Theodore Roosevelt National Park Highpoint Trip Report

Date: April 26, 2008
Author: Edward Earl

The road nearest the 2860+ area that serves as the HP of TRNP is I-94, but because of the inadvisability of parking on a freeway, the preferred approach is from the park road. The only way to enter the park's south unit is near Medora. The park road crosses to the N side of I-94 with no interchange. About a mile past Cottonwood Campground is a junction where I turned R, following a sign to Buck Hill. At virtual mile 12.9 is a sharp L turn (near the center of section 28) with a paved pullout. From this point you can identify the 2840+ hill that lies about 0.2 mile S of the HP. A short distance to its right you can see the I-94 roadcut with an occasional vehicle passing by.

I headed ESE from the parking spot across relative flat terrain. Soon I passed by a prairie dog colony, then after a total of about 10 minutes I passed an abandoned stone building which is the former park entrance kiosk. I continued SE amongst some brightly colored hills, dipping across an occasional gully, before heading up a use trail that gained the saddle just N of "Hill 2840+", which lies only about 600' from the freeway. A short stroll N brought me to the HP, which has a register. The smaller, westernmost of the two 2860+ areas is higher, and it has a register.

For variety, I decided to take an alternate route down. I headed N then W across the summit plateau, then found a trail that descended the ridge that heads west from the NW tip of the plateau. I reached the base of the hill near the old park entrance kiosk.