Visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

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The Dakota Badlands are rugged unique geographical terrain carved into the northern great plains. The combination of the Little Missouri River and its tributaries and winter’s harsh winds and ice eroded layers of soft sentiment over the course of 1000s of years. The result are striking colorful canyons and lush valleys teaming with wildlife. Why called the Badlands? Perhaps because wild west outlaws roamed. The area was brutal for humans, farming and ranching as future President Theodore Roosevelt learned. In 1883, Roosevelt arrived to hunt and stayed setting up a ranch that ultimately failed though the Badlands quenched his thirst for adventure. Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in 1947 in tribute to the man and preserving part of the Badlands. The park is divided into three separate units. Much of the park is remote wilderness accessible only by hiking trails. The primary South Unit borders I94 and divided by the Little Missouri River. The Painted Canyon visitor’s center is basically an overlook providing excellent views of the canyons in their colorful magnificence. No sign of wildlife that close to the main highway. The main entrance visitor’s center is at the tiny tourist town of Medora. Not much to the museum except for some Roosevelt artifacts. Behind the building is the relocated Maltese Cross Cabin which was Roosevelt’s ranch home and visitors can go inside to see how primitive it was. The highlight of the South Unit is a scenic 26 mile loop drive allowing for some great overlooks and views. The area had been overhunted so bison, elk and big horn sheep have been successfully reintroduced. Descendants of original ranch horses roam. This visitor saw none of them. However, there are several prairie dogs towns along the route and those critters are fun to watch. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is the site of Roosevelt’s ranch that is only reachable by hiking trail or rough dirt road visitors are warned about. The North Unit is 68 miles north on US89. After yet another visitors center is a 14 mile turnaround scenic drive. You can see a herd of longhorns that the park maintains in honor of the ranching years. Really weird looking are “cannonball concretions” which are knoblike formations of cemented sand and minerals. The petrified forest can only be seen by hiking in. There is no other place that looks quite like the Badlands.