North Dakota Snowmobile Trails: Map, Dates, Permits

Q: How do I find out whether a North Dakota trail has been groomed?

Grooming reports come from the club or county that runs the groomer, usually through Snowmobile North Dakota or the local club's own page or social media. Michigan is the one state that publishes a per segment open or closed status; everywhere else the club report is the source, and one Idaho county publishes per segment grooming dates.

Q: Can I navigate from the map on this page?

Use it to see where the North Dakota system runs and which county you are in. The lines are drawn at a precision chosen to keep the page fast rather than to place a trail on the ground this week. For riding, carry the club or agency trail map: reroutes, closures, unbridged crossings and changes in landowner permission are not in the mapped lines.

Trail maps, season dates and permit rules, sourced to each state agency. Current trail conditions are published by the club, county or state authority that maintains each system, and every state page links that authority.

Dec 1 to Apr 1

Season

published by North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department

Ask the agency

First thing to buy

registration plus a separate trail pass

263

Trail lines mapped

from State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota

Snowmobile North Dakota

Conditions from

current trail reports

Trail map

North Dakota snowmobile trail map

Trail lines from State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota, loaded live from the agency’s map service. Enter a ZIP to centre the map on your county; in much of the country the county board opens and closes its own trails, so the county is the unit that matters.

North Dakota trails as published by State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota. Lines show where the trail system runs; current conditions come from the trail authority linked below.

Trail lines from State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota, loaded live around the Sheyenne Valley. The published lines do not reach the western side of the state. Source verified September 4, 2026.

Conditions

North Dakota trail conditions

Current North Dakota trail conditions are published by Snowmobile North Dakota. Trails close for a bridge out, a landowner withdrawing permission, a timber sale, thin base or open water, and those decisions are made locally by the club, county or district that maintains each trail, often day to day.

A yellow tracked grooming tractor parked in falling snow with a wide steel drag hitched behind it and a second drag stacked at the edge of the clearing — The machine that makes the difference between a trail and a field. The tractor packs, and the steel drag behind it cuts the moguls down and lays a flat surface that then sets hard overnight. Grooming is why trail systems have opening dates at all: the base has to be deep enough to carry this before anybody can run it. “Grooming unit and drag” — Magnum x, via English Wikipedia — Public domain

Season

North Dakota snowmobile season dates

Statewide season

December 1 to April 1

North Dakota is the only state in this set whose season window carries a snow condition written into it: the trails run December 1 to April 1 provided there are at least four inches of packed snow. The same window appears independently in the state's own trail dataset description, so it is corroborated twice.

Season dates are the legal window. Whether a trail is groomed or rideable on a given day depends on snow and on the club or county that maintains it.

Season window read from North Dakota Parks and Recreation snowmobile trails page on September 4, 2026.

Permits

North Dakota registration and trail pass

Registration plus a separate trail pass

Two things to buy. The registration makes the machine legal; the trail pass funds and licenses the groomed network, and visitors usually need it too.

Current North Dakota fees are set by North Dakota Department of Transportation and North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department.

Registration and non-resident access permit fees are published by the Department of Transportation. Registration runs through the Department of Transportation rather than through Parks and Recreation, which is a split worth knowing before you go looking.

Both publish the current amounts and both are linked on this page.

Permit rules read from North Dakota Parks and Recreation snowmobile trails page on September 4, 2026.

About this map

About the North Dakota trail data

North Dakota Parks and Recreation describes 13 state snowmobile trails totalling just over 2,800 miles, maintained by members of Snowmobile North Dakota. Many run on easements across private land.

Published by: State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota, a state agency
Trail lines in it: 263
Coverage measured: the eastern part of the state only
Newest date inside it: 2023-01-11

North Dakota disclaims accuracy and asks that trail locations be treated as approximate. It states no restriction on redistribution.

Three snowmobiles parked in fog beside a metal hut and a solar array on a rime covered summit, surrounded by stunted spruce buried in snow — The top of a trail on a bad visibility day, with the machines parked at a summit hut. Trail systems climb, and the weather at the top of one is routinely a different weather from the weather at the bottom, which is why riders check the summit forecast as well as the trailhead. “Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway, Trails End Atop a Snow-capped Mountain” — U.S. Department of Transportation, National Scenic Byways collection, held by the National Archives — Public domain

North Dakota snowmobile trail questions

Are the snowmobile trails open in North Dakota right now?

When do North Dakota snowmobile trails open and close?

North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department publishes a statewide season of December 1 to April 1 for North Dakota. North Dakota is the only state in this set whose season window carries a snow condition written into it: the trails run December 1 to April 1 provided there are at least four inches of packed snow. The same window appears independently in the state's own trail dataset description, so it is corroborated twice. The window is the legal season; grooming begins once there is enough base, and the local club reports when trails are groomed.

What permit do I need to ride a snowmobile in North Dakota?

North Dakota follows the registration plus a separate trail pass model. Registration and non-resident access permit fees are published by the Department of Transportation. Registration runs through the Department of Transportation rather than through Parks and Recreation, which is a split worth knowing before you go looking. North Dakota Department of Transportation and North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department publish the current amounts, and both are linked on this page.

Where does the North Dakota trail map on this page come from?

From State of North Dakota, credited to the North Dakota Department of Parks and Recreation and Snowmobile North Dakota, loaded live in your browser each time the page opens. 263 trail lines were counted in it when this page was built. The published lines cover part of the state, and the map states which part. North Dakota disclaims accuracy and asks that trail locations be treated as approximate. It states no restriction on redistribution.

How do I find out whether a North Dakota trail has been groomed?

Can I navigate from the map on this page?

Season dates and permit figures on this page are read from the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department page linked beside each one and carry the date they were read. Links verified September 4, 2026. Current trail conditions come from the authority named above. See also the national snowmobile trail guide.