Rattlesnake Creek Badlands Trail

This gnarly 18-mile loop cuts through some of North Dakota’s most challenging badlands terrain, where Rattlesnake Creek has carved deep gullies through Paleocene shale formations southwest of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The trail climbs steep clay banks that turn to greased glass when wet, weaving between colorful scoria buttes and past abandoned lignite strip mines from the 1970s. Key waypoints include the old Knutson Mine pit and several paleontology dig sites where amateur fossil hunters have found turtle shells and petrified wood.

This is expert-level wheeling that demands lockers, aggressive tread, and a winch—the clay sections will humble cocky drivers fast. Bone dry conditions only; attempt this trail when muddy and you’ll be walking out. Best tackled in late summer through early fall when the creek beds are passable. No services for 40 miles in any direction, so carry extra fuel, water, and recovery gear. The reward is accessing some of the most remote and geologically fascinating country in the state, plus legitimate bragging rights for conquering North Dakota’s toughest 4×4 challenge.