Named after former President and all-around American badass Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, this National Park celebrates the rugged beauty of the American countryside with rolling green hills, herds of wild bison, and vibrantly harsh “badlands.”
Spread out across three units of protected land in western North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park both honors and celebrates its namesake by protecting and preserving the land he cherished most.
Following the death of both his wife and mother in 1884, then State Congressman Roosevelt would retreat to North Dakota and became a cowboy, herding cattle, hunting bison, and capturing outlaws. The rugged lifestyle he experienced during the next two years in the Dakotas would prove formative for Roosevelt, and he would later be quoted as saying “I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota.”
A National Monument since 1947 and a National Park since 1978, the region is a perfect representation of everything the National Park system was designed to protect. Here are my photos from my trip:
Overlooking the badlands at Sunset
A wild pony stops to take in his surroundings
Overlooking the North Unit of the Park
A gathering of Prairie Dogs
Rugged Cliffs with naturally formed “Cannonball Concretions” in the foreground
A Bison Prowls through the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie
Nothing to see here- just wild horses crossing the road
More Badlands at Sunset
Strange Looking Cliffs
This little guy spent a solid 5 minutes just yelling at other Prairie dogs. I like to imagine that he’s the village elder telling the youngsters to stay off his lawn
