Visiting Teddy in Medora, ND!

8/1-4/2014   Theodore Roosevelt National Park has been high on our “to do” list for years but because of lack of time or bad weather, we never got there.  This trip, we dedicated nearly 4 days to explore the Park thoroughly.  The Park is 130 miles west of Bismarck, ND on I-94 and 24 miles east of the Montana state border. The Park has 3 separate units—the South Unit, on I-94 at Medora, ND, the Elkhorn Ranch, in the middle between the North and South Units, reached by a rough 4WD road then a hike into Roosevelt’s former home ranch area and the North Unit, 18 miles east on I-94 then 50 miles north on U.S. Route 85.  Altogether the Park includes 70,446 acres (110 square miles) of western North Dakota badlands!  When referring to the Park in this post, we’ll abbreviate it TRNP.

Little Missouri River

The Park is all Badlands country similar to Badlands National Park in South Dakota but higher with extensive juniper forests and much grassier with the Little Missouri River (which is actually pretty big!) running through the entire park.   The Theodore Roosevelt National Park color brochure on Badlands---“Though at first glance, this landscape appears inhospitable and barren, it is home to a great variety of creatures and plants.  Rainfall, scanty as it is, nourishes the grasses that cover the land.  When the wildflowers bloom in bright profusion, they add their vibrant colors to the reds, browns, and greens of earth and grass.  At home here, too, are nearly 200 species of birds, many of which are songbirds. We can thrill to their songs today as much as Roosevelt did.” 

Teddy Roosevelt—the Man and  “The Conservation President” in North Dakota---TR--“I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in South Dakota.”   Park color brochure---“Roosevelt first came to the badlands in September 1883.  Before returning home to New York, he became interested in the cattle business and joined two other men as partners in the Maltese Cross Ranch. The next year he returned and established a second open range ranch, the Elkhorn, as his own operation while continuing as a Maltese Cross partner.  The Elkhorn became his principal residence, a place where he could lead the “strenuous life” that he loved.  The prospect of big game hunting had initially brought Roosevelt to the West.  But when he arrived, the last large herds of bison were gone, having been decimated by hide hunters and disease.  By spending time in the Dakota Territory, he became alarmed by the damage that was being done to the land and its wildlife.  He witnessed the destruction of some big game species. 

Overgrazing destroyed the grasslands and with them the habitats for small mammals and songbirds.  Conservation increasingly became one of Roosevelt’s major concerns.  When he became President in 1901, Roosevelt pursued this interest in natural history by establishing the U.S. Forest Service and by signing the 1906 Antiquities Act under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments.  He also got Congressional approval for the establishment of five national parks and 51 wildlife refuges and set aside land as national forests.”   During his Presidency, Theodore Roosevelt set aside more than 230 million acres of land in National Forests, National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges!       

Park History—Theodore Roosevelt died suddenly of an embolism in January 1919.   Because of his popularity and conservation ideals, in 1935 a portion of the North Dakota Badlands was dedicated as “Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area.”  In 1946 the land became the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge.  President Truman declared the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park in 1947.  The North Unit was added in 1948. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter gave the Park its final and current name—Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The entire Park is surrounded with a 7 foot tall woven wire fence to keep the bison and feral horses inside the Park and livestock out.  The Park gets over ½ million visitors per year.  

Painted Canyon Visitor Center—heading west on I-94, you’ll see the Painted Canyon Visitor Center at Exit 32, about 8 miles east of Medora.  This Visitor Center is mostly about the terrific badland panoramic view from its adjacent overlook.  The rangers here don’t have Park brochures or Park newspapers!   The view is great and they do have restrooms as well as the ubiquitous gift shop!  No fee here. 

Medora Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau & the Town of Medora —taking exit 24 off I-94 will take you into Medora and if you need supplies, this is the place!  Medora has a Wild West motif going on with most of its buildings throughout the town, inspired by its founding in 1883. The commercial area of Medora has wooden plank boardwalks.  The first dude ranch in the United States entertaining East Coast visitors, the Custer Trail Ranch, was also founded here in 1883. It’s always been a cattle town and in 1896, it became the county seat of Billings County, ND and Medora is the only incorporated town in the County.  During the 1920s-1940s, 3 large coal mines existed in the area.  From 1934-1941, the CCC (FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps) built much of the infrastructure of the Park as well as restoring and landscaping the 128 acre Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, the former home of the town’s founder in Medora.   

