Rambling RV Rat: Visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park

To facilitate our visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we arrived at Buffalo Gap, a 35-site campground operated by the US Forest Service (USFS). About a dozen sites are reservable, including 6 that are specific to RVs/campers. Unfortunately, the USFS website indicated none of these were available for the dates we needed (but we did notice at least 1 tent set-up on an “RV/Camper only" reservable site during our visit). So, we were limited to the sites available on a first come first served basis. No worries—the campground is underutilized. We found a level, private spot that fit Big Boomer/Suite Retreat without the need to unhitch, and we squeezed in our Rambling RV Rat Pack Rubicon, too. The sites have no hookups, but we had ample open sky for our solar panels. There are clean toilets (some flushable, some pit) and showers in the campground, should you need them. There are also potable water spickets and a trash receptacle on site, all for $20/night ($10 with the Senior All-Access America the Beautiful Pass). At the time we did our research, the USFS website indicated there is a dump station. However, we learned upon arrival at the campground that it was not operational. (After registering our complaint to the very helpful, friendly campground host, we noticed the website has been updated with this fact). There is a private campground/RV Park (also called Buffalo Gap) down the road that allows non-guests to dump tanks for $5, but access was a bit tight for us. We came in with our waste tanks empty, so we waited to dump until after our departure from Buffalo Gap USFS Campground. (We visited a Cenex fuel station enroute to our next destination, which offered free use of their sanitation dump.)

It was a tight squeeze, but we fit!

We witnessed a beautiful sunset from a nearby hilltop that overlooked our campground.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is comprised of 3 separate units (South, Elkhorn, North). Though all units are connected by the flow of the Little Missouri River, they are all at least an hour’s drive away from each other. We began our visit by strolling along the quaint western railway town of Medora, founded in 1883 and located right outside the entrance gate to the Park’s South unit.

The stage set for Medora Musical.

The remains of a meat packing plant built by the French nobleman Marquis de Mores. It was destroyed by fire in 1907. The town of Medora is named after his wife.

Multi-colored zinnia adorned this garden.

At first I thought this storefront was the extent of Roosevelt's Presidential Library. I was relieved to learn that this was just to showcase the models of the proposed Library. The structure is still a work in progress, sitting high up on a hill near the Medora Musical site. Theodore's Library is scheduled to open in 2026 as part of the 250th anniversary of the U.S.A.

Yours truly and Dad with a statue of the Rough Rider himself.

As we entered the Park, our first stop was the Visitor Center so I could pick up my Junior Ranger booklet. Though this book was much more complex than most, I am happy to say I completed my full assignment by the end of our visit, and I was duly deputized as a Junior Ranger at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Meet B-VO, a gift from dance friend Willi and latest member of my Rambling RV Rat Pack (though clearly he is not of the species rodentia). But B-VO helped me earn my latest Junior Ranger Badge.

I learned much from the film and the Ranger Program I attended about good ole Theodore (he did NOT like to be called Teddy). He arrived in North Dakota in 1883 a young, non-athletic, eye-glass-wearing cosmopolitan New York lawyer and State Assemblyman—certainly not what one would envision as a bison hunter. But realizing bison were going extinct, he pursued his dream of big game hunting. He left with his wall trophy and a love of the area. As a son and husband grieving for his mother and wife who died on the SAME DAY in 1884, he returned to the Dakota Territory searching for solace and tranquility. He purchased Maltese Cabin and then built Elkhorn Ranch, named for the antlers he found on his property, the product of 2 bull elk fighting. He invested in cattle, though the winter of 1886 brought such severe weather, 75% of his cattle died (as well as those of his fellow ranchers in the Little Missouri Stockmen’s Association that he founded). Theodore went back to New York, remarried, furthered his political career, and served in the U.S. Military including his stint with the “Rough Riders” during the Spanish American War before becoming the 26^th President of the U.S.A. In subsequent years, he would return to North Dakota’s Makoshika (the Lakota Indian phrase that translates to “badlands”). Though cumulatively, he would spend less than 1 year in North Dakota, he credited his time here as the catalyst for his many conservation efforts, including the establishment of the US Forest Service (USFS) and the protection of 225+ million acres of public lands.

Over the course of our 4-day visit, we visited all 3 Park Units, traveled every mile of their scenic roads, and hiked along several trails. We were amazed that we had a good Verizon cell signal through many parts of the park. Furthermore, we were surprised by how many visitors were within the Park during our visit, though their annual visitation averages 600,000. Come along with me for a "tour".

Theodore Roosevelt's Maltese Cabin is now located within the South Unit.

We made some new friends, fellow New Jerseyans and RVers Skip and Terry. We all bonded as we kept running into each other at various points within the Park over the course of our visit. We are enjoying hearing from them as they are now traveling through Alaska.

The South Unit has its share of prairie dog colonies.

The views from...

...Wind Canyon Trail in the South Unit.

Wild horses roamed through the South Unit.

The rock formations are muti-colored, with every color representing a different mineral/natural resource.

You must travel along 35+ miles of dirt roads to reach the Park's Elkhorn Unit, where Roosevelt built his Elkhorn Ranch.

There isn't much along these roads except cattle...

...and oil rigs...

...and spectacular scenery.

We hiked the trail to see the site of where Roosevelt built his cattle ranch.

The gate represents the location of Roosevelt's ranch.

There are magnificent views in all directions...

...and the Little Missouri River flows nearby.

Elkhorn Unit has a remote USFS campground at which to stay, with several big sites that could fit our setup. It is a pack it in/pack it out facility, though a pit toilet and a water spicket are available. Not a soul was there--I guess traversing 35+ miles on dirt roads with an RV to a no frills camp- site isn't that appealing to most people. But we sure enjoyed utilizing a site for a picnic lunch.

I spotted a pronghorn deer in Elkhorn Unit.

Some fine examples of petrified wood can be found at Elkhorn Unit.

These "cannonball concretions" are visible in the North Unit. They represent ancient sand grains cemented together by the dissolution of minerals found in groundwater.

Rock formations we viewed when hiking the Caprock Coulee Trail. A coulee, which means "flow" in French is a steep, narrow valley formed by water erosion.

We viewed this creek that feeds into the Little Missouri River...

...and these rock formations as we traveled along the Little Mo Nature Trail.

This overlook structure, built by the CCC in 1937, takes its name from the bend in the Little Missouri River. The beauty viewed at the River Bend Overlook became the catalyst for preserving these badlands of North Dakota.