Destinations / Road Trips

Trip Report

Rivian Road Test

North Dakota • Montana • Wyoming

April 2026

Distance
~2,000
miles — Minneapolis to ND, MT, WY and back
Charging
15
stops — Rivian • Tesla Supercharger network
White Butte
3,506
ft — North Dakota high point • 4 mi round trip
Rivian Verdict
B
Letter Grade: Solid B; excellent vehicle • network needs work
The Trip

Early April 2026. Two thousand miles, fifteen charging stops, and one state high point. The real reason for the trip was simpler than any of that — ten years at the same company, a job change, and the need for some serious windshield time to bring a little clarity. The wide open road is good for that and the Dakotas and Montana felt like the right prescription.

I didn't leave until around 3pm, which meant rolling into Bismarck somewhere around 10pm. Bismarck is fine — nothing bad to say about it, but not terribly interesting either. I woke up to 21 degrees and blustery conditions, grabbed a quick coffee, did a brief exploration of downtown, topped off the Rivian, and pointed west. The next stop was Dickinson; another coffee, an apple fritter and another round of charging. An hour later I arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

A herd of wild horses grazing on a dry hillside among juniper scrub in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt NP — one of the park's genuine surprises. About 200 roam the badlands freely.

Here's the honest truth about Teddy Roosevelt in early April: I was about three weeks early. Spring had not arrived. The park was brown and arid — still beautiful in that high-plains, end-of-winter way, but not the version you've seen in the photos. I spotted wild horses and plenty of bison, and managed a few decent frames, though the midday light was harsh and flat. After about 20 miles of driving through the park, I head west into Montana, where the temperature climbed quickly through the afternoon.

Miles City was in the high 70s by the time I rolled in and hit the fastest supercharger that side of the Missouri River. Then south through rural Montana and the North Cheyenne Nation and into Sheridan, Wyoming by evening. The Bighorn Mountains announce themselves from miles away as you come south through Montana, and the closer you get, the more the scale registers. Spring had arrived here: leaves starting to open, the tall prairie grass actually green. Sheridan is a proper cowboy town — well-kept main street, good hotels, a few solid restaurants. Found a great steakhouse. Good dinner and a cocktail and settled in for the evening.

“The Bighorns announce themselves from miles away. One minute you're on flat Montana highway with nothing but sky. Then there they are — an entire wall of snow-capped mountain rising out of the plains.”
The snow-capped Bighorn Mountains rising dramatically above golden grasslands and a dark pine forest on the Wyoming-Montana border
Bighorn Mountains from the north — Cloud Peak at 13,175 ft sits just behind the visible ridge. The Cloud Peak Skyway earns the detour.

The next morning I drove down to Buffalo to charge — another solid little cowboy town tucked against the eastern face of the Bighorns — then spent the morning on the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway. If you haven’t driven it, it earns the detour and I will be back. The road climbs into the mountains, the views open up dramatically, and the crisp air has that high-elevation clarity to it. Found a moose grazing in a meadow and spent some time trying to get the shot, but the late morning sun had already turned harsh. The moose was more cooperative than the light.

From the Bighorns, east to Devils Tower through Gillette. Gillette — and I say this with kindness — could have been anywhere. Strip malls, chain restaurants, nothing to distinguish it from a hundred other interstate stops, except for maybe that wide open sky that Wyoming and Montana are known for. Useful for charging. Nothing beyond that at least from what I could see. With the battery topped to 100%, I made the drive to Devils Tower, walked the perimeter, took some photos. Devils Tower earns its reputation; even a short stop delivers. A single bison was grazing below the formation when I arrived, doing his best to look unimpressed. He succeeded.

Devils Tower National Monument rising dramatically against a deep blue sky, a lone bison grazing in the golden grass below
Devils Tower, Wyoming — a lone bison doing the composition work. America's first national monument, and it's not subtle about it.

From Devils Tower, north and east through the long, empty, genuinely beautiful stretch of eastern Montana, another charging stop in Miles City, and then onto Bowman, North Dakota for the night. Bowman is a quiet High Plains town with a good bar and exactly what you need at the end of a long driving day — a meal, a bed, and not much else to think about.

A dark Rivian SUV parked on a dirt pullout at White Butte with vast flat North Dakota prairie stretching to the horizon behind it under a wide open sky
White Butte trailhead.

The last morning: Bowman to White Butte, North Dakota's highest point at 3,506 feet. Ten miles of dirt road to the trailhead — rutted but easy work for the Rivian. The hike itself is also easy: four miles round trip, 350 feet of gain. It's not a dramatic summit by any measure, but that's sort of the point. From the top, rolling prairie in every direction as far as you can see. You're standing on top of North Dakota, and the state is doing exactly what North Dakota does. Then the long drive home — four more charging stops, across the Minnesota line — and back to Minneapolis by late evening.

