Our original plan was to canoe in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We would camp by the Little Missouri River and paddle in the park for a different perspective of the landscape and wildlife than those in cars or on hiking trails.
Rainfall during the summer of 2022 has been hard to come by. We kept a close eye on the water levels in the weeks leading up to our trip. It wasn’t looking promising. The National Park Service suggests river depth of 2.5ft for boating. On the drive out to North Dakota it looked like levels were around 1.5ft. We made the change to paddle in Harmon Lake, just outside of Bismark.
When we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park we took in the scenery by car and on short walks. Dogs are limited to parking lots and campgrounds in this park so we did not get to do too much backcountry hiking in the park.
On our second day we decided to throw the canoe in the water anyway. It wasn’t going to be a great paddle, but the boat was there so why not give it a go? We scraped along in a few places and kept our down and back roundtrip to under and hour. The sun cooked us and we were unwilling to portage to another spot on the river that would like be just as shallow. It was an opportunity to eat lunch on the water.
Our Park Highlights
Camping: We set up camp in Cottonwood Campground, where dogs are allowed. The campground offers spots along the Little Missouri River. We stayed in one right along the river (with no break from the sun but great views and wild horses drinking by the river as we set up) and another tucked in some trees with river access through a path of grasslands.
North Dakota Badlands Overlook: the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park has road road closures along the 48-mile scenic loop road. The last stop before you turn around is this overlook. Not all visitors follow the road to the end so we enjoyed the view in our own.
The North Unit: it takes about an hour and 20 minutes to drive to the North Unit from the South Unit. This is a more off the beaten path, less visited part of the park. Talking to some fellow travelers at an overlook, they said “Oh, you’re the Connecticut car!” With so few cars, you start recognizing orders on the road. With the dog, we had to stay on the scenic road, but we hear the backcountry hiking here is amazing. Close encounters with bison, at a safe distance, happened here on multiple occasions .
