Hankinson Hills Loop Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Views · Wildflowers

This loop has all the best features of its longer, straighter cousin to the northwest (Sheyenne National Grasslands) with more trees, lefts and rights, up and downs...all packed into a very manageable eight-mile loop.

The entire trail has something to offer, as far as natural beauty goes, but highlights begin just past the three-mile post and continue to the finish line. When taken in the spring or summer, the sparsely wooded, rolling hills will make you feel like you just stepped onto the set of an Irish soap commercial. The only thing missing is a man bathing under a waterfall.

The trail can get sandy at times, but (and I'm no geologist) the sandy bottom of two-thirds of most knobs/hills seem to eventually give way to a firmer, dirt-centric type of soil. Perhaps this is due to the way the dust settled after the UFO (aka 'Shooting Star') crashed into Planet Earth. More research required.

Good to know:
-The trail fades a bit around mile-marker five as it crosses an old dirt road, but just aim for the #5 sign and it will quickly pick up again.
-Park at the North Trailhead if you want the mile markers to be accurate (start at 0, end at 8).