Medora: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Named for the 26^th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt National Park covers 110 square miles of breathtaking vistas in the savagely beautiful North Dakota Badlands. Visitors to the South Unit are able to take a relaxing 36-mile scenic loop drive through the badlands. This paved drive includes interpretive signs that explain the park's historical and natural features. One can explore this rugged terrain by vehicle, on foot, or by horseback. Extensive systems of backcountry trails encourage viewing the natural habitats of a wide variety of plants and animals such as bison, prairie dogs, wild horses, mule deer, elk, pronghorn and numerous bird species. Over 500 species of plants can be found here. Optimum wildlife viewing times are in the early morning and early evening hours.

We decided to take the scenic drive through TRNP this evening. The Badlands really are quite beautiful! Brett really misses the mountains so the contour was right up his alley! And the colors were amazing!

Going in the evening turned out to be perfect to see the wildlife. We were a little freaked when we passed 2 feet from a huge buffalo. We could have reached out and touched him. The Prairie Dog Towns were the kids favorite! They wanted to bring them all home. ;) We also got to see a couple of deer and some wild horses.

The most exciting or scary part of the trip was when we came across the buffalo herd crossing the road. There were hundreds of them! They had tons of babies but some of those "papas" were HUGE!!! It took us quite a while to be able to inch our way through them. What an experience!

By the time we got out of the Park, it was getting dark and the Museum was closed. But Liberty and I went back in the morning to check it out. It had some neat things to check out.