North Dakota - Theodore Roosevelt National Park
In the summer of 2019, I was at the end of a nearly 3 week trip starting in Rocky Mountain National Park, and moving to Glacier National Park before driving from Glacier back to Milwaukee. Similar to all my recent trips, i tried to visit a National Park Service Property in each state, and a visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota was inevitable on this trip.
There is one major east-west route in North Dakoka - I-94, and it literally cuts through the park, so its almost not possible to miss this park if you are on I-94. The day I got there, I was tired from the long trip, and it was a rainy-ish day - it would rain for a bit, then be sunny for a bit. I was supposed to camp there, but since I got there at noon, and the weather was iffy, I decided to look around, and head further east to a hotel for the night.
The park is in a few different places. I visited the southern segment. The location is actually the location of where Theodore Roosevelt lived and had a ranch for a period of time during his life. He came out to North Dakota after his mom and wife died on the same day, The house he lived in out here is on the site by the Visitor Center. I'm not sure if it is in its original location or not, but it is a nice addiiton to the Visitor Center experience in addition to the film that gives a great overview about the park and the history of the park.
The land is very similar to the Badlands, and there are TONS of prairie dogs here. There are also buffalo, which is cool to see. I saw several of them as I wandered and hiked a bit - they are huge so I kept my distance! There is also one spot along the road that has a pull off to watch the paririe dogs play. There must be hundreds of them!
