The most unknown National Park!! A synopsis of all the other parks in one with few people and lots of buffalo! While driving thru the south unit I saw a horse up on a far hill. I advised my ever tolerant husband to get comfortable, I would be gone for awhile! Armed with my ever constant companion camera I set off. I knew horses are herd animals as I have been involved in horses all my life! I followed this lone horse about 3-4 miles, up and down hills to finally a level hilltop with a beautiful backdrop similar to Grand Canyon. There were 2 herds of wild paint horses with 2 stallions, many beautiful mares and their foals, separated into 2 separate groups. I sat down about 75 yards away and clicked away!! Just me and them in the most beautiful setting one could imagine!!! I spent 3 hours in a horse lovers dream! The curious foals came investigating me from a safe distance. I was in their world where they were meant to be as part of our western heritage, it was like living a dream! That was 10 years ago, and now they are all gone!!! BLM removed them for auction and slaughter!! Land needed for cattle!! Another beautiful part of American heritage gone!! The Lakota horses.
Sincerely,
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Long before Theodore Roosevelt became America’s 26th president, he spent years as a rancher in the rugged lands preserved by this national park. He grew a strong attachment to the landscape, and now the park’s three distinct units cover some 70,000 acres of badlands, prairies, and forests abundant with plants and wildlife. The two main areas of the park make up the North Unit, near Watford City, and the South Unit, in Medora. The smallest, best-preserved, and hardest-to-reach part of the park is the Elkhorn Ranch unit, preserving the spot where Roosevelt’s former ranch once stood, 35 miles north of Medora on the bank of the Little Missouri River.
State(s): North Dakota
Established: 1947
“We spent 8 years traveling North America seeing our National Parks and National Forests in retirement!! Golden Age Pass wonderful for seniors, encouraging us to visit all and not well known Parks! So much of our heritage has been lost to future generations! The National Park System preserves the natural wonder of our wild heritage for those future generations and for all of us now! Thank goodness for the wisdom of those who had the forethought to preserve these natural wonders!!!”
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