Theodore Roosevelt National Park

On the Western boarder of North Dakota sits the only US national park named for an individual – Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Now we are 2,023 miles from home. The park is split into a north unit and a south unit. We camped one night in the north unit and spend the night as a free for all – Sara went for a run, the boys climbed a butte and Bill and Michelle went to a ranger led talk. Keegan also carved a very cool spoon.

In the morning, we went for a hike on the Caprock Coulee trail, a 5 mile loop that took us through some amazing scenery.

We also saw some amazing wildlife while we were here – a jack rabbit, white tail deer, a snake, a golden eagle and 7 buffalo, including one right in our campground!

After lunch, we headed 60 miles South to the south unit of the park and crossed into the Mountain Time Zone. After a visit to the visitor center, we hiked the Painted Canyon Trail about 3 miles. On the trail, the boys talked us into climbing a butte just off the trail. While they were able to ascend the extremely steep slope of loose rock with relative ease, others in the party found it much more challenging! There was no way we were going to be able to get down the same way we got up! Luckily for us the backside of the butte was challenging, but not impossible to climb down.

Instead of turning around at the end of the trail and walking back on the trail, we bush-wacked back, making our own trail as we went. Now the badlands of North Dakota earned its name. As soon as we thought we has a straight trail back, we ran into a gully or a cliff, or a rock wall. When Sara led we usually found the easiest way around the obstacle in our way. With Keegan or Conor in the lead, we generally choose a more challenging path that often included climbing over rather than going around.

Our campground tonight is the Red Trail Campground in Medora, ND – home of the Cowboy Hall of Fame. The campground is fine for an overnight as it is close to town. The worst thing about it is the showers. The shower head is level with my mouth. Do you know how hard it is to wash your hair when you have to bend over backwards because the shower head was designed for a midget!

I have uploaded some additional photos onto Facebook and you can view the here.