Hot, short moments in Roosevelt National Park

I now have two North Dakota visits to my name, and both trips followed identical itineraries. 

Crossing into the state from Montana,  a welcome sign advised visitors to “Be legendary.” Take that as you will. 

With plans to stay in Wibaux, a tiny town nested on the state border, I had afternoon plans in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, one of the system’s overlooked gems. 

 Despite sitting along a major interstate, having multiple exits that lead almost directly into the park, TRNP gets nowhere near the traffic of other national parks. In 2021, a record year across the park system, TRNP hit 796,000 visitors – better than Gettysburg or the Great Sand Dunes, but a fraction of the visitors that descended upon the other Rocky Mountain region parks like Zion, Rocky Mountain, Glacier and Yellowstone. 

Wildflowers at Skyline Vista

This time in North Dakota, I planned a more ambitious visit, with a drive through the North Unit along with whatever time allowed in the South Unit, which I visited in 2010. From there I could circle over to the Fort Union Trading Post historic site and possibly over to Sidney, Montana. That plan emerged in June, but the heat baked the region in early August. There were cooler days ahead, but I would be 500 miles west by then. 

I set out for the park not sure what the visit would entail. After an early start and stop at Devils Tower, I had less energy than expected for Roosevelt National Park. 

North Dakota just burned on this afternoon, also a fee-free day, driving extra traffic to the national park. I drank water relentlessly, contended with spotty air conditioning in my car and the oppressive air. 

TRNP stretches across three units and some major scenic real estate. The North and South units showcase the geography and wildlife on a set of scenic drives. The least-visited unit houses the site of Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch. Only foundations remain of the original ranch and the trip requires a high-clearance vehicle and several river crossings. 

Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin, which predated his ranch, sits at the main park visitor center in Medora. From here, the South Unit lies just across the interstate. 

After a visitor center stop, I faced the obvious - I would stick with the South Unit, which changed substantially since 2010. The loop road no longer completed a loop; erosion crumbled the road to where it had to close. 

 Its most notable residents still roamed this patch of badlands. Prairie dogs chattered and observed the traffic from the edge of their tunnels. 

The bigger residents did not seek out cooler places. The park's bison felt the heat. A few loitered atop the badlands, a massive bull rubbed in the dirt along the roadside, while three massive herds huddled above the Cottonwood Campground on the Little Missouri River. 

A few wild horses loitered on a hilltop plain, giving visitors an effortless look at the park’s other signature residents. The horses were not native but had lived in the region for centuries and in the park since its creation. The bison herds along the road grunted and huddle close together, their tails whipping in unison hard enough to cool the air and ward off insects. Under this heat, I had no appetite to dig deeper into the park. The bison were my barometer. 

 I did take a few new steps this time. When I last visited, I could not access the short walk to the Skyline Vista Overlook. Cars are few in this park, and I had little human company. On that day, two dozen bison grazed around the parking lot. I could not leave the car. 

No bison were anywhere near Skyline Vista's scorching aspalt, even as swarms of grasshoppers and other insects jumped with my every step. None buzzed in my face, but scores migrated along my route. The vista stops atop a bluff, with spectacular views of the green-tinged badlands. The recent monsoons rains had enlivened the rusty hills with fragile vegetation. Wildflowers sprouted everywhere they could, and sunflowers lined parts of the highway below. 

 Had a I shortchanged North Dakota’s only national park again? Possibly. But I still made the trip this far. It was an afterthought for many visitors. Not me. 

 TRNP might require a third stop, one that stretched into the Painted Canyon section of the South Unit, one that turns to the North Unit and spends some actual time around this corner of North Dakota.