Tommy Turtle

Tommy Turtle was created to honor the Turtle Mountains, the wooded highland that gives the region its name and character. Rather than a plain turtle, the town gave him a snowmobile to ride, a nod to the winter sport that thrives in the hills and forests of the area. The result is a monument with real personality, a big, friendly turtle roaring off on his machine.

He belongs to a proud tradition of oversized roadside monuments across North Dakota, joining the giant catfish in Wahpeton, the huge sandhill crane in Steele, Salem Sue the giant cow near New Salem, and the enormous W'eel Turtle just up the road in Dunseith. Each was built by a community wanting to give travelers a reason to stop, and each says something about the place that raised it.

The Turtle Mountains are not tall peaks but a rolling, forested upland that rises a few hundred feet above the surrounding plains, straddling the border between North Dakota and Manitoba. Cloaked in aspen, oak, and birch and dotted with hundreds of small lakes and ponds, they feel more like the north woods than the prairie, a green island in a sea of farmland.

That surprising landscape makes the region a haven for outdoor recreation in every season, from fishing and canoeing in summer to snowmobiling, skiing, and ice fishing in winter. Lake Metigoshe State Park and other protected areas preserve some of the finest of the woods and water, and Bottineau serves as a natural gateway to it all.

The Turtle Mountains are the homeland of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and of the Métis, whose communities lie in and around the hills to the northeast. The Chippewa, or Ojibwe, and the Métis, a people of mixed Indigenous and European descent with their own distinct culture and history, have long ties to this wooded country and its lakes.

Their presence is a living part of the region, and their history and traditions are woven into the story of the Turtle Mountains. For the traveler, understanding that these hills are more than a recreation area, that they are a homeland with deep roots, adds meaning to a visit and to the cheerful roadside welcome that Tommy Turtle offers at their edge.

Bottineau is a small, welcoming town at the southern foot of the Turtle Mountains, a base for exploring the lakes, forests, and trails of the region. From here it is an easy drive up into the hills to Lake Metigoshe State Park, north toward the International Peace Garden on the Canadian border, and around the wooded country that makes this corner of North Dakota so unlike the rest of the state.

Tommy Turtle makes a fitting first stop, a photo and a smile before heading into the hills. Paired with the giant W'eel Turtle in nearby Dunseith and the gardens and lakes of the surrounding country, he anchors a genuinely charming stretch of the northern plains that rewards travelers willing to leave the interstate behind.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.