OK. I'm going to guess that many (most?) of you have never heard of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It's in southeast North Dakota with the main park entrance at Medora ND in the badlands section of the state. I'd never heard of it before either. I saw it listed on a map showing national parks and figured since we were going to be pretty close at Devils Tower we might as well take a look. We are both really glad we did! I think that after Yellowstone, this is probably our favorite park and one (besides Yellowstone) that I'd definitely like to visit again.
The park is actually comprised of two separate units about 50 miles apart (more like 70 miles by car).
Factoid: Theodore Roosevelt NP is the ONLY national park named for an individual.
Factoid: In the 1880s, Roosevelt owned TWO cattle ranches, the Maltese Cross Ranch which was located in Medora and the Elkhorn Ranch located about 26 miles north of Medora. Roosevelt spent a lot of time there actively managing the ranches after his wife and mother died (on the same day in December 1884).
The park is unbelievably scenic, has lots of wildlife (elk, bison, wild horses, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep), lots of nice hiking trails - it really has it all.
The town of Medora is neat, too. A small, old-fashioned western town but really a tourist destination. In off-season, though, it's pretty quiet.
[Pictures to come later]
That's all for now ..... Dan
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