Theodore Roosevelt National Park

By Kathleen Ennen / August 8, 2019

DSCN8531-a-1

AUG 6, 2019 – Medora, ND

After about 3 hours we found a portion of the Theodore Roosevelt NP on I94 near Medora, ND. The visitor center and views/vistas from Painted Canyon overlook were terrific. It’s another extensive area of “badlands”. T Roosevelt found this area early in his life and always returned for the solitude and rejuvenation of the place.

iver2

AUG 7, 2019 – Medora, ND

We have a nice little spot at Arrow Campground. It’s on the Little Missouri River with a short trail to get to a rocky little beach. It’s very muddy! I did find some interesting little rocks, 2 of which are eroded and smoothed sandstone that might become earrings some day.

20190808_105335_resized_18684

AUG 8, 2019 – to Sakakawea State Park, ND

These badlands aren’t quite as colorful as those in SD, but it’s still quite a place. We saw some of the wild horses, left behind from the ranching days, a bison, a mule deer, and more prairie dogs. It was an easy drive about and then we departed for the drive to Lake Sakakawea State Park about a 3 hour drive with a stop for provisions. Not much in the way of towns in this part of ND so you take what you can. We found a well-stocked grocery store and I imagine people from as far away as an hour or more must make the trek here.

As we cruised along I94 we saw a monotonous landscape of flat to rolling hills, lots of sunflowers, wheat and baled hay fields, occasional cows, a few towns, and this far north, the occasional oil pumpers. There’s oil and gas in the shale below.