On the evening of Saturday, September 5, 2026, the oldest state park in North Dakota will trade its daytime story of frontier soldiers and ancient earthlodges for something far more modern: a river of neon light winding through the dark. That's when Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park hosts the return of its Legendary Glow Hike, a Labor Day weekend tradition that has become one of the park's most beloved events.
The evening begins at 7 p.m. with a pre-hike glow party on Cavalry Square, outside the Commissary Store. There, families gather to prepare for the night ahead, painting their faces with UV-reactive colors at glow prep stations, posing for photographs under black lights, and stocking up on glow-in-the-dark merchandise from the Commissary, which stays open throughout the evening. Music fills the square as the sun sinks over the Heart and Missouri river bottoms, and once darkness fully settles over the park—typically between 8 and 8:30 p.m.—the hike itself begins.
Participants are encouraged to dress for the occasion: glow gear, UV-reactive face paint, light-up accessories, and bright or white clothing that will blaze under the ultraviolet lights stationed along the route. As hikers move through the night, they encounter UV light and music party stations that transform the trail into a moving celebration. The route changes from year to year and is announced closer to the event, but in past editions it has stretched anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles, mostly along bike paths and roads that begin and end at the Commissary on Cavalry Square. The event is free of charge, though a daily or annual vehicle permit is required for park entrance, and it is stroller- and pet-friendly, with dogs welcome on leashes. Organizers advise comfortable walking shoes, bug spray, and a flashlight for those who want extra visibility.
The Glow Hike is a relatively young tradition in a park that has been telling stories for well over a century. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park was established in 1907, making it the oldest state park in North Dakota, and its grounds hold layers of history that stretch back far beyond that. Long before the park existed, the site was home to On-a-Slant Village, a Mandan settlement built on a sloping plain toward the river—a name that reflects its setting. At its height, the village contained roughly 85 earthlodges and a population of around 1,500 people. Unlike most Plains Indian tribes, the Mandan lived in permanent, sedentary communities, relying on a mix of fishing, hunting, and agriculture, and their villages served as economic centers where nomadic tribes came to trade animal skins for agricultural products. The village prospered for two centuries before a smallpox epidemic in 1781 devastated the Heart River region's Mandan population; the survivors moved north along the Missouri River, eventually joining the Hidatsa near the Knife River. When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark reached the deserted village in late 1804, they found it already in an advanced state of decay, its earthlodges collapsed into heaps of earth.
Nearly a century later, the U.S. military established an infantry post on a bluff above the On-a-Slant ruins, in preparation for the Northern Pacific Railroad's push west of the Missouri River basin. The post, first called Fort McKeen, was established in June 1872 and renamed Fort Abraham Lincoln on November 19 of that year. Congress authorized the addition of a cavalry post in 1873, and by 1874 the fort housed three companies of the 6th and 17th Infantries and six companies of the 7th Cavalry—a nine-company command of about 650 men, making it among the largest and most important forts on the Northern Plains. Its first commander of the enlarged fort was Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who served there from 1873 until he rode out for the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. In its heyday, the fort encompassed 78 separate buildings, but after the railroad reached Montana and the fort's primary purpose was fulfilled, it gradually declined and was decommissioned in 1891. The original buildings were eventually dismantled by area settlers, who reused the materials in their own homes and farms.
The park's modern form took shape during the 1930s, when a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Young men working to support their families during the Depression built the park's campground, roads, blockhouse reconstructions, and Visitor Center building, and reconstructed five of the earthlodges. Today, thanks to the efforts of the former Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, the Commanding Officer's Quarters, Central Barracks, Granary, Commissary, and Stables have been reconstructed on the site, and visitors can tour the blockhouses and furnished barracks or explore the six reconstructed earthlodges of On-a-Slant Village, including a large Council Lodge.
It is this rich, layered landscape that the Glow Hike illuminates in a new way. The event has become a fixture of the park's Labor Day weekend programming, drawing families and friends out for an evening that blends the park's scenic trails with a festive, communal energy. The Commissary Store, which anchors the event at Cavalry Square, is itself a piece of the park's living history—a reconstructed building that now serves as a gathering place offering souvenirs, a historical bookstore, and an espresso bar serving fair trade coffee roasted in North Dakota.
For those who come ready to glow, the Legendary Glow Hike offers a chance to experience one of the state's most historic places in an entirely different light. As the UV lamps flicker on and the music begins to play, the old parade ground and the trails that wind through the hills above the Missouri take on a new character—one that belongs to the present, even as it stands on ground shaped by centuries of Mandan life, frontier soldiers, and Depression-era builders. It's a reminder that even the oldest park in North Dakota can still find new ways to shine.