North Dakota Badlands

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.