The Great American Road Trip. Day 15. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND.

Baby on board!

There are no hookups at Buffalo Gap Campground so were able to test how long our Scamp battery lasts for.  The answer is two days (which is the duration of our stay here).  Even though the furnace is propane it needs the battery to ignite, and the baby needs the furnace to keep her toasty (and sleeping).  We are planning on investing in a solar battery so we have more options.  We cannot run the AC at all on the battery.  The fridge can be run on battery, propane or electric, so we have no issues with keeping our food cold.  

We detached the Scamp so we could more comfortably drive to nearby Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The trailer is small but it is easier not to pull it if we don't have to.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in 1947, and is the only US National Park named after a single person.

It is located in the Badlands of North Dakota because this is where Roosevelt came to hunt bison in 1883, and where he later returned to do soul searching after loosing his mother and wife (on the same day, from different ailments).  Roosevelt said that it was his experiences in the Dakotas which shaped his conservation efforts and the reason he worked to create the US Forest Service, eight National Monuments, 150 National Forests and five National Parks.

For those who don't know, Theodore Roosevelt was kind of a badass.

We toured Roosevelt's cabin, which is located at the visitor's center.  It was originally located seven miles away but toured around the country as a tourist attraction during his pre-presidency, then later returned and rebuilt, board by board.

You can see his initials on his fancy duck skin trunk.

Wild, wild horses... 𝆕

Ranchers used to try to exterminate feral horses but they became protected animals in 1971.

Horses have rights too!

Peaceful Valley Ranch is the only original house remaining in the southern part of the park.

This is Prairie Dog Town.

There are numerous within the park, and all over the state for that matter.

Prairie dogs are super fun to watch, and listen to.

I would like to direct your attention to the upper right hand corner.  You will see a coyote that I didn't even know was there until I saw it on the computer!  What are the chances?  Well, I do take a lot of pictures so maybe it was bound to happen.

This rock has hoodoo aspirations. 

A section of the road which completes the 36 mile scenic loop was closed due to road damage, but we were able to see most of the drive, it was just an out and back instead.

This little baby is fascinated by rock layers.

This prairie is one of the last remaining untilled prairie's in the United Stated.

The Badlands got their name from Native American's, whose name for the area translated to 'bad lands', because it is a difficult place to travel.

It is beautiful to visit now, but the countless canyons and hills made it a harsh place to live.

The last thing we had planned for today was to go one more exit east, to the visitor center and view point of the Painted Canyons.  The lighting wasn't quite right to pick up all of the colors of the Painted Canyons, but we saw two bison and it was still a very pretty view.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was not on our radar before this trip but what a cool little park to visit.  And why not now, since we have no idea when the next time we will be driving through the Dakotas.