Theodore Roosevelt National Park

After spending five days in Wisconsin after my Grandma's passing, I was ready to get back on the road. The first destination of my reconfigured itinerary: Theodore Roosevelt National Park in far western North Dakota. The former president once ranched these badlands and remarked, "I never would have been president if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota."

Teddy Roosevelt described the remote landscape as having a "grim beauty." Perhaps when the sun is setting and the sagebrush whispers across a windswept coulee. But when drenched with sunlight, the colorful, rounded mounds--badlands--light up with eroded streaks of color. I found these badlands greener, more spherical, and more compact than the jagged, sinewy South Dakotan badlands I visited last summer.

One thing is for certain: the park is isolated. On the trails and at the lookouts I only ran into other people on three or four occasions. After spending Thursday night in Fargo and driving across North Dakota's middle early Friday, I started my day in the park's South Unit, easily accessible off Interstate 94.

The park's South Unit is more crowded (relatively) and less rugged than the North Unit, 52 miles in the direction of fracking boomtown Williston. I headed to the North Unit to hike and camp for the night after making the scenic loop of the South Unit. The next morning, I hiked the 4.3 mile Caprock Coulee Trail before the dew had dried then sped off towards Wyoming.

South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park