Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area
Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area offers a scenic and wheelchair accessible outdoor experience with opportunities for hiking, picnicking, and enjoying nature. The park features maintained restrooms, picnic tables, and is dog-friendly. It’s known for its beautiful fall colors, multi-use trails for hiking and biking, and peaceful natural surroundings with minimal ATV traffic in some areas. While there is no camping within the park, nearby options exist. Visitors should be aware of limited signage for directions and some motorized trail use.
Reviews
The views are beautiful. The signage from Walhalla to The Gorge is very poor as we couldn’t find the drive that takes you down into the Gorge. Evidently it’s past the golf course. There was a road there but it was blocked off so I don’t know if they had it closed or not. Nobody in Walhalla seem to know how to get there. Beautiful area for riding horseback it’s apparently allow ATVs on the trails which I don’t care for because they’re too loud and would scare the wildlife.
We finally got a chance to visit this year. Unfortunately there is no camping here, but you can camp nearby in Walhalla or a little further away at Icelandic State Park. We visited Pembina Gorge to hike (seems like a lot of people visit for the ATV/UTV trails). The first bit we hiked on was multi-use so we had to step aside a few times for passing ATVs/UTVs. But then we got to the non-motorized “hiking only” part of the trail which was very nice. A beautiful treed area with little hilltop grasslands. We felt spending one day here was enough for us so we only camped one night in Walhalla. We also visited Tetrault Woods State Forest and saw the Brickmine Bridge. There is also a small ski area nearby.
Amazing area especially at the start of fall with the colors changing! My brother and I took our mountain bikes and did almost 20 miles of the trails, and left more to check out next time! Went around noon on a Sunday and OHV/ATV traffic was very minimal, and most of the double track is very smooth and a blast on a bike
Incredible hidden gem. So happy we drove out to this amazing dreamland spot. Worth the drive. Bring snacks and food though as it’s pretty far from reality.
Rode all the trails that were open. Beautiful area. Definitely would recommend you to take advantage of this great scenic opportunity in our wonderful state of North Dakota. We brought a grill and plenty of food for a fantastic picnic. The restrooms are adequate and maintained okay. Spring hinges on men’s room door need replacing.