Today, tourism is the big industry with the Park bringing in many visitors as well as the town’s full event and entertainment  schedule in the summer.  The 2012 County population was 905 people.   There’s a drugstore, many gift shops, the Convenience Store and gas station, candy stores, coffee shops, western stores, tickets for the Medora Musical (we didn’t go), tickets for Joe Wiegand’s terrific one hour reprisal performance as President Theodore Roosevelt (we went & definitely recommend this!), general stores, an old time photo store, 3 churches plus lots of hotels & motels (23 by my count!), 7 saloons and 20 places to eat!!    The Medora Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce is at the Billings County Museum with brochures on many of the town’s facilities and events. 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Medora Visitor Center --is at the northwest end of the town of Medora inside the Park gate, where you either pay $10 per vehicle for up to 7 days admission or show your Park Pass (aka Old Folks Card!)  Either way, you’ll receive the Park brochure and newspaper there.    This Visitor Center has a very good introductory movie and an excellent museum exploring the life of Teddy Roosevelt in this area with personal and ranching artifacts as well as interpreting the natural features of the Park.  The restored Maltese Cross Ranch Cabin is located behind the Visitor Center but was not open while we were there.    

Maltese Cross Ranch Cabin

Meeting Teddy!   After getting in the Park gate and finding and paying for our site at the Park’s Cottonwood campground, we went back out to Medora to buy our tickets for the 3:30 PM performance of Joe Wiegand’s “A Theodore Roosevelt Salute to Medora”. The Medora 2014 Guide comments "Theodore Roosevelt comes alive in this vivid and rousing presentation.  Learn about Theodore Roosevelt as a President, husband, father, soldier, hunter and Badlands rancher.  Joe has performed this role nationally, including a White House performance for President George W. Bush.” 

We’ve seen a number of re-enactors over the years but this performance was the best ever!  Joe Wiegand looked the part, his movement and gestures were genuine, the stage was set with believable props like a mounted deer head and a mounted sage grouse, and the stories were right out of the history books with a great deal of humor and personalization for our particular audience.   At the end of his presentation “Teddy” told the story that a company was making new children’s toys named after him called “Teddy Bears” and he picked up one off the bookshelf and walked into the audience and presented it to a young girl with Down’s Syndrome—what a wonderful moment!   Then he walked out the front door and shook hands and talked with each of us as we exited!  Since he had confided that he much preferred his military title of “Colonel” over “Mr. President” we made it a point to say “Bully, Colonel, Bully!!”  Our photographs should convey the fun and educational value of this experience!  $10 a head and worth every penny!  

We called this outcropping "the Horny Toad"

Cottonwood Campground—we drove back to the South Unit Cottonwood campground and got set up.  The campground is attractive with 64 RV/tent sites with many pullthroughs ranging from car size to a large motorhome length.    There are no hookups and no hot showers but several bathrooms.  There is no RV dump site in this campground, amazingly!  The campground can fill up in the summer season.  We attended an evening ranger program called “Biological Bad Boys” that was interesting.  The Bad Boys included rattlesnakes, black widow spiders and even prairie dogs!   Fees--- $10 night or $5 with Old Folks Card!        

South Unit 36 Mile Scenic Loop Drive—we did the scenic drive twice on different days and spent about ½ day each time, starting relatively early in the morning.  Primarily, we saw bison, deer, wild horses, prairie dogs and magpies.  Starting at the campground, you’ll see the first Prairie Dog Town, Peaceful Valley and its horse ranch (dating back to the 1880s) and riding stables, another Prairie Dog town, a hilly area where the road turns SE where we saw the wild horses twice, much more badlands  where you’ll likely see bison in several areas, then the side road up to the Coal Vein trail, a Badlands Overlook, the Scoria Point Overlook where you’ll see reddish capped hills from former coal vein fires then you’re back to Cottonwood Campground.   At least 5 trailheads branch off the road in different areas. 

Horses drinking at Pleasant Valley Ranch

Magpie

Animals in the Park—There are Elk, Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Pronghorn, White-Tailed Deer, Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, Badgers, Feral  Horses, Longhorn Steers and Birds of Prey (eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, owls and vultures) in the Park. We saw bison, both mule and white-tailed deer, lots of prairie dogs, “wild” horses, longhorns, a wild turkey, magpies, a number of sage grouse and some turkey vultures.  Prairie rattlesnakes (the only venomous snake in the Park) are certainly present but we didn’t see any. 

