Teddy Roosevelt National Park preserves the badlands and grassland prairies in western North Dakota. The park is named after Teddy Roosevelt, who lived, ranched and hunted here. Scholars say this is where Roosevelt became committed to conservation after seeing the potential impacts of man on our country's natural resources and beautiful landscapes. Roosevelt's time here made such an impact on him that he said: "I have always said I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota."
The park is make up of three sections: the North Unit, South Unit and Elkhorn Ranch. Roosevelt's first home in the badlands was the Maltese Cabin, and it still stands, having been moved from its original location to within the park. His second home, the Elkhorn Ranch, no longer stands, but the land is preserved and the foundation of the house is still there.
On our first day in Medora, after arriving from Red Lodge, we drove through the South Unit after dinner. The timing was good, because we remembered that the badlands in South Dakota looked even better at dusk, when the sky took on orange, red and purple hues. The South Unit has a 37 mile loop that winds through sandstone buttes, valleys and prairie. It's home to bison, elk, wild horses, thousands of prairie dogs, mule deer, badgers and coyotes. When you turn your car off and get out, you can also hear the birds: meadowlarks, doves and other songbirds singing tunes that carry through the air.
Every turn through the park brings a new view and every one is pleasing. Glaciers first carved this area, and over millions of years, plants and animals who have lived and died here became fossils and then the dark lignite (coal) that make up one of the darker layers of sedimented rock in the badlands. In the 1950's some of the coal caught on fire and burned underground for 20 years. That baked layers of clay in the badlands, causing some of it to turn red.
The buttes in the badlands also have gold and white layers, and erosion causes the buttes to "slump," where a upper section of a butte gets too heavy and slides down to the area below. The layers of rock and clay stay the same, so when you drive through, you can see the same patterns of rock at the top and the bottom of the butte. Erosion also creates "cannonball concretions" that just like the name, look like big round balls that rolled off the butte. There are also hoodoos, which are unique creations in the sandstone caused by erosion. In the park, one looked like a large table, a perfect place to have a picnic with the perfect view of the park.
The first wildlife signing we had was a huge prairie dog colony. As soon as we opened our windows, we could hear them yipping and screeching to each other. They popped up out of their holes and scurried around the field, and every once in awhile, one would stand up on their back feet and let out a big screech as if to say "Seven o"clock and all is well!" or "Dinner's ready, come on home!" As we were checking them out, we saw another creature checking them out: a coyote. He crossed the road and then walked among the prairie dog holes, probably looking for dinner. In hindsight, the loud screeching we heard could have been "Here comes the coyote - take cover!" Henry loved watching the prairie dogs and would have stayed there for an hour or more if he could have. But it was time to move on to see the rest of the park.
We found some wild horses grazing as we continued on the loop. There are a couple hundred wild horses that live in the park, just as they did when Roosevelt lived here. We also saw some mule deer grazing up higher on the buttes, somewhat hidden among the trees. There is a horseback riding stable in the park, as well as the Cottonwood Campground, which is located along the Little Missouri River and a field of sagebrush. We scanned the area for elk or bison, but didn't see any.
The people who map out the roads in national parks like this one do an amazing job of creating a lasting impression on the people who will drive on them. We had views from above looking down into the canyons of the badlands and views from the valley looking up. There were pull-offs just when you needed them to take a picture or watch for wildlife. And there are trails in just the right places to get off the road and into the prairie or along a canyon.
We saw some more wild horses along the drive, and as we came to the end of the loop, there was another large prairie dog colony, so we pulled over and watched them for awhile. The last part of the park road before we crossed over the highway had an overlook with beautiful views in every direction - of the cayons below, the buttes off to the west, and the prairies.
Roosevelt said: "It was here that the romance of my life began." This land healed his pain, strengthened him physically and mentally, and allowed him to move on with his life.
I loved this park for many reasons. The unique beauty, the quietness, and the prairie sounds: tall grasses rustling in the wind and the songbirds. Unlike Yellowstone, the were no crowds at every pull off; many times, we had the road to ourselves, so if we saw something, we could stop and take a better look.
Roosevelt loved the badlands for the solitude and the stark scenery, and so did I.
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