Today has been a history lesson for us (and now you). We left Belle Fourche, South Dakota this morning and drove through the rolling hills. It was beautiful. I bet we saw 1,000’s of antelope and a few mule deer this morning. It was green and the hills just roll. We arrived in North Dakota about lunchtime and drove to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (another one we have not visited and a check mark on our bucket list to see as many National Parks and Historic Sites that we can). We had visited the badlands in South Dakota a couple of years ago, but these are different.
Here is the history lesson on the park and the badlands. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States National Park comprised of three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. The park was named for Theodore Roosevelt. The park covers 70,446 acres of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit. The largest part of the park lies near Medora, ND. President Roosevelt found 5 national parks and the U.S. Forrest Service. He is the president that did more for the national parks before or after his presidency.
What are Badlands - The formation of badlands is a result of two processes: deposition and erosion. The process of deposition describes the accumulation, over time, of layers of mineral material. Different environments such as seas, rivers, or tropical zones, deposit different sorts of clays, silts, and sand.
We are now headed toward Montana and hope to make it into Canada tomorrow morning. Canadian Rockies here we come!