Mule Deer

Sage Hen

Prairie Dog Towns—Prairie Dogs are one of our favorite animals and it is fascinating to sit in your vehicle and watch them interact with each other, whistle warning cries, eat grasses and race around between burrows.  Prairie dog “towns” refer to the hundreds of mounds of earth that are the entrances or exits of their burrows.  Black tailed prairie dogs are the species seen in TRNP.  There are 6 “towns” in the south Unit and at least 2 in the North Unit.  They are a critical part of the food chain for many other animals—coyotes, badgers, eagles and hawks.  Prairie dogs are considered “varmints” by ranchers since they fear their cattle stumbling into a prairie dog mound tunnel and breaking a leg.  Many scientists think they play a more positive role in turning over the soil with their active digging.  

Bison—there are many fewer bison in TRNP than in Badlands NP or in Yellowstone NP, despite its lush spring and summer grasses.  We saw herds of bison in several places in the South Unit but not as many in the North Unit.   We were there in the rut season when the bulls are aggressively pursuing the females following them around and sniffing and waiting impatiently for an opportunity for “coitus” as Sheldon says on the Big Bang Theory TV show!!   The other favorite activity is dusting!  Anywhere bison congregate, there is a bare area when they roll around, presumably to dislodge ticks or other pests.  One large bull presented the opportunity to take a whole series of 20 photographs of his heroic dusting!  It’s amazing to watch a large wild animal roll around happily (?) punctuated with lots of grunts!  There were quite a few calves this year too; always fun to watch!  

 Short video of Buffalo Dusting

Wild Horses—TRNP South Unit has several groups of wild horses, each led by a stallion, that are free to roam the Park.  Running up hillsides, and grazing, they appear to be in excellent condition and typify the old West.   There is one particularly majestic white stallion that leads one group!  These horses are considered feral since they are descendants of domestic stock.  Teddy Roosevelt was said to be fond of the wild horses in this area! 

The white stallion

Coal Vein Trail—This trail is only 8/10ths mile but it is very narrow walking through waist high sweet clover grass, up and down hillsides and up to one peak with several species of juniper trees.  From 1951-1977 a fire burned in a coal seam here baking the clay and sand converting them into a material called “scoria” that is a rusty brown color.  At the time of our visit, there were 3 coal vein fires burning underground in the North Unit and those areas and trails were closed to visitors.  Coal vein fires burn at temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—a temperature hot enough to melt rock!  There are many visible coal seams—black horizontal deposits of lignite coal—throughout TRNP.   

Fields of sweet clover everywhere--the bison love it!

North to the North Unit—Leaving the South Unit of TRNP and driving into Medora and then east on I-94 18 miles to U.S. Route 85 at the town of Belfield.  Then it’s 50+ miles north on Route 85 through farm and ranching country and a number of oil and gas wells to the turnoff to the North Unit of TRNP.  

North Unit Visitor Center At this time, the former Visitor Center is out of commission (foundation sinking and breaking up!) and replaced temporarily by the small old ranger station close to the campground.  It’s actually quite personal with only one ranger or sometimes an SCA (Student Conservation Association) volunteer intern.  They have a small room for a different introductory movie as well as a few exhibits and the bookstore.  We asked a few questions and picked up a bird list, since we hadn’t seen very many different species and no raptors at all.  An SCA Intern did a good job on the evening program on Bison at the campground amphitheater.   

Cannonball Concretions—just beyond the North Unit Visitor Center, there is a large hill with many concretions that typically are round and brown, like a cannonball.  There is one area that is really spectacular with perhaps 10 “cannonballs” in a deep canyon!   These are really unusual!  Careful walking around; perfect area for rattlesnakes!       

Juniper Campground—the North Unit Juniper campground has 41 RV/tent sites with bathrooms.  No hookups, no hot showers BUT this North Unit campground has an RV Dump!!  The amphitheater is an easy walk for nightly ranger programs.  The campground was very quiet at night!  

