Parking
Use the Old East Entrance Trailhead pullout between mile markers 22 and 23 on the South Unit Scenic Loop Drive.
Overview
About Old East Entrance Station Trail
Why go
- A hand-hewn sandstone gatehouse from 1938
- A very easy walk through an active prairie-dog town
Heads up
- The mapped path is longer than some published round-trip estimates
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Theodore Roosevelt map
Full mapElevation2,576–2,594 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
2 active Theodore Roosevelt alerts
- ClosureRidgeline Nature Trail inaccessibleDo not plan to use the South Unit’s Ridgeline Nature Trail; it is currently inaccessible because of a road collapse. - The trail is 0.6 mile long.Official details
- InfoChanged access route to Petrified Forest trailheadUse the approved legal route from I-94 Exit 10 to reach the Petrified Forest trailhead; follow the clearly marked posts.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide
Your drive to Old East Entrance Station Trail, narrated.
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 trailhead
Old East Entrance: A Gateway in a Prairie Dog Town0:00 / 0:30
“Up ahead is the trailhead for the Old East Entrance Station, the park's former sandstone gateway. Choose this for a little history and a walk through an active prairie dog town.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Theodore Roosevelt Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Badlands Overlook: A Landscape Hard to Cross
- An Owl at the Burrow
- Coal Vein Trail: The Ground Above the Fire
- Ridgeline Nature Trail: Prairie and Juniper
- 45 audio storiesacross Theodore Roosevelt’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bison, Wild Horse, Wapiti, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 38 trails, 35 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Old East Entrance Station Trail
What the walk isOld East Entrance Station Trail is a short out-and-back from the South Unit Scenic Loop Drive…
Old East Entrance Station Trail is a short out-and-back from the South Unit Scenic Loop Drive to the park’s original eastern gateway. The mapped dirt path runs about 0.51 mile one way, or about 1 mile round trip, through an open prairie-dog town. Published figures range from 0.4 mile, with direction unspecified, to 0.8–0.9 mile round trip, so use the mapped-path figure as an estimate.
Choose this as a brief history stop, not a long badlands hike or a sweeping panorama.
Across the prairieFrom the roadside pullout, follow the dirt path across mostly level grassland.
From the roadside pullout, follow the dirt path across mostly level grassland. The stone entrance and small gatehouse sit at the far end; the mapped path bends around the entrance before it ends. Walk back the way you came. The walk is very easy; allow roughly 20–30 minutes with a short look around.
The old gatewayThe Civilian Conservation Corps built the hand-hewn local-sandstone station in 1938 as the…
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the hand-hewn local-sandstone station in 1938 as the South Unit’s original entrance. When Interstate 94 replaced U.S. Highway 10 in 1968, the park entrance moved to Medora; the original stone sign is now at Painted Canyon Visitor Center. The old station sits in an active prairie-dog town. Pets are prohibited on park trails.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Theodore Roosevelt
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.
