@NP.Adventuring - Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Website

The great Road Trip of 2018 continues with stop #2, all the way in North Dakota - Theodore Roosevelt National Park!

We headed north out of Wyoming and cut across most of Montana to get to our hotel in Medora, ND which is right where the park entrance is for the South unit of the park. The park is split into three units: the North unit, the South unit, and the Elkhorn unit. Most people go to the South unit. The North unit is 70 miles away from the South unit and the Elkhorn unit is about halfway between the two along the Little Missouri River.

We started off the day at the Visitor's Center getting our Junior Ranger books and learning about the park. One of Teddy Roosevelt's cabins, the Maltese Cross cabin, sits behind the center and is open year round for tours. This was not his main home in the badlands, it was his first, but it is the one that stood up to the test of time. His main house, the Elkhorn cabin, has nothing left standing but the foundation stones.

Teddy Roosevelt came here to hunt bison, but after his 2 week hunt he fell in love with the area and bought into a cattle ranch. He spent his days here working, riding, hunting, and healing his soul after his mother and wife died on the same day in 1884. He found solace in the hills and it framed his presidency; he protected 230 million acres by expanding the National Park system.

We took a drive along the 36 mile long scenic loop and stopped at all the overlooks and took a couple little fun hikes where the kids got to climb some rocks on the bluffs. There is a prairie dog town in a little valley by the river, and we saw some wild horses and some deer. It's definitely pretty country and easy to see why Teddy loved it here, but it didn't really have the grandeur you'd expect with a National Park. I think if Teddy Roosevelt wasn't the one who expanded the parks system so greatly this would probably just be a state park. Still worth a visit though and it looked like it would be a great place to camp.

This park rates at 3 out of 5 stars based on our standard criteria.

Rating Criteria: Fun, Scenic, Ease of Travel, Wildlife, Crowds