North Unit 14 Mile Scenic Drive—the North Unit scenic drive is much shorter than the South Unit scenic drive, but it winds around and gains altitude frequently.  There are overlooks that really give you the big picture of the power of the river.  One of our favorite things was the ability to get close on interesting pullouts with mushroom rocks, cannonballs and other byproducts of erosion. Some of the erosion features have amazing texture qualities and we have tried to capture this in our images.  

We were concerned at a point near the “Man and Grass Pullout” where the fence boundary of the Park is extremely close with an outside Park boundaries cattle ranch in very close proximity showing overgrazing.  And in Yellowstone and other areas, the ranchers are so concerned about brucellosis from the bison infecting the cattle; but they can get real close here!   In addition, from inside the Park bondaries here, you can easily see very visible oil and gas wells, especially with a prominent gas flare! It seems unfortunate that this activity needs to be so close to the Park.  See our Addendum at the end of this post for more photographs of massive activity just north of the North Unit associated with the Bakken oil field.  

Petrified Forest and Fossils—The Park Newspaper states: “The North Dakota Badlands contain a wealth of fossil information including bands of lignite coal and petrified trees, as well as fossils of freshwater clams, crocodiles, alligators, turtles and champsosaurs.   Each fossil is like a piece in a giant puzzle that scientists have used to reconstruct the ancient history of the Park.  These clues indicate that the Park was once on the eastern edge of a flat, swampy area covered with rivers that fanned out into a broad sea level delta.  This swampy area contained dense forests of sequoia, bald cypress, magnolia and other water-loving trees growing in or near the shallow waters.  TRNP has 

the third most important collection of petrified wood in North America.  No roads lead to this area, keeping it remote and well preserved”.  The Petrified Forest area is accessed from the South Unit driving out of the Park and north about 30 minutes on a 4WD dirt road that’s impassable gumbo when it rains, then a 3 mile hike into the Forest.  Our RV does not have the recommended high clearance so we didn’t go but we’d like to in the future.

This large piece of petrified wood is in downtown Medora

Longhorn Cattle—From the Park Newspaper--“In 1884, 4500 Longhorns were driven from Texas on the Long X Trail to what is now the North Unit of the Park.  Since 1967, the Park has maintained a small demonstration herd to commemorate the cattle operations of the 1880s.  The herd is comprised of steers, which are males that cannot reproduce.”   We saw the longhorns close to the sagebrush flats near the “Longhorn Pullout.  

River Bend Overlook—River Bend is a great overlook with a CCC-built shelter right on the edge overlooking a huge badlands vista and the Little Missouri River flowing below.   If you didn’t appreciate the power of water before, you will now!   

Oxbow Overlook—a higher viewpoint than River Bend revealing a huge oxbow the river has carved as well as more badlands area with high peaks carved out.  There is a nearby 1.5 mile trail to Sperati Point.  Here is a fascinating story from the Park color brochure—“The trail from the Oxbow Overlook… leads to the narrowest gateway in the badlands. The flow of the Little Missouri River once continued north from this point, finally draining into the Hudson Bay (in Canada.)  Blocked during the Ice Age, the river had to find a new course and finally broke through this point and the Achenbach Hills on the other side.  The Little Missouri now drains into the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri-Mississippi system.”   

We very much enjoyed our visit to TRNP and would like to further explore on a future trip.  On our last 1-1/2 days, there was sporadic heavy rain and a thunderstorm.  It was interesting to see the difference in the appearance of the badlands areas after they were wet.  In some places on the North Unit scenic drive, parts of the roadside hills gave way dumping mud and debris onto the roadway.  The heavy clouds and lack of sun also affected photography by dulling the scenery.  The bison didn’t seem to mind the rain!

The colorful wildflowers on the scenic drives

A stormy sky

Bakken Addendum--There is a tremendous amount of “fracking” oil activity north of the Park’s North Unit in an area called the “Bakken.”  After leaving the Park on 8/4, driving only 15 miles north on Rt. 85 to the Watford City area, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam for nearly 15 minutes.  Most all the large trucks in the long lines of traffic were all related to the Bakken oil boom!  We saw a lot of the workings of this new way of getting oil out of the ground—the massive rows of worker housing; large truck repair depots, fleets of water tankers, many new wells being drilled, huge storage areas for giant 3300 lb. bags of ceramic proppants used in the fracking process.  It certainly does not make the area prettier, and the traffic of the big tankers and service vehicles was very heavy, causing that county to have to widen and rebuild many of its roads, causing further congestion!