The Breakdown

The Rivian Verdict

Two thousand miles, fifteen charging stops, and an honest assessment: Solid B.

A Rivian SUV pulling into a Tesla Supercharger bank in an empty parking lot at dusk, a row of white charging stalls illuminated against dark trees
A Tesla Supercharger stop — on the I-94 corridor, these appear every ~90 miles and are seamless. Get off that corridor and the math gets harder.

On the right corridor, the Rivian is a genuinely excellent road trip vehicle. I-94 through North Dakota and into Montana works well — Tesla Superchargers appear roughly every 90 miles, they're fast, and the process is seamless. Where the system breaks down is everywhere else. The entire state of South Dakota is effectively a dead zone for Rivian charging. I routed around it entirely, which says something about the current state of Tesla third-party network access.

Two moments on this trip were genuinely stressful. The first was Sheridan, Wyoming. I rolled in with about 40 miles of range, located a ChargePoint charger, and my adapter refused to connect. I ended up plugging into a standard 110V outlet at the hotel, which delivered roughly 15 miles of range overnight — enough to reach Buffalo and the next Tesla Supercharger the following morning, but a closer call than comfortable. Lesson: have a backup plan before you need one.

The second was the stretch from Gillette, Wyoming to Miles City, Montana via Devils Tower. Google Maps estimated 240 miles. I left Gillette fully charged — 340 miles of rated range. I arrived in Miles City with 11 miles left. That's not a rounding error. Elevation change, wind, and speed all played a role, but the Rivian's range estimation needs to account for real-world conditions more accurately. Rolling into a charging stop in rural Montana with 11 miles left is not a comfortable experience.

Works Well
I-94 corridor — Tesla Superchargers every ~90 miles, fast and seamless
Watch Out For
South Dakota dead zone, rural Wyoming adapter compatibility, range anxiety on long rural stretches
The Bright Spot
Autonomy+ hands-free driving — genuinely excellent on long open-highway miles

The vehicle itself is excellent — comfortable, capable, and more than up to the task of long-haul driving. The Autonomy+ is a genuine game changer on big open-highway miles: set it to universal hands-free, kick back, and let the Rivian handle it while the landscape does what it does. The gaps are in charging network coverage and range prediction accuracy. On a well-supported corridor, there's nothing to complain about. Get off that corridor, and you're doing mental math for the last 50 miles watching the percentage tick down. That's fixable — and it needs to be fixed before EVs are truly road-trip ready for the full West.

Through the Lens

The High Plains & Beyond

North Dakota • Montana • Wyoming — April 2026 — Click any frame to expand

Wide view of the layered badlands formations in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, stretching to the horizon
Theodore Roosevelt NP — early April, end-of-winter color. Still worth the stop.
Close portrait of a bison grazing, head down, rough brown fur catching the light
Bison, Theodore Roosevelt NP — entirely unbothered by everything
Two bison silhouetted against glowing badlands formations bathed in deep amber sunset light in Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Sunset, near Bowman, North Dakota — the scenery is better when the light gets dramatic
A herd of wild horses grazing on a dry hillside among juniper scrub in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Wild horses, Theodore Roosevelt NP — approximately 200 roam freely. Worth slowing down for.
A weathered grain elevator and metal storage silo at golden hour in a small North Dakota town, warm light catching the metal
Small-town North Dakota, somewhere east of Dickinson — the grain elevator is the tallest thing for miles
An abandoned concrete building at dusk on a quiet street, bare cottonwood trees glowing amber in the last light behind it
Somewhere in the High Plains — the light made something worth keeping out of something empty
The Bighorn Mountains rising above patchy snow and golden winter grasslands under a dramatic overcast sky in northern Wyoming
Bighorn Mountains from the north — mid-morning with incoming weather. Still worth stopping.
Cloud Peak rising above a dark pine forest and golden meadow under a deep blue sky, snow covering the upper summit plateau
Cloud Peak, Bighorn Mountains — 13,175 ft and the Cloud Peak Skyway earns the detour
A lone cow moose standing in dry golden sagebrush meadow, looking directly at camera, dark forest behind her
Cow moose, Cloud Peak Skyway — more cooperative than the light that morning
A red Angus bull standing in a field, tagged ear visible, looking sideways at the camera with the stoic confidence of something that outweighs you by 1,200 lbs
Red Angus, south eastern Montana — the Bighorn foothills are cattle country first, everything else second
Devils Tower National Monument rising against a deep blue sky, a lone bison grazing in the foreground grass
Devils Tower — America’s first national monument, still earning it. The bison is a bonus.
A vintage gold-colored car parked beneath a wooden farm shed with a corrugated metal roof, surrounded by old tires and farm debris
Somewhere in North Dakota — the stuff that gets left behind when the population moves on
A dark Rivian SUV parked at the White Butte trailhead, pale badlands buttes rising behind the vehicle under a grey overcast sky
White Butte trailhead, North Dakota — 10 miles of dirt road, then 4 miles to the top of the state
The view from near the summit of White Butte, North Dakota's highest point, showing pale badlands and open prairie rolling to the horizon
Near the summit of White Butte, 3,506 ft — rolling prairie in every direction as far as you can see
Close portrait of a black Angus cow with a yellow ear tag reading 452, looking directly into the camera with a calm, direct stare
No. 452, somewhere in Montana — she had things to say about the Rivian
A wide panoramic view of the North Dakota badlands at golden hour, dark cattle silhouetted against glowing amber bluffs and long horizontal shadows
Western edge of North Dakota at golden hour — the high plains finally delivering what they’d been holding back all day
A dark green Rivian SUV facing the camera on a narrow dirt road in flat North Dakota prairie, bare cottonwood tree and farm buildings behind
Dirt road near White Butte — the Rivian in its element, more or less
A dark Rivian SUV parked on a dirt pullout at the Salem Sue fiberglass cow parking lot
Salem Sue parking lot, near Bismark — the Rivian and approximately all of North Dakota
A Rivian SUV pulling into a Tesla Supercharger bank in an empty parking lot at dusk, a row of white charging stalls illuminated against dark trees
Tesla Supercharger stop — fifteen of these on this trip. Some faster than others.
A Union Pacific 'Building America' freight car covered in colorful graffiti, crossing a concrete trestle over dry Montana grassland under an overcast sky
Union Pacific freight, somewhere in eastern Montana — the plains have their own kind of art gallery
A quiet High Plains main street running straight to the horizon under a dramatic billowing storm sky, church and low buildings lining each side
Small town, North Cheyenne Nation — the storm clouds were doing more architectural work than the buildings
Day by Day

