Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I visited Teddy Roosevelt National Park on the front end of a week long road trip with my friend Doug. To a lot of people, including myself, the state of North Dakota is a relative unknown. And the small taste I got of the state was a nice surprise. We flew into Bismarck which was a cool little town and grabbed some beers and food at a brewery to catch up and prepare for the week ahead. Then we were off on our long road trip, headed to Teddy Roosevelt and then Glacier National Park.

This park is made up of three separate units: the South Unit, the North Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch. My visit was focused solely on the South Unit solely for the fact it was most accessible from the town of Medora. Medora was close to the park entrance and offered plenty of places to stay and eat, making our three night visit comfortable. Given more time out here, I’d love to spend time in the other two units though.

Visiting in the middle of summer lent us some pretty hot temperatures, regularly in the high 90’s as far as I recall. The low humidity does help to a degree, but staying out of the mid-day sun is crucial. The nights cool down nicely though.

So the park itself. This place has a ton of wild horses, which was probably my favorite part. Horses are one of my favorite animals (along with dogs and penguins). We also saw a ton of bison and prairie dogs. Also home to the park, although we saw few, if any: elk, deer, pronghorn, rattlesnakes, and the occasional lizard.

Along with the wildlife, the incredible scenery adds to the allure of this park. Colorful badlands are everywhere, cliffs have been carved out by the Little Missouri River, and the vast prairies can be traversed via the Maah Daah Hey trail (which runs outside of park boundaries as well, it connects all three units). And if you’re a history buff or a fan of our first Roosevelt president, a visit out to this place where Teddy Roosevelt grieved his family is a must. If you ever find yourself in North Dakota, I can’t recommend this park enough.