Teddy Roosevelt National Park

We went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a long weekend in the middle of June. This is one of the least visited national parks and looked amazing (plus it has lots of prairie dogs!). We camped in one of the total of 14 sites available - there are more, but they hadn't finished clearing the silt/mud from them yet! It was incredibly beautiful and we've already listed all the hikes we have yet on a future trip.

Here was the entrance to our campsite in the North Unit - the water had been about a quarter way up the sandbags.

After setting up our tent, we headed out.

I of course immediately found the trails where all the prairie dog towns were and we hiked that one first :)

On the way back to the trailhead, we ran into a buffalo. Luckily there was another couple there already watching it. Had they not been there, we would have turned the corner and potentially startled it. That may not have been the best start to the vacation.

That night, it rained about 3/4" in an hour. We had a moat around our tent! That next morning, we put on our gaiters and headed out on the trails. We were warned about the wet clay soil (it expands to about 3 times, and all that additional water makes it extremely slippery). I loved it! I have to admit I was a bit worried when we initially headed out for fear it would rain again while we were on the trail, making conditions even worse, but I'm glad we stuck with it.

Not long after starting the trail, Chris slipped. I wish it had been funny to see, but it just looked painful! It was comically slow though and you'll notice the slip marks all the way down. The amazing part about it (besides Chris not getting hurt) was that the face appeared to be rock, but turned out to essentially be soil. Fascinating stuff!



We also drove up to some of the scenic areas of the park (ones we couldn't hike to).

It was a beautiful park and I highly recommend it! If you're interested in seeing fewer people and more prairie dogs, go to the North Unit. The South Unit is the one right off of I94 and was more touristy. We did get to see the wild horses out there though.

As a final thought, here are the prairie dogs doing their bark. I couldn't help feeling like I was seeing miniature Banjos when I was out there (although these guys were much quieter!):