Elkhorn Ranch Unit Trail

The Elkhorn Ranch may seem like a long drive for little reward; after all, the cabin no longer stands, with only foundation stones remaining. However, make the trip, and you'll find yourself in one of the most peaceful parts of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Roosevelt established the Elkhorn after the tragic loss of his wife and mother on the same day in 1884. Looking for somewhere more quiet and remote than the Maltese Cross Cabin, with its relative proximity to Medora, Roosevelt headed north, eventually choosing a spot that spanned the Little Missouri river. This location and the house he built there became a retreat for him. Take a moment and stand atop one of the foundation stones while visiting and imagine what Roosevelt's ranch life might have been like.

"My home ranch-house stands on the river brink. From the low, long veranda, shaded by leafy cotton-woods, one looks across sand bars and shallows to a strip of meadowland, behind which rises a line of sheer cliffs and grassy plateaus. This veranda is a pleasant place in the summer evenings when a cool breeze stirs along the river and blows in the faces of the tired men, who loll back in their rocking-chairs (what true American does not enjoy a rocking-chair?), book in hand--though they do not often read the books, but rock gently to and for, gazing sleepily out at the weird-looking buttes opposite, until their sharp outlines grow indistinct and purple in the after-glow of the sunset." - From Hunting Trips of a Ranchman by Theodore Roosevelt.