayJuniper CampgroundThe North Unit's only campground, where bison may wander through.
Sight · 4.3 mi awayRiver Bend OverlookA CCC stone shelter frames the Little Missouri River's bend.
Sight · 4.7 mi awayBentonitic Clay OverlookA quick stop for the badlands' blue-gray and yellow layers.Parkwolf’s Theodore Roosevelt ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
