A Photo Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Theodore Roosevelt has always said, “I never would have been been President if it had not been for my experience in North Dakota.” Roosevelt first went to these badlands of North Dakota in 1883 to hunt bison. After a devastating tragedy where he lost both his mother and wife in the same day, he returned to grieve and lose himself in the vastness. He fell in love with this rugged land which brought him back time and again for the rest of his life.
For myself and Chris in our lives, we excitedly chose to make Theodore Roosevelt National Park our first main stop on this road trip. We had not yet been to North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt is kinda one of my heroes, so yeah, we were pretty excited to see this national park.
As president from 1901-09 he established the US Forest Service and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act under which 18 national monuments were proclaimed. He worked with Congress to create five national parks, dozens of federal reserves and 150 national forests protecting somewhere over 230 million acres of land.
I can tell you if you are from the east coast or other far away place, it was a long way to drive to North Dakota. So if you don’t feel like making the drive, then grab a cup of tea, some comfy socks and here is an about five minute photo tour of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 😉
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Spanning 70,446 acres this park embodies rugged beauty.
I love the kalideoscope of colors that splash out in these arid climates.
There is so much color and beauty to see as you hear your feet crunch along the sandy and rocky terrain.
Herds upon herds of wild bison roam throughout the park.
Here you can get a good look at the difference between young buffalo fur and his momma’s.
All of these animals are wild and should never be approached. However they are used to seeing people, particularly if you are in your car. Some of you my recall this bison who came to have an itch at our picnic table while we were eating dinner.
Well if you want to know what that felt like watch this video! That is how it went down when we had dinner with a bison.
Distinguished by their large ears we saw many mule deer moving throughout the park.
Hundreds of prairie dogs chirped along the fields adjacent to the roadsides.
One of the more unique animal interactions was this of a badger and coyote who seemed to be friends. It was a bit ironic having this sighting because we had just driven by appeared to be a well prepared and able to looking man with a flat tire. We had to drive on a little while to a place where we could turn around and then we witnessed this badger go crazy because these crows seemed like they were intentional pestering the badger. Finally the crows grew tired of antagonizing the badger and flew away. Then the badger ran a short ways to where this coyote was sitting. Then together they took off walking through this prairie dog field, the coyote in front and the badger following along behind.
The badger followed the coyote around for about 20 minutes and it didn’t seem like they were parting ways soon. We went back up the road to happily see the man was in deed alright and was just pulling back onto the road. So we turned around and went back down to the field.
Also in the equation had been a porcupine sitting around in the field (we just couldn’t get a clear view to get a picture of the porcupine), which the coyote and badger walked by crossing the road. All of a sudden out of the woods this pheasant came dashing out. The badger didn’t seem to want to be anywhere near the pheasant and went running away.
So now we’re just sitting there wondering what was going to happen next. Within 360 degrees of our sight we had a porcupine, a badger, a coyote and a pheasant. Eventually it was just getting darker and darker so we drove back to camp.
As we drove into camp a herd of wild horses was grazing on the periphery. And then this was the evening we had dinner with our guest visitor, the itchy buffalo. So we considered this to be a pretty good wildlife viewing day.
And feeling so fortunate for all our good wildlife sightings we packed up the tent and carried on with The Great American Roadtrip. I hope you have enjoyed this photo journey together through Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
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If you go:
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Camping is available in the park, both first come first serve and also reservable sites. No showers.
Free wifi in town near the Ferris General Store next to Cowboy Museum. We were able to sit in our car and pick it up.
Best to stock up with food in a larger town before hand, but there are a few decent little stores in town.
This post has some of our favorite travel gear items we have taken with us for this trip.
Beautiful photos of a great park. Pheasants don’t need no stinkin’ badgers.
Hahahaha….yep you are right! Pheasants don’t need no stinking badgers. Good one! 🙂 🙂 🙂
“Teddy” (Tiff) No tea for me, had coffee reading post and enjoyed the post “to the last drop” (of coffee) Nice to see so much land and so little people! I liked that.
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Well Mary Soukup I didn’t put the pictures in here, but it was interesting because this park actually has a major freeway running through it and you can see oil rigs on the park borders. We commented a few things that being there is was an awesome park, yet at the look out points there was this reminder of man just at it’s borders.
I didn’t know that Theodore Roosevelt lost his wife and mother on the same day. How awful. The vastness of Dakota must have been a little soothing for him. I hope at least. Your photos really a great tour (I made sure I had my comfy socks on), and those Bison photos are my favourites! #FlyAwayFriday
Oh I am so glad you were wearing your comfy socks!!! hehe. Yeah, I forget that tragedy too about TR. I also can’t imagine what the USA would be like if he didn’t preserve all that land when he did. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
OMG, this looks like an amazing park. I had never heard of it. How stunning. I like the variety of animals (and I do think they’re all cute) 😉
#FlyAwayFriday
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Thank you so much Ester! We were so pumped with all the different wildlife we go to see in the park! I hope to spend a bunch more time in North Dakota’s parks again! Thanks for the comment! 🙂
I cannot get enough of your beautiful photos! What an opportunity to see so much wildlife. Reminds me the many gorgeous places we have in the US (will take me a lifetime to see them). The company I work for is recruiting for North Dakota. Surprisingly, many people do not mind moving there. #FlyAwayFriday
Thank you so much for the kind words Ruth! We are doing about 7 weeks on the road and it just feels like we are barely (barely!) scratching the surface on places. I really really want to go back to ND to photo every day life…it felt like it had such a heart in America and such beautiful landscapes!!! Thanks for the comment. 🙂
This looks absolutely stunning. The vastness of the landscape hasn’t been captured so beautifully in your pictures. I can’t wait to see some wild bison roaming around, how special! Wow, just wow! And how great that you got to visit the parked named after one of your heroes. What a trip!
Thanks so much Bek! I just feel in love with ND landscapes! I just wanted to wander down so many little farm lanes and dirt roads. It is a spot of wide open spaces and just iconic imagery. Plus, as you said, a park named after Theodore Roosevelt, can you get any cooler!? 😉
We were JUST talking about this park the other day! The pictures look amazing and definitely confirms that we want to go. Such a great way to explore wildlife – tacking it onto 2018 hopefully! Thanks for joining Fly Away Friday, hope to see you again this week! xo
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I love this and want to go! I particularly loved seeing all the Buffalo freely roaming there and enjoying life. Hope to see you at Fly away friday this week!