Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to travel through the national park in North Dakota that was named after the 26th President of the United States. For a time, the President lived in my home state on a ranch near what is now his namesake park.

“I have always said I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota,” Roosevelt once noted. He first arrived in the Dakota Territory to hunt bison in 1883. The young man from New York would have the future of our country forever changed by conservation policies that were borne of his legacy.

This post, however, isn’t about Teddy Roosevelt. It’s about the descendants of the wildlife that roamed the park when he lived in the area. I’ve gathered the largest gallery of images I’ve ever shared here featuring images of wildlife I’ve encountered while traveling through the park. The opening photo features a bison bull, cow, and calf. The bison bull can be identified by a large tuft of hair on the head and the horns curve upward. Cows don’t have the extra hair on the head, and though you can’t see it in this photo, the cow’s horns curve inward with the horn tips pointing at each other.

The second image features wild horses standing on the main road through the park. As you might imagine, cars stopped and people got out to take photos of these beautiful animals.

Another common resident of the park is the prairie dog. There are several “towns” in the park where these busy rodents entertain the child in all of us. They sit up on their haunches and “bark” at passers by. If you try to get too close, they will scamper down one of the many holes. Walking around a prairie dog town is an invitation to step in a hole or on a weak spot and end up with a broken ankle or worse.

Always remember, we are visitors to these magnificent animal’s home territory. Bison appear to be gentle giants, but they are known for being short-tempered, especially if they might be concerned for the safety of a calf. If you leave your car, keep your distance and stay near your vehicle in case they charge. At least 25 yards (22 m) is a minimum to keep you safe around these animals that can weigh 2,000 lbs (900 kg) and can run at more than 40 miles per hour (64 kph).

Those same 25 yards apply for elk, bighorn sheep, moose, and other large wildlife of the prairie. The bison, though, is by far the park’s most dangerous resident. The rising number of injuries to national park visitors has been shown to be related to the use of cell phones to take photographs. The short focal length of the typical cell phone camera entices people to move closer for a “better shot.”

A study at Yellowstone National Park, another home for the American Bison, tracked 21 visitors and 4 employees injured during the study period.

20 people, or 80 percent, actively approached bison before they were hurt.

5 people, or 20 percent, didn’t back away when bison approached.

15 people, or 60 percent, were hurt when in a group of three or more people who approached bison.

12 people, or 48 percent, were hurt while photographing bison.

6 people, or 24 percent, acknowledged they were too close to bison.

You can read more about the study here.

One of the advantages of moving to Flickr is that I can actually offer you a dynamic slideshow gallery. Though right now, I cannot automatically start the slideshow, I can show you how to do it.

Click on the bison thumbnail below to open the gallery of 30 photos. In the upper right corner of the gallery, you’ll see three icons:

To start the slideshow on the album page, simply click on the leftmost icon.

Alternatively, you can manually click on any image and then manually scroll through the gallery using the arrows on the left and right of each image. I hope you enjoy my views of wildlife in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Of course, you can get to the Flickr gallery by simply clicking on any image in this post where you can scroll left and right though the gallery as well.

John Steiner

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

In mid-September 2020, on our first major park stop as we progressed westbound toward Washington state, we headed to the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The park has three units, North, South, and Elkhorn Ranch. We’d planned to visit all three but found that Elkhorn Ranch requires a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle and more stamina for bumpy roads than we cared to exercise. We settled for the paved highways and pull-offs in the other two units.

At the visitor center, we met a woman who had just come from her first tour of the north unit. She commented that there is much more wildlife to see in the north unit than in the south. She didn’t speak from expertise, but from her own experience traveling through the two units. I will say that we, also, felt we encountered more wildlife than on our trip through the south unit. In the future, I’ll be focusing on wildlife photos captured in the park, but for this post, it will be a mix of scenery and wildlife.

Our first views of the park’s north unit came as we stopped along the highway into the park. We stopped to look for the cattle that we had heard were in the area. Indeed, we could hear them among the trees, but we never saw them. The image above is one of several panoramic images that I created for this post. The expansive views of the park are best seen in panoramic images. Click on the image above to view an enlarged image in 2K resolution.

