Tucked far away from everything else off of Interstate Highway 94 in the far western end of North Dakota is the surprisingly beautiful Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was so named because President Theodore Roosevelt, the creator of the United States’ Land Preservation movement, once had a massive sprawling ranch in the area during the 1880s. After hunting Bison in the region, he fell in love with the terrain and moved there to grieve some heavy losses. I talk about this in my Buffalo Kingdom Episode of my podcast!

Today there are three fantastic units to the park where you will find seclusion, beauty, and wildlife.

The Third Unit, The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is 1.5 hours from Medora or a 26 mile one way hike through the Great Plains Buffalo Kingdom Landscape from the South Unit or 44 mile one way hike from the North Unit. It was the site of Roosevelt’s second ranch, although the building no longer exists. The Park Guidebook says the roads can become easily washed out and are unpaved, steep, and rough so heads up. The house was built in 1885 by Wilmot Dow and Bill Sewall who also ran the ranch. It apparently had 8 rooms and a nice porch. The winter of ‘87 killed almost all of Roosevelt’s herd so he gave up ranching, moved back to NYC, and continued his political career.