By Nanci Dixon
Driving the Enchanted Highway was a fabulous short stop on the way to Glacier National Park. The highway from Gladstone, North Dakota, to Regent, North Dakota, is a 32-mile stretch through richly rolling farm fields.
An artist on a mission
Artist Gary Greff had a dream to help revitalize his hometown of Regent, North Dakota. He brought together local farms and ranchers to use skills they knew well—welding. They started creating the biggest metal sculptures in the world and hold the Guinness World Record for them!
Tin Family
More than 30 years ago, Gary and his team created the first of the sculptures, the Tin Family. Mammoth mom, dad, and son statues tower over the landscape. Each one is a story or more high.
Driving the Enchanted Highway is truly enchanting
We were usually the only ones on the road on a mid-September weekday. The harvested golden fields appeared lit from within. Contrary to popular belief, North Dakota is not all flat! The hills are gentling rolling with a few mesas and badlands in the distance. The sculptures are all placed several miles apart, leading to the rather sleepy town of Regent.
The Enchanted Highway reflects life on the prairie
Each sculpture reflects a piece of North Dakota life and heritage. When I walked up to the grasshopper in the photos below, thousands of real grasshoppers started jumping. Not a staged prop, just everyday life on the prairie.
Scale
These are so breathtakingly large that the scale in a photo is hard to tell. You can barely see my husband standing under Bambi!
Geese in flight
This eye-catching sculpture is on I-94 at the crossing to driving the Enchanted Highway. It made the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest sculpture.
Teddy rides again
Pheasants on the prairie
“Grasshoppers in the Field”
“Fisherman’s Dream”
Family friendly and art you can touch!
Kids can go right up to the sculptures and touch them. There are picnic tables, a shelter or two, and even an iron maze.
Click here for more information on the North Dakota Travel and Tourism website.
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All look very interesting, but only one picture had a person in it for size. A real missed opportunity here!
If I was wealthy, I would want some life size fiberglass dinosaurs on my property near the street.
We did the Enchanted Highway in 2019. Well worth the drive. Good road, easy parking and very fun sculptures.
We did this drive in ’07 or ’08. They were just doing the finishing work on the fish sculpture. Unfortunately, a strong windstorm had recently bent the leaping buck sculpture flat on the ground. A VERY worthwhile and enjoyable drive.
TIP…do it with a full tank of fuel as it’s relatively expensive in tiny Regent…or at least it was when we were there.
RE: Enchanted Highway
One of the best features is that each sculpture has a huge parking area. We were able to pull into each one with our 43′ Newmar Ventana, towing our Jeep, take our photos and just continue around the lot and back out onto the highway.
Ive been there and it’s definitely a sight to see but I can’t find Regent on the atlas.
Beware. Speed trap
Going west out of Regent the last posted speed sign is 25, the same as in town 10 miles behind you. Thankfully only got a written warning.
This will definitely be added to my future travel plans.
Ditto
Visited this spot in 22…thanks for the great photos, the size of the sculptures (?) make them difficult to photograph.