Best Trails near Fairfield, North Dakota

Beautiful short trail, great views of river and valley.

Great trail! Was tough to locate the Maah Daah Hey Trail from the North branch of the Petrified Forest Loop Trail.

great views, some vandalism, muddy in some spots.

This is a great loop with plenty of wildlife. Be mindful of the bison. Keep a good distance between you and them.

Beautiful views of the Little Missouri

Petrified tree stumps are amazing. After 0.5 entrance trail, go right 1 mi for easier trail to petrified forest remains, then double back to split to go to other petrified forest location- left trail at junction has steep decline off mesa. Watch for posts to stay on trail. In wet weather trail is very slippery.

Fantastic views of river valley and bluffs

Wonderful short hike. Amazing views. Here for sunset

Great hike. The trail is in okay shape. It's muddy and overgrown in places. There is good trail marking. The best petrified forrest is on the North leg. The South and East legs are mostly on a prairie plateau. The North legs passes down into a beautiful canyon and out the other side.

Wonderful short hike. The trail is in good shape and well marked. Lots of little side trails. Beautiful views

Awesome trail! It was super duper wet and muddy when I went , it had rained the day prior. At one point I was almost waist deep in water when you cross the creek (numerous times). The views were absolutely amazing though ! Also ran into a herd of bison , probably 80 bison were about 1 mile from the end. Spent a while watching them and then looped this trail back to jones creek trail. I’d for sure hold off on this one if it recently rained though , I was walking/sliding about 1 mile per hour hahaha !

Great trail ! Beautiful scenery and saw a ton of prairie dogs ! It had just rained so it was super muddy , but well worth it.

A nice hike a short distance from the Painted Canyon Visitors Center (starts near the picnic tables to the west). Some verticality and some tricky footing spots but nothing difficult.

Solid trail. Google Maps and Apple Maps are confused about how to get you to the trailhead. After that, it’s stunning views with bison and pronghorn.

Beautiful quick hike. We saw a Bison in the distance! Wish we had brought our binoculars. There’s a trail marker down about halfway so we missed a turn and kind of cut our own path through what looked like another trail. There are some pretty well traveled alternative paths on the trail too if you’re feeling extra adventurous.

Excellent hike definately worth the 10 mile loop. The petrified forest was amazing! We saw one wild horse and hundreds of buffalo!!

Best short hike in the park! Sunset is phenomenal!

Interesting, easy, good views. Make sure to grab a self guide booklet at the visitor center or the trailhead!

Easy hike, albeit hot. Bring lots of water, a hat, and sunglasses. Spotted horses, Buffalo, a snake, and a million prairie dogs. Plus wildflowers, sagebrush, and amazing views. Loved it. My seven year old did as well.

I hiked in about three miles from the trailhead. I would have easily gone all the way to the road and back except for the fact that the trail was also being used by large herds of bison and they have the right of way. Most awesome traffic jam ever but it does slow you down. On couple I met were waiting over an hour for the herd to pass! The scenery is beautiful of course. I went on a sunny day in late August starting around 8:00 AM. The trail winds through a prairie dog town and over a rise. About a mile in I encountered a large bison herd. I took my time and made it past them safely. The water crossings were pretty easy. The mud was sticky and slippery but there was a solid bottom. Otherwise the trail was pretty easy.

Beautiful scenery and for the most part an easy hike in good conditions. We did not do the full loop opting instead to head left at the fork and explore the north section. There are fairly two short steep parts that are a bit washed and could be difficult going for someone who has trouble going up or down hills. The first petrified trees (stumps) are at the base of the descent. If you have time head across the valley and up to hill on the other side. There’s a grove of petrified stumps still in place about halfway up. As for wildlife we saw bison. Wild horses had left their mark but we didn’t see any on our hike. We heard but did not see a rattlesnake which was warning away some other hikers. Other hikers reported seeing pronghorn.

Beautiful scenery and for the most part an easy hike in good conditions. We did not do the full loop opting instead to head left at the fork and explore the north section. There are fairly two short steep parts that are a bit washed and could be difficult going for someone who has trouble going up or down hills. The first petrified trees (stumps) are at the base of the descent. If you have time head across the valley and up to hill on the other side. There’s a grove of petrified stumps still in place about halfway up. As for wildlife we saw bison. Wild horses had left their mark but we didn’t see any on our hike. We heard but did not see a rattlesnake which was warning away some other hikers. Other hikers reported seeing pronghorn.

Nice hike. Great view

Easy hike. Watch out for rattle snakes. Would advise boots due to overgrown bush.