We recently met my parents in North Dakota, checking both a new state and another great national park off our list.

Established in 1947 to honor its namesake and his love for the North Dakota Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt National Park comprises three park units – the north unit, south unit, and Elk Ranch unit. We were able to dedicate a full day of our trip to exploring the north and south units, where we saw some incredible scenery and wildlife.

We stayed in Medora, which is the gateway to the park’s south unit, and explored this area first. While our relatively early start put us ahead of the entrance gate and visitor center operating hours, it increased our likelihood of spotting wildlife.

The south unit is well-known for its 36-mile/8 km roundtrip Scenic Loop Drive, which has numerous overlooks, trailheads, and other points of interest. A short section of the loop was under construction during our visit so we drove as much of the loop as possible before heading back out toward the visitor center.

It was a beautiful morning, and I enjoyed our hikes at Boicourt Overlook, Buck Hill, the Coal Vein Trail, and the Wind Canyon Trail where we had great views of the badlands and other geological features.

Happily we saw tons of wildlife, including bison, mule deer, wild horses, coyotes, turkey, and tons of hilarious prairie dogs, to name a few.

We rounded out our time in the south unit with a stop at the visitor center, where we watched the park film, toured the museum, and learned more about Theodore Roosevelt’s time in this area.

After his initial visit in 1883 to hunt bison, Roosevelt returned in later years to try his hand at cattle ranching, ultimately taking great inspiration from his time in the Dakota Territory. As president, he established the U.S. Forest Service, signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, and worked with Congress to protect more than 250 million acres of land – crediting his time in the badlands for his interest in bringing about these preservation efforts.

A short drive east took us to another incredible section of the south unit called the Painted Canyon. In addition to a rest stop and gift shop, the visitor center has accessible walkways to viewpoints over the badlands as well as a couple trailheads.

We decided to check out the Painted Canyon Nature Trail, which is a .9 mile/1.4 km loop that winds down into the canyon. It was steeper than I anticipated, and I was sweating as we made our climb back to the parking area!

It’s a 68-mile drive between the north and south units along route 85 with limited services in between. It was the middle of the afternoon by the time we reached the North Unit Visitor Center, which is a small trailer with minimal information, and set off on the out-and-back scenic drive to Oxbow Overlook.

A geological highlight in this unit of the park was the Cannonball Concretions along Buckhorn Trail.

When mineral rich water seeps down through the porous layers that make up the badlands, it can deposit those minerals in spaces or gaps in the sediments. The minerals act as a kind of glue, holding these sediments together, often forming around a core. As more and more layers are deposited, the concretion builds outward like a pearl, before being exposed by erosion.

NPS brochure

We saw tons of bison in the north unit as well as some longhorns grazing among the trees and plains. This unit was less busy and quite different from the south unit, so I’m glad we took time to visit them both.

Our day in Theodore Roosevelt National Park gave us a thorough introduction to the North Dakota badlands and interesting background on President Roosevelt and his time in this area.

I’d certainly visit again to check out the third park unit and more of the hiking trails in both the north and south units of the park.