Trip
Breakdown

There's a theory that North and South Dakota would be better named East and West Dakota — and it holds up. The divide runs roughly along the Missouri River. East of it: flat, fertile farmland, grain elevators, and not a lot else to look at. West of it, things get genuinely interesting — rolling badlands, ranching and energy country, big open sky, and eventually Theodore Roosevelt, Wind Cave, and the Black Hills. It also happens to be the half where the EV charging infrastructure gets thin — which is less a coincidence than a reflection of how slowly the network has followed the interesting parts of the map.

Two thousand miles in four days, routed to hit the interesting half of the Dakotas while keeping the Rivian's range anxiety manageable. The I-94 corridor through North Dakota is well-supported by Tesla Superchargers — roughly every 90 miles, fast and reliable. The moment you diverge south into Wyoming or west into rural Montana, the mental math begins. Plan charging stops before you need them, not when you do.

White Butte itself is the easiest state high point in the region — 4 miles round trip, 350 feet of gain, a 10-mile dirt road approach that a stock SUV handles comfortably. No permit required. The summit register is a notebook in a metal box. The views are everything the Great Plains are supposed to be: quiet, enormous, and indifferent in the best way.

Day 0 — Minneapolis to Bismarck
Departed ~3pm → I-94 west → Bismarck by 10pm  |  ~430 miles  |  Charge stop en route  |  Stay: Bismarck
Day 1 — Bismarck to Sheridan, WY
Bismarck → Dickinson (charge) → Theodore Roosevelt NP south unit → west into Montana → Miles City → south through rural Montana → Sheridan, WY  |  ~580 miles  |  Wild horses & bison at TR  |  Dinner: Sheridan steakhouse
Day 2 — Sheridan to Bowman, ND
Sheridan → Buffalo (charge) → Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway → Gillette (charge to 100%) → Devils Tower NM → east Montana → Bowman, ND  |  ~500 miles  |  Moose on Cloud Peak Skyway  |  Note: Gillette–Miles City via Devils Tower is 240 real-world miles — left with 340 rated range, arrived with 11 miles remaining
Day 3 — Bowman to White Butte to Minneapolis
Bowman → 10 mi dirt road → White Butte TH → 4 mi round trip, 350 ft gain, ND high point (3,506 ft) → east on US-12 → 4 charge stops → Minneapolis  |  ~600 miles

“Two thousand miles, fifteen charging stops, one state high point, and the best windshield time in years. The West doesn’t care about your career transition — it just opens up and asks if you’re paying attention.”

— Nick Brezonik, True North Adventures
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The northern plains are underrated road trip country — Theodore Roosevelt, the Bighorns, Devils Tower, and a series of state high points that double as good excuses to get off the interstate. Whether you're chasing state summits, scoping a new EV route through the West, or just need some serious windshield time, True North can help you build a route worth driving.

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