One stop in the park features these unusual rock formations. Known as Cannonball Concretions, for obvious reasons, they are created by mineral water depositing minerals in the gaps in the sedimentary layers, creating large concrete-like “cannonballs.” If you click on the image above to take a closer look in 2KHD, you’ll see many more of these cannonballs that were formed on the cliff behind the cannonball in the foreground.

On this mid-September day, the leaves were just starting to show their autumn colors all over the park. The only factor that marred the images captured on this day was the ever-present hazy skies from the wildfires burning hundreds of miles west of the park.

I don’t know the relative populations of bison in the two larger park units, it sure appeared from our viewpoint that the north unit had many more bison, at least near our vantage points.

More than once we were stopped because a small herd of bison decided to cross the highway. Bison present great photo opportunities, but be like these people and keep your distance. Bison, especially cows with newborn calves can attack if they feel their calf is in danger.

I found this photo to be one of my favorites that, in one image, shows the prairie grasslands, trees, badlands, and bison that define the park.

Mother is keeping a careful eye on the youngster. There were many calves in the small groups of bison we saw that day. There are also wild horses in the park, but we ended up waiting until getting to the South Unit before we saw any.

There are plenty of hiking opportunities in the park from 10-minute easy hikes like Skyline Vista, a 0.1 mile (0.16 km) trail in the south unit to the 18-mile (30 km) Achenbach trail in the North Unit. Allow 10-12 hours for the park’s most strenuous hike. As it says in the online Hiking and Trail Guide, “Steep climbs and descents and two river crossings await you on a trail that leads deep into the heart of the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness. Cross the Little Missouri River at daybreak and climb the buttes to greet the rising sun.”

Bison have their run of the park and are often on or near the edge of the roads through the park. On most of our trip, I was in the back seat behind the driver so it was easy for me to take photos this close without leaving the safety of my vehicle, or even needing to stop which could have attracted undue attention. We didn’t need to deal with punctures in the vehicle’s doors or fenders.

I conclude this post with one more panoramic image and again invite you to click on it, or any of the other images to view in 2KHD resolution… and to see additional images that are only posted in my Flickr album.

John Steiner

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

The South Unit of the park is by far the most popular of the three units. Last week’s Cellpic Sunday featured a view of the North Unit. We didn’t make the trip through to the third park unit, Elkhorn Ranch, as that part of the park is undeveloped and only available to those with 4-wheel drive vehicles probably meant more for off-roading than anything else. The largest section of the park, the South Unit entrance is located on the main street of the city of Medora.

One of the first things a visitor can see is just outside the park’s visitor center doors. Officially known as the Maltese Cross Cabin, the original site of this cabin was about seven miles (11 km) south of Medora on the Chimney Butte Ranch. Theodore Roosevelt had ranchhands build the cabin after Roosevelt bought the ranch, cattle, and brand, an eight-pointed Maltese Cross.

After Roosevelt sold his interest in North Dakota properties, the cabin was moved to Missouri for the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. From there, it was moved to Portland, Oregon for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, before it was returned to North Dakota. It spent time in Fargo before finally being moved to its current home in Roosevelt’s namesake national park.

About the photo: Stepping out of the back door of the visitor center, you will find a sidewalk that leads a short distance to the cabin. This snapshot was processed in Adobe Lightroom with final processing completed in Luminar 4. As I have often noted, click on the image, and if your browser supports it, you’ll get a better view of the image.

John Steiner

At the edge of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in the North Dakota Badlands, I-94 carries travelers toward or away from Montana. If you are traveling this route, even only passing through, you owe yourself a stop at mile marker 32, the Painted Canyon Rest Area. From high on the scenic overlook, you will get a commanding view of the National Park that may just encourage you to delay your destination and visit the park.

The rest area features the usual building with a well-equipped visitor information center typical of the first stop in a state’s Interstate rest area offerings. Behind the building is a long sidewalk that parallels the edge of a cliff. A fence protects people from getting too close to the drop-off, and because of its length, it presents the visitor with a wide variety of views inside the park. The panoramic opening photo is best viewed by selecting the photo to enlarge it (if your browser allows.)

