A photo story

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I stopped at the visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in July 2026. The whiteboard is a small snapshot of the day, not far from White Butte, which I had finished the evening before. It was already in the upper 80s that morning and on its way to about 102, with almost no wind yet.

I don't remember much else from the visit, other than the visitor center, seeing a statue of Roosevelt on a horse, and that all of his history was really cool.

Roosevelt first came to the Dakota Badlands in 1883 and spent years ranching here in the 1880s. His first ranch was the Maltese Cross, and he later ran a second one, the Elkhorn. Those years in this landscape helped shape the conservation work he became known for.

The park protects a stretch of North Dakota badlands named for him. After a sunset finish at White Butte, this was a short drive the next morning.