Theodore Roosevelt Park Northern Unit - North Dakota

Expansive view of the Badlands coming into Medora, North Dakota

Mack checking out the Badlands

Prairie Dogs in the North Unit of the Park

Overlook coming into the Theodore National Park, Medora, North Dakota

Although we did little more than a 'drive-by' of this National Park, it's someplace I'd like to come back to and explore in more detail. With a dog in tow, there are restrictions to accessing the trails...we couldn't leave the paved roads...so we drove through the 36 mile paved road scenic drive and still got hundreds of shots and a good sense of the landscape. At some point, I hope to make this and many of the National Parks my destination for more than a few hours.

My husband and I took this same drive a few years ago, and although I recognized it after getting into the drive, I'm not sorry I did it a second time...and will definitely do the drive again. $20 to get into (there is a $10 senior pass but she didn't ask and I didn't tell) and it was well worth the money.

The small town of Medora (a destination in and of itself) holds the gateway to this drive and is a bustling little cattle town. Roosevelt called his years in the Badlands (not to be confused with the South Dakota Badlands National Park) "the romance of his life" and I can see why!