At the west end of the rest area, you will find the trailhead for the Painted Canyon Nature Trail. A short trail at only .9 miles, (1.5 km), it is rated moderate and descends steeply into the canyon. Though we didn’t take the time to walk the trail on this trip, my wife, Lynn, and I have taken the hike. It is a loop so you will return to the rest area at the conclusion of the hike, but you’ll climb steeply on the way back. Near the top, a set of stairs makes the climb up a little easier.

At the east end of the viewpoint sidewalk, the dropoff edge is just on the other side of the protective fence. A sign warns visitors by implying that they shouldn’t get any bright ideas about climbing over the fence to get a view of the cliff directly below the rest area. If the photos above don’t convince you to visit the rest of the park, maybe the photos featured in the gallery below will convince you to spend some extra time in the badlands. On the scenic drive through the park, you will likely see one of the buffalo herds or bands of wild horses. I submit for your review a gallery of images captured that day during our 30-minute stop at the Painted Canyon Rest Area. In most browsers, you can click on one of the images to enlarge it and scroll through the slides.

Notice: This post is being written during the COVID-19 pandemic and at this time, the rest area is open, but some areas of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are closed to visitors. Be sure to check online for the status of the venue before traveling. Please stay safe and follow your state or country’s guidelines for travel in your region.

John Steiner

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

For my day 6 challenge post, let’s go back to August, 2015. Not so long ago, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. On our previous visits to the park, the herds of wild horses were always elusive, clearly visible only through my longest telephoto lenses. On this trip, however, a small herd got up close and personal with us, actually standing on the scenic drive we were transiting. We parked along the side of the road behind a half-dozen or so other cars who pulled over, their passengers spilling out to stand on the roadway and snap photos. The National Park Service tells us that these horses are descendents of those who ran free in the area during Theodore Roosevelt’s time in North Dakota. Many small bands of 5-15 animals live in the park. You can read more about our visit to the park here.

Nikon D7000 f/16 1/125 sec. ISO-100 Tamron 16-300 mm @ 175 mm. Post processing in Lightroom.

John Steiner

Medora, North Dakota

It was only two years ago since we last visited North Dakota’s national park. Though we saw lots of wildlife on that trip, with the exception of getting up close and personal with one bison, most of the wildlife was quite a distance. This year, the park residents were much closer to the 30-mile (48-km) scenic drive. We spent the morning there under hazy skies.

This trip, a herd of wild horses were blocking one lane of the highway. Visitors were only too happy to park along the edge of the road and snap photos of the beautiful animals. A couple of tourists even wandered to within arms length of the closest horse… not something I would recommend. The feral horses found in the park are descendents of those found in the “old west” in the 1800s. The horses resemble those in the paintings of old west artists, Frederic Remington and C. M. Russell. They are typically a bit larger than the mustangs found elsewhere.

The badlands are a rugged mixture of prairie grasslands and rocky landscapes. The park’s website, here, describes the nature and geologic characteristics of the park as well as detailing the history of the park and its inhabitants.

One of the smaller, yet very prolific inhabitants of the park is the prairie dog. Their burrows are everywhere in the park. Hikers need to be careful not to step in a burrow. Injuries on the trail are not welcome. It can be a long walk back to the highway on an injured foot or a broken leg. Along the highway that winds through the park, there are three large areas where these rodents live in colonies. Similar to ground squirrels, the black-tailed prairie dogs are the only species that live in the park. In July, 2013, we also visited the park, and you can read about that trip here. The gallery of images below features the landscape and some of the wildlife that live in the park. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

View from Painted Canyon Rest Area

Medora, North Dakota

“When Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison in 1883, he was a skinny, young, spectacled dude from New York. He could not have imagined how his adventure in this remote and unfamiliar place would forever alter the course of the nation. The rugged landscape and strenuous life that TR experienced here would help shape a conservation policy that we still benefit from today.”

These words, from the National Park Service webpage, concisely describe the relationship between the Western North Dakota badlands, our 26th President, and his love of our natural environment. One the west side of the town of Medora, North Dakota is the entrance to the South Unit of the park. It was here that my wife, Lynn, and I started our tour of the park. As we were just passing through on our way to Montana, we only had a few hours to spend in the park. We would have to postpone trips to the other two units in the park, the North Unit, and Elkhorn Ranch Unit.

