Elkhorn Ranch Unit Trail

Elkhorn Ranch Unit Trail is an easy 1.4-mile out-and-back from the unit’s parking area through cottonwoods to the Little Missouri River and the foundation stones of Theodore Roosevelt’s former home ranch. The walk takes about 30 minutes; give yourself longer to read the exhibits. Come for the story and the river setting—there’s no standing cabin to see.

The one-way walk is about 0.7 mile. It leaves the parking area, weaves among cottonwoods, and reaches the riverbank at the former cabin site; return the same way. This is a brief, easy walk, and the road trip to the unit is the bigger commitment. The exhibits include passages Roosevelt wrote about life at the ranch. For a photo, fit a cottonwood and the open buttes into the same frame; that gives the site its scale.

Roosevelt chose this location in 1884, after his wife Alice and his mother died on the same day. It became his “home ranch.” His Maine guides Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow built an eight-room cottonwood-log house here, completed in spring 1885. After the severe winter of 1886–87 killed about 60 percent of his cattle, Roosevelt closed the house in 1890 and sold the ranch in 1898. By 1901, only a couple of decaying foundations were said to remain. The stones you reach are the real remains, not a restored cabin.

Follow FH2 past the USFS Elkhorn Campground and the Maah Daah Hey Trailhead to the unit’s parking area. The last three miles of unpaved road can require four-wheel drive or high clearance, especially in winter or during and after rain; check road conditions before leaving. There’s no cell service at the ranch or along much of the approach. The unit has no visitor facilities, so make food and restroom stops before the drive and bring your water. An entrance pass is required, and dogs are not allowed on park trails.