RV travel in North Dakota

North Dakota is the most underrated RV state in the lower 48. Theodore Roosevelt National Park has two units carved into the Little Missouri badlands with free-roaming bison, wild horses, and prairie-dog towns, and you can drive both the South Unit and the North Unit on quiet two-lane roads with empty pull-outs. The state is flat-to-rolling, fuel is generally cheap, traffic is sparse, and the campgrounds rarely fill outside the immediate week of the Williston oil-patch workforce surge. The catch is service spacing: once you leave I-94 and US-83, fuel stops can be 60-80 miles apart, and several reservation gas stations close on Sundays or after 6pm. Plan tank levels accordingly and ND rewards you with some of the emptiest open road in the country.

Last verified: 14 May 2026

Free RV PDF guide to North Dakota

Driving rules, RV-friendly and RV-restricted highways, NPS reservation rules, BLM and NF boondocking, propane, dump stations, weather, and emergency contacts. Save it to your phone for offline use on the road.

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Driving rules

Interstate (cars)75 mph

Interstate (trucks + towing)75 mph

US/State highway (cars)65-70 mph (posted)

US/State highway (towing)65-70 mph (posted)

Built-up areas25-35 mph (posted)

Drive onRight

RV passenger seatbeltsRequired front-seat only (secondary enforcement)

Cell phone use while drivingTexting banned; hand-held legal for voice calls

RV-friendly and RV-restricted highways

RV-friendly

I-94East-west spine: Fargo to Beach (Montana line) via Bismarck and Dickinson. Big-rig easy, well-maintained, light traffic.

I-29North-south along the Minnesota/Red River border. Fargo to Pembina (Canadian border). Flat, fast, occasional crosswinds.

US-83North-south through the center via Minot and Bismarck. Two lanes north of Bismarck but wide shoulders. Empty.

US-2East-west along the northern tier via Devils Lake, Minot, Williston. Two-lane but big-rig friendly.

US-85North-south through the Theodore Roosevelt NP North Unit area and on into Williston. Recent reconstruction; excellent surface.

ND-22Killdeer to Dunn Center. Quiet, scenic, two lanes through the badlands edge.

RV-restricted

ND-1804 along Lake SakakaweaTwo-lane with frequent loose-gravel patches and steep drops to the lake. Doable in smaller rigs; not for fifth-wheels over 35 ft.

Scenic Loop Drive in Theodore Roosevelt NP (North Unit)Paved 14-mile loop. Narrow shoulders, one-lane sections near Caprock Coulee. RVs to 35 ft technically permitted -- bigger rigs should stop at the visitor center.

Reservation back roads (Standing Rock, Fort Berthold)Most unpaved tribal roads not suitable for any RV. Stay on numbered state and US highways.

National parks and monuments

Theodore Roosevelt NP (South Unit)$30/vehicle (7 days), $80 America the Beautiful annual. Cottonwood Campground reservable May-Sep via recreation.gov, first-come Oct-Apr; RVs to 40 ft, no hookups. Medora has private RV parks with full hookups.

Theodore Roosevelt NP (North Unit)$30/vehicle (7 days, combined with South). Juniper Campground reservable May-Sep via recreation.gov, first-come otherwise; RVs to 35 ft, no hookups. 70 miles north of the South Unit via US-85.

Knife River Indian Villages NHSFree entry. No camping inside the historic site. Day-trip from Bismarck or stay at Fort Mandan or Cross Ranch State Park.

Fort Union Trading Post NHSFree entry. No camping inside the historic site. Sits on the ND/MT line near Williston; Lewis and Clark State Park has RV camping 25 miles east.

International Peace Garden$20/vehicle (joint US/Canada site). Campground reservable via internationalpeacegarden.com; RVs to 40 ft, electric hookups. You straddle the US/Canada border -- bring passports if you plan to walk both sides.

Boondocking and dispersed camping

BLM: North Dakota has small but real BLM holdings, mostly in the badlands of the McKenzie/Billings/Slope counties west of US-85. Dispersed camping permitted on most BLM with a 14-day stay limit; no developed sites. Little Missouri National Grassland (USFS) is the more usable dispersed-camping option -- it surrounds Theodore Roosevelt NP and offers hundreds of miles of forest road camping for free.

National Forests: Little Missouri National Grassland (1 million acres) and Sheyenne National Grassland are administered by Custer Gallatin National Forest. Free 14-day dispersed camping permitted on most numbered grassland roads. CCC Campground (USFS) near the TRNP North Unit is a popular established option. Fire restrictions common Jul-Sep.

Stay limit: typically 14 days per location.

Service stops

Propane: Available in Fargo, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, Grand Forks, and most county-seat towns. Sparse on the reservations and in the central tier between US-83 and US-85. U-Haul and Cenex farm co-ops are the most reliable refill points. Many small-town propane sources close weekends -- plan ahead.

Dump stations: Adequate density along I-94 and I-29. Most ND state parks have free dump stations for registered guests. Flying J / Pilot at Fargo, Jamestown, Dickinson, and Williston have fee dump stations. Cenex co-ops in larger towns often have dump and water as well. Sparse in the northwest oil-patch country -- plan dumps before leaving Bismarck or Williston.

Fuel: Diesel and gas plentiful along I-94, I-29, and US-83. Long stretches without fuel on ND-200 west of Hazen, on US-2 between Williston and Stanley, and on reservation routes. Several reservation gas stations close Sundays or after 6pm. Carry a full tank when leaving Bismarck for the badlands or when crossing Standing Rock or Fort Berthold. Fuel typically cheapest along I-94 at Bismarck and Dickinson, highest in Medora and at Lake Sakakawea marinas.

Weather windows

Best monthsLate May through September. Daytime 70s-80s F, nights 40s-60s F. Low humidity, big skies.

Avoid monthsNovember through March. Wind chills routinely -40 F. Interstates close in ground blizzards. April brings spring blizzards as common as snowstorms. July-August can bring violent thunderstorms with golfball hail across the plains.

Wind is the constant in North Dakota. Sustained crosswinds of 25-40 mph are normal April-October on I-29 and on US-83 north of Bismarck. High-profile rigs should plan rest stops at any gust over 50 mph -- wind-overturned trailers happen here every year.

Emergency and road conditions

State patrolDial *2911 from a cell phone or 911 for emergencies

Road conditionshttps://travel.dot.nd.gov