Theodore Roosevelt

Medora, ND

About

A colorfully striped butte in the foreground overlooks a dark green badlands landscape

When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison in 1883, he was a skinny, young, spectacled dude from New York. He could not have imagined how his adventure in this remote and unfamiliar place would forever alter the course of the nation. The rugged landscape and strenuous life that TR experienced here would help shape a conservation policy that we still benefit from today.

Read more at nps.gov

Directions

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in the Badlands of western North Dakota. There are three units to the park. The South Unit entrance is in the town of Medora, ND off of Interstate 94 exits 24 and 27. The North Unit entrance is on Highway 85 approximately 14 miles south of Watford City, ND. The remote Elkhorn Ranch Unit sits roughly in the middle of the North and South Units and is accessed via gravel roads. Consult park staff for directions to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit.

Weather Info

In winter, some or all park roads may be closed due to snow.

Photos

the Little Missouri River under blue skies

The Maah Daah Hey Trail follows the Little Missouri River for several miles before it enters the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness.

A muddy river bank lined with cottonwood trees and steep buttes

The Ekblom Trail is the gateway to the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness. All you have to do is make it across the river!

two bull bison collide heads in a dusty battle for dominance

In the summer, bull bison wage furious battles over the right to breed.

the swirling, dusty looking milky way runs vertically though a starry night sky

Though light pollution in the area is increasing, the night sky over Theodore Roosevelt National Park remains beautiful and inspiring.

a string of bison are silhouetted against the backdrop of hazy blue and yellow badlands

Bison roam the badlands from top to bottom, surprising visitors with their agility and ability to cross even the most rugged terrain.

a green prairie hilltop overlooks the badlands, shrouded in shadows

A short climb to the top of Buck Hill in the park's South Unit rewards hikers with a sweeping panorama and a fantastic place to watch the sun rise or set.

A bugling bull elk and his harem of cows stand on the edge of a butte as the sunlight fades

The ghostly bugles of bull elk can be heard wafting through the badlands in the fall.

a strange looking sand and rock formation stands in a prairie of brown grass

Theodore Roosevelt described the badlands as "so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth."

The rising sun casts light on Roosevelt's snow-covered cabin.

Imagine waking up on a crisp winter morning in Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin. It is no wonder that his heart was captured by the romance of life in the West.