North Dakota Badlands

Great easy trail south of Medora. We rode out of a house in Belfield and had no problems with the trails. Keep a close eye on the landowner roads, as there are many that are not public trails. We even met up with the Little Missouri River.

we started from Medora and went all the way to the end...even the field bit that seemed to be someone's farm access road. Lots of wildlife. Only two wet spots, easy to cross. One being the creek at Initial Rock on the southern portion. Overall trail was easy, mostly gravel roads, views were interesting and my wife and I enjoyed the trek (she drove). Temp for the day was 70 degrees and a nice breeze. Originally had planned to take our Himalayan adventure bikes, but broke my leg a few days back on different trails. Luckily hauled with our Jeep, so today's ride was in the Jeep with a booted leg, that is how easy this trail is!

Nice trail ride into Medora. We did encounter the mud pit at initial rock. Seemed too soupy and deep to even attempt to cross. Went back and around a few miles to pick up the trail again just to the east.

The trail is not fully open. On the north end there is a small section that is closed due to a mud hole near the carved rock point of interest but you can circumvent the main closure via some gravel roads. Unfortunately even after we did this the trail sort of disappeared. We started at the south end so we still got plenty of riding in, I recommend you do the same, and explore more of the surrounding roads especially go up to the parking lot above burning coal vein campground. Great place to stop for lunch and amazing views. The terrain is cooler on the southern end I think. Up north it's mostly just oil pumping and cows. In my photo I am circling the area that we had to go around and where the trail sort of disappears/highly disintegrates. Hope this helps! I cannot speak for what the northern most section looks like.

No trail to ride. Turned off gravel road onto double track only to find a closed barbed wire gate.

Overall easy trail. Lots of wildlife. A few spots require high clearance 4X4. Beware! Impassable water crossing at Initial Rock.