Theodore Roosevelt came to this area in 1883 on a hunting trip. He fell in love with the land and when his wife and mother died within hours of each other on Valentine's Day 1884, he returned here to mourn.

For most of the next three years, he lived in a small cabin as a rancher. When he returned to New York and to politics, his time living in the North Dakota Badlands would shape some of his policies. As President, he added many places to the roster of National Parks or Monuments.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park honors the man who lived here, and so strongly supported the parks. The park has a north and south unit, some 50 miles apart. Though I had hoped to visit both, time only allowed us to visit the south unit.

Though called North Dakota's Badlands, the terrain differs a bit from the namesake to the south. The formations are not as large and tended to have much more vegetation growing on them than in Badlands NP. During our visit, we found ourselves sharing the road with a bison, and stopping to look at several prairie dog towns.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park "suffers" from distance, I think. As beautiful as this park was, it was far, far less crowded than some of the other parks visited on this trip. Perhaps it is because it is in North Dakota, far from much else. Perhaps people just don't know about it. My traveling colleague fell into the latter and was so amazed by the park that he is already planning a return trip.