At the very least, if you are travelling along I-94 in Western North Dakota, be sure to stop at the Painted Canyon Rest Area. The rest area is just east of the town of Medora, a historic location in its own right. The rest area includes a small park with shelters and a well equipped information center. A sidewalk winds along the fenced edge of the overlook. Near the west edge, we found a short loop trail. It took us about 45 minutes to complete the loop, downhill at first, and then uphill back to the overlook at the same point we started the hike. There is also a trailhead that joins the main trail from the westernmost shelters. Even though the trail is only a mile, bring water, especially on a warm North Dakota summer day. You will be glad you did.

Along the trail at Painted Canyon

From the overlook, the trail looks to be sand, rocks and low growing ground cover. A short distance from the overlook though, we ran into a small forest. On a warm day, the shade was welcome. The trail is an easy walk for anyone with hiking experience. Though there are some steeper descents and climbs, the trail is well marked and should be an easy to moderate challenge for the non-hiker. The few forks we found in the trail always led back to the main trail, no matter which fork we chose to take.

After leaving the rest area, we continued a short distance on I-94 to the Medora exit. After a short drive through town, we came upon the National Park South Unit entrance. The visitor center features a very useful oversize chart of things to do in the park if you are staying for two hours, a half-day, a full day or longer. The organized guide was helpful in determining what we could reasonably expect to do in the three hours we would spend in the park.

In addition to the hiking trail at the overlook we’d just completed, there are many miles of trail within the park itself. Some short, some long enough for a full day’s hike. Our choice for the day, however, was the 36-mile (58 km) scenic drive through the park. Speed limits are low in the park, so expect the drive to take at least an hour. You wouldn’t want to miss anything by speeding through the park anyway.

Just as we were leaving the information center, a gentleman on his way in mentioned that if we want to see buffalo, we should take the left fork and follow the scenic road opposite the direction that most people would take. We would end up doing the tour “backward”, (not that it matters.) We took the gentleman’s advice and in only a few miles, we came upon the herd of buffalo (properly named American Bison.) Except for one individual, they were some distance from the road and even with my 270mm lens; they were too far away from us to get any decent photos.

Even though they were some distance from us, I distinctly heard the bison say to the prairie dog, “No, you CANNOT roller-skate in a buffalo herd!”

In addition to the buffalo, prairie dogs are plentiful in the park. In the photo above, you can see several of the prairie dog mounds that dot the area. Members of the squirrel family, prairie dogs grow to about 17 inches (43 cm) and weigh around 2 pounds (1 kg) on average. They are plentiful in the park.

An American Bison rests by the roadside

Shortly after leaving the area where we stopped to watch the buffalo herd, we were following a large pickup and camper trailer. They were travelling faster than us, and rounding a curve, we were surprised to see them stopped in the right-of-way on the two-lane scenic drive. We stopped behind them and waited for a few minutes, wondering what they saw, considering we’d just passed a turnout to a scenic overlook, there didn’t seem to be too much to see right here. When they pulled away, however, we saw the bison. He was only a few feet from the road edge and was apparently enjoying the view of vehicle traffic along the highway. He was standing at first, but as we came alongside, he lay down and watched us as we stopped and I grabbed a couple of photographs. We didn’t stay long as we didn’t want to find out if the clicking of a camera shutter might be an annoyance to the beautiful animal.

Wild horses on a hillside

Near the end of our drive, we stopped at a scenic overlook; I happened to look behind us and noticed, high on a hillside, a herd of wild horses that live in the park. They were some distance away, and my 270 mm lens was at full extension. Unfortunately, the only photos I took were all a bit blurry because in my haste to set aperture priority to get a sharp photo, I neglected to notice the shutter speed was too slow for hand holding the camera. This was the best shot of the bunch.

It was only a few more miles to the fork where the scenic drive loop brought us back to the information center and the main entrance to the South Unit of the park. We would soon depart for Montana and our stay at Fort Peck that I featured in last week’s blog entry. The North and Elkhorn Ranch Units of the park will have to wait for another time for our visit. We are looking forward to seeing more of this beautiful and historic park in Western North Dakota.

John Steiner

North Dakota on Dwellable