Maah Daah Hey Trail: Magpie to CCC Campground

Little Missouri National Grassland, Medora and McKenzie Ranger Districts (south of Watford City)

Check before you go. Check before you go: An undated Inforum report said a collapsed pedestrian bridge over Magpie Creek closed the trail from the Magpie Trailhead to the Ice Caves junction, and a Forest Service project page (updated June 2025) lists a bridge replacement and trail realignment on the Maah Daah Hey without naming the site. The Forest Service trail page listed the trail as open on Sept. 30, 2026. The Summit Campground page says the old connector to the Maah Daah Hey is unsafe and the Summit Trail is closed beyond the first ridge, and highway construction near CCC and Summit campgrounds was scheduled for summer 2026. The Dakota Prairie Grasslands alerts page lists Fire Restriction Order 01-18-00-26-08 (Sept. 4 through Dec. 31, 2026). A Dakota Prairie Grasslands firewood order (01-18-00-26-09, from Oct. 15, 2026) bans firewood from out of state, from quarantined counties, or from uncertified vendors; onsite dead-and-downed wood is allowed. Confirm with the McKenzie Ranger District and Medora Ranger District (701-227-7800).

The northern end of the Maah Daah Hey Trail climbs out of the Magpie Creek country, crosses Devils Pass and the China Wall, and descends to the CCC Campground on the Little Missouri River, just south of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Forest Service says the Ice Caves area marks the boundary between the Medora and McKenzie ranger districts along the way.

Hikers’ accounts describe long gaps between water and places where cattle paths blur the tread.

The hike

Magpie Campground has eight first-come sites, and the Forest Service says the trailhead is about half a mile south along the main road. BPRoutes lists a water cache at the Magpie Road junction, at mile 97.9 counting from the southern end.

The Maah Daah Hey Trail Association places Devils Pass at milepost 102. MTB Project describes a longer ridge climb to the pass with 360-degree views over the Badlands. A 2023 Fatpacking itinerary planned an optional 1-mile round trip to the ice caves near the Beicegel Creek Road cache, which BPRoutes puts at mile 119.2. Ben Love, who set a Fastest Known Time on the full trail in 2018, reported a night encounter with a mountain lion around mile 120 and got lost on cattle trails near mile 124.

The trail association puts the China Wall at milepost 130; MTB Project calls that crossing “especially scenic, traveling through some unique geology.” Bennett Campground lies about 3 miles off the trail by the Bennett Creek Trail, according to Hiking Project; MTB Project says to stay right on Bennett Creek to reach it. Ryan Slack, who hiked the north end in June 2015, skipped Bennett’s water because it was “a 6-mile round trip.”

BPRoutes lists the last cache at the Long X Trail junction, mile 138.8. The Forest Service says Summit Campground’s old connector to the trail is now unsafe. The trail ends at the CCC Campground, which the Forest Service describes as a trailhead for the Maah Daah Hey, Long X, and Sunset trails, a short walk from the Little Missouri. Some sites there can be reserved on Recreation.gov.

Conditions vary widely. Slack walked 34 miles one day through “complete muck and clay,” and sheltered from a severe thunderstorm on the open range. Love found an overgrown, possibly rerouted section near mile 138. GearJunkie’s 2012 interview with Chuck Regenold, who hiked 96 miles north to south, describes washouts at the north end, vague spur trails, and a free-range steer that approached him aggressively.

To continue south, see Rough Rider State Park to Magpie. Across the river, the North Unit’s Achenbach Trail makes a shorter Badlands overnight.

Tips

Load a current GPS track. The trail association publishes a 2025 GPX file on its trail page.
Plan the Bennett side trip. It adds about 6 miles round trip if you need its pump.
Expect cattle. BPRoutes says they’re common on the grassland and private land; close gates behind you.
Filter carefully. BPRoutes says some cattle tanks near the north end can be filtered but are inconsistent, and Badlands streams clog filters.
Watch for ticks. Slack’s permethrin-treated pants didn’t stop them in June.

Camping

BPRoutes and the trail association say camping is allowed in designated campgrounds or on Forest Service land, but not on the private and state land the trail crosses. The Forest Service allows dispersed camping for 14 days in 30 and asks campers to stay 100 to 200 feet from water and away from livestock tanks and oil and gas well sites. Magpie (8 sites) and Bennett (13 sites) are first come, first served; Summit has three sites and no water.

Inside Intel: Ryan Slack, writing on the Backpacking Light forum in 2015, rode out a severe thunderstorm on the open range by camping in “a protected stand of trees.” At Magpie, he found RVs and families and slept under a small tarp, making use of a picnic table.

Trail facts

Distance: About 46 miles (our estimate from published mileposts); 43.1 miles in one 2023 itinerary
Route type: Point to point, Magpie Trailhead to CCC Campground
Difficulty: Strenuous
Campsites: Dispersed on national grassland; Magpie and CCC campgrounds; Bennett about 3 miles off trail
Water: Hiker-stocked caches at Magpie Road, Beicegel Creek Road, and Long X; seasonal wells at Magpie, Bennett, and CCC
Permits: None for the trail (BPRoutes)
Fires: Subject to 2026 fire restriction orders; check before you go
Dogs: No Forest Service rule found
Trailhead: Magpie Trailhead (south) or CCC Campground, 16 miles south of Watford City (north)
Last verified: October 17, 2026

The Lowdown

Finding flat ground near the China Wall:

Dispersed camps on the north end of the Maah Daah Hey mean picking a flat spot among Badlands clay, sage, and cattle paths. See the sleeping pads testers rate for comfort and warmth.

Read the full guide →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.