White Butte North Dakota High Point

Posted on July 12, 2023July 21, 2023 by jim

White Butte is the North Dakota high point at 3,506 feet in elevation.
While not exactly stratospheric, it’s higher than the last 3 highpoints and a sign of good things to come as we continue our trek west back to the Rockies and higher, cooler elevations.
White Butte is on private property, however the landowners welcome tourists and ask that you leave a small donation in the box at the trailhead to help with maintenance.
Judging by a fresh gate and what look like fence sections waiting to be installed, they actually do use this money to make improvements so I would highly recommend leaving a couple bucks to thank them for allowing us on their property.
The trail itself is simple and straightforward, about a mile roundtrip and a couple hundred feet of elevation. Prairie rattlers are the only hazard out here as part of the path threads through tall grass where they can easily hide. Take hiking poles and swish the grass in front of you to give them an opportunity to strike at metal instead of your leg if they’re dozing on the trail.
This is in the middle of absolute nowhere, however the gravel roads are well maintained by the county road commission and are in excellent shape – 45mph all the way except 25mph zones where the few farmhouses are located. Definitely use the directions from AllTrails or SummitPost, Garmin GPSs want you to do some crazy routing through farm fields and private property.
Speaking of farmhouses – there’s a picturesque farmhouse located where the old trailhead was a mile north of the new parking lot and trailhead. No detail on it, but would be interested to hear if any of you other highpointers know the story behind it.