North Dakota

Bison herd roaming in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

From the 50 State Visitor Guide

N.D. Century Code 2021 §§12.1-20-25, 12.1-32.15, 12.1-34-06

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration of “residence” (not defined).  3 days for registration of “temporary domicile,” defined as being physically present in state for more than 10 consecutive days, present in state for more than 30 days in a calendar year, or at a location for longer than 10 consecutive days. §12.1-32.15(1)(h), (2).

Visitors: Per N Dak. SOR office, visitors must register if in state 10 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency Restriction: “High-risk” offenders may not reside within 500 ft. of a public or private school. §12.1-32-13. 

Presence restriction: May not knowingly enter school without permission, subject to exceptions. §12.1-20-25.

Duration & updates:

15 to life. Frequency of updates determined by AG. §12.1-32.15.

Updates: Homeless – every 3 days. §12.1-32.15(2). Others vary.

Hot air balloons rising at dawn above Medora, ND

Most recent visit: September 2022

North Dakota’s visitor rules are about average and not too tough to live with.  You get ten consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year, which should be enough for most visits – unless you’ve come seeking your fortune as an oil worker, in which case you’re establishing a residence anyway and will need to abide by North Dakota’s relatively mild residency and presence restrictions.

Taking advantage of North Dakota’s longer (10 day) visitor time limit as compared to its southern namesake (3 days), I entered this state via U.S. 85 on a Saturday afternoon, the weekend after Labor Day, hoping to find a campsite available at Theodore Roosevelt National Park – South Unit, even though I did not have a reservation.  Oh well!  “Campground full.”  But fortunately there is another campground just outside the national park entrance, appropriately named Medora Campground after the town where it’s located.  They had a few sites available so I snapped one up.

The next morning was bright and crisp, and I noticed to my surprise that there were hot air balloons being readied for flight in the open fields outside the entrance to the campground.  Hurrying over to have a look I joined a big crowd of people gathered to watch at least a dozen balloons all taking off at once!  Apparently this was some kind of event that I knew nothing about ahead of time.  What a sight to see!

Once all the balloons drifted off into the distance I entered Roosevelt National Park, taking the Scenic Loop Drive (part of which has been closed for a couple of years for reconstruction, so right now it’s not a loop road).  Spectacular Badlands and wildlife, including a couple of herds of bison.  About an hour’s drive north is the National Park North Unit, also spectacular badlands with a scenic drive and lots of great overlooks to see.  

This national park is not very famous but it should be.  The North & South Units are separated by Little Missouri National Grassland, named after the river that created these two regions of badlands.  This is where a young Theodore Roosevelt came for solitude and solace after his mother and first wife died in rapid succession.  Later as president he remembered this beautiful place as he was creating our national parks system.

So far, so good for North Dakota.  But I have to say – after Teddy Roosevelt everything was downhill.  The closest town to the North Unit is Watford City which, like Minot which I also passed through, is an oil boom town where a seemingly endless collection of crappy mobile homes, strip commercial garbage, truck stops and equipment maintenance companies have been vomited across the landscape.

I stayed at two state parks while in North Dakota (Fort Stevenson & Graham’s Island) and I have to say they were both very nice, clean and well equipped with hot showers and flush toilets.

I also passed through two Indian reservations, Three Affiliated Tribes and Sprit Lakes, which I will describe in a separate blog post that treats the Sioux Nations as something separate from either South or North Dakota – because they deserve special treatment.  Lastly, I visited the International Peace Garden which strattles the boundaries of North Dakota and Manitoba!  I’m going to write separately about that too, because … well because it’s the only chance I have to write about a visit to a Canadian province, that’s why!