North Dakota

Maah Daah Hey Trail

144 mi long · in North Dakota

The Maah Daah Hey trail system showcases some of our country’s most unique and breathtaking terrain. Majestic plateaus, jagged peaks and valleys, large expanses of rolling prairie, and rivers.

Maah Daah Hey Trail
Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
States
North Dakota
Length
144 mi
Network
Regional (rwn)
Reference
MDHT
Centroid coords
47.0923°, -103.4746°
OSM relation
11562289
From Wikipedia: The Maah Daah Hey Trail is a 144-mile (232 km) non-motorized single track trail in North Dakota, United States, that reaches from USFS Burning Coal Vein Campground 30 miles south of Medora to the USFS CCC campground 16 miles south of Watford City. The Trail winds through the Little Missouri National Grasslands in North Dakota's Badlands to form the longest continuous singletrack mountain biking trail in America. Nine fenced campgrounds are accessible by gravel surfaced roads. The campgrounds include camping spurs, potable water, hitching rails, picnic tables, fire rings and accessible toilets. Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Maah Daah Hey Trail, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Plan your hike

Practical notes

Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.

Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.

When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.

If you've hiked Maah Daah Hey Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.

Sources

Public data + curation

Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.