near Medora, North Dakota
After a day in the Park, we cruised the town of Medora and stopped to fill our bellies with yummy pizza. The town was still sleeping since the popular Musical in this touristy but fun place doesn’t open curtain until next week.
On the way home from Medora to Belfield (15 miles to the East in the relatively flat grasslands) we made sure to view the Painted Canyon. Wow, what a view at the perfect golden hour too!
I can see why Teddy Roosevelt felt such a strong fondness for this area.
He first came to the Dakota Territory in 1893 to hunt bison. A year later, devasted by personal tragedy (his mother died of Typhoid and his wife died in childbirth – on the very same day), he returned to grieve and lose himself in the vastness. He became a cattle rancher and, in this broken land, found adventure, purpose, wholeness. His love for the rugged beauty of the land brought him back time and again for the rest of his life.
Roosevelt credited his Dakota experiences as the basis for his groundbreaking preservation efforts and the shaping of his own character. As president 1901-09, he translated his love of nature into law. He established the US Forest Service and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments. He worked with Congress to create five national parks, 150 national forests, and dozens of federal reserves – over 230 million acres of protected land.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park was not the great man’s own creation. It was established in 1947 as a national memorial park to honor President Roosevelt and to provide a place for us to experience his beloved Badlands.
