The other day I ran across some photos of our 2010 summer road trip, which included a stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and I had to pause because the colors were so vibrant and lush. This is the national park we’ve been to most often. When heading west in the car, TRNP is an easy stop off of I-94. I’ve never driven through this area without a stop in the park.
TRNP can look very different from visit to visit depending on the time of year and amount of rain. In 2010, we visited at the end of June and they clearly had lots of rain. In fact, it was the first of many nights we spent in a leaky tent during this trip. We set up our large family tent in the TRNP's Cottonwood campground at a site near a creek. When the rain started during the night, I could only think about the recent story of an Arkansas campground that had a severe flash flood, killing many campers just weeks earlier. I had no idea how much the creek might rise. I kept peaking outside, thinking I could see what was happening, but in the pouring rain, there were no clues about how much or little danger we were in. Well, we didn’t float away—but in the morning, we woke up to an abandoned campground. Hmmmm. Not sure if this was a narrowly-escaped danger thing or we’re-tougher-than-most thing.
Named after the 26th president of the US, Theodore Roosevelt. TRNP has both a north and south unit, as well as a unit for the Elkhorn Ranch (Teddy’s ranch site). We’ve only visited the south unit because the north unit is 14 miles north.
One of the things we love about TRNP is the herds of bison. We never seem to get tired of seeing these huge creatures and in June, there are babies to enjoy as well.
In addition to the bison, this park is one of the few where you can see free-roaming wild horses. After the park was fenced in 1954, there was a horse round-up to remove them. A few small bands of horses eluded capture, so the horses there today are descendants of those smart, bad-ass horses.
The Little Missouri River winds its way through the park, carving away the soft clay of the badlands.
"The stream twists down through the valley in long sweeps, leaving oval wooded bottoms first one side and then on the other." Theodore Roosevelt
Although we didn’t camp here on our 2016 road trip, we did stop to search out the buffalo, the wild horses, and get in a bit of a hike. We caught these bison in a heated battle.
One of my favorite family photos. Since we didn't have a tripod and didn't do selfies back then, the idea was to splice the photo together (I took the first photo and Kevin took next)-- only 3-year-old Cormac couldn't stand still. This two-Cormac holiday card fooled a few people.
Yup, Teddy Roosevelt National Park is magical.
For more on national parks see: Top 10 National Parks.
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