Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is an American national park of the badlands in western North Dakota comprising three geographically separated areas. Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named directly after a single person.

 

The park covers 70,446 acres (110.072 sq mi; 28,508 ha; 285.08 km2) of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. The Little Missouri River flows through all three units of the park. The Maah Daah Hey Trail connects all three units. The park's larger South Unit lies alongside Interstate 94 near Medora, North Dakota. The smaller North Unit is situated about 80 mi (130 km) north of the South Unit, and Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch is located between the North and South units.

 

Both main units of the park have scenic drives, approximately 100 miles (160 km) of foot and horse trails, wildlife viewing, and back country hiking and camping. The park received 850,000 recreational visitors in 2021.

 

Plateaus and tops of buttes provide expansive views of the buttes and river valley floor where one can really take in the vastness of the badlands. The North Unit, having a higher elevation than the South Unit and more barren buttes makes for striking landscape views.

 

 

HistoryRoosevelt connection

Rainbow over the badlands

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The badlands in winter

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Roosevelt first came to the North Dakota badlands to hunt bison in September 1883. During that first short trip, he got his bison and fell in love with the rugged lifestyle and the "perfect freedom" of the West. He invested $14,000 in the Maltese Cross Ranch, which was already being managed by Sylvane Ferris and Bill Merrifield, seven miles south of Medora. That winter, Ferris and Merrifield built the Maltese Cross Cabin. After the death of both his wife and his mother on February 14, 1884, Roosevelt returned to his North Dakota ranch seeking solitude and time to heal. That summer, he started his second ranch, the Elkhorn Ranch, 35 miles north of Medora, which he hired two Maine woodsmen, Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow, to operate. Roosevelt took great interest in his ranches and in hunting in the West, detailing his experiences in pieces published in eastern newspapers and magazines. He wrote three major works on his life in the West: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter. His adventures in "the strenuous life" outdoors and the loss of his cattle in the starvation winter in 1886–1887 were influential in his pursuit of conservation policies as President of the United States (1901–1909).

 

 

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Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness

 

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Petrified Wood in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

 

 

 

 

Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

 

 

Dawn over Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

 

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 Badlands Formations,Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota 

 

 

Badlands formations, Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Dakota 

 

 

Pedestal Formations, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

 

 

 

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park | Medora NDBadlands with clouds, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, United States of America, North America

 

Rock formations in badlands landscape of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, USA

High resolution quality images from Windows Spotlight

 

 

 

Cannonball Concretions

 

Cannonball Concretions

 

 

 CANNONBALL CONCRETIONS

These geological formations are fascinating to look at! They seem entirely unnatural and out of place in contrast to the surroundings. As water seeps through the layered rocks that make up the badlands, it deposits minerals that bind with the sediments around a core. Over time, more and more layers are deposited forming these cannonballs, and erosion eventually exposes them. There are likely even more of these cannonballs under the surface of the buttes that we just can’t see yet!

 

Cannonballs

 

 

 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

 

 

North Unit

 

 

RIVER BEND OVERLOOK

 It sits high atop a butte overlooking the badlands and the Little Missouri River. The panoramic view also shows off how north-facing buttes are green and lush while south-facing buttes are dry and brittle from the harsh sun.

 

 

 

 

• OXBOW OVERLOOK

The last stop along the North Unit Scenic Drive is Oxbow Overlook. This final overlook offers a sweeping panoramic view of the Badlands and of an oxbow in the Little Missouri River.