Theodore Roosevelt National Park

This summer our family took an epic national park road trip across the United States. After visitng The Gateway Arch we headed to the Dakotas. At Mount Rushmore we learned a lot about four Amerian heros who helped shape our nation. My favorite, Theodore Roosevelt, was a great conservationist and made it a priority to protect our beautiful country and it's natural resources. He joined forces with naturalist John Muir, John Burrough, and Frank Chapman. Roosevelt cared deeply for wildlife, establishing 51 bird sanctuaries, 18 national monumnets, 150 national forest, and five national parks. In 1947, in honor of the incredible work of President Roosevelt, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in western North Dakota, which is where Roosevelt had spent time on an elk ranch after the death of his wife and mother. Today you can visit the cabin that Roosevelt lived on at that time.

It was a dream come true to visit the Theodore Roosevelt National Park with my family. Of all of the parks that we visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park had the most wildlife by far. We saw massive Bison grazing and watched hundreds of prairie dogs scamper around. Miles even had them communicating back to him, so we nicknamed him Ranger Prairie Dog. We also saw prong horned antelope and dozens of wild horses. It was incredible to stand where President Roosevelt stood and imagine how he may have felt when he first arrived in the Badlands of western North Dakota.