Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 18 July 2019
Badlands and history in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

By BETH J. HARPAZ ed bison and invested in a
Associated Press ranch near Medora. He'd
MEDORA, N.D. (AP) — For been a state assemblyman
travelers looking to visit all in his native New York, but
50 states, North Dakota is after his mother and wife
often one of the last to be both died on Feb. 14, 1884,
checked off. It's not exactly he left politics and returned
on the way to anywhere to the badlands to mourn
else, and flying there is ex- his losses. He lived in a small
pensive. ponderosa pine cabin now
It ended up being 49th on located just steps from the
my 50-state quest (sorry, visitor center. It's furnished
Idaho!). Part of the chal- with period pieces and
lenge was deciding what some of his belongings, in-
to do there and how to cluding his traveling trunk,
get there. I had to choose a replica of his writing desk
between visiting Fargo in and a rocking chair.
eastern North Dakota (and Roosevelt lived the cow-
the name of one of my fa- boy life, spending days
vorite movies) or Theodore riding and herding in what
Roosevelt National Park in was considered America's
the west. It's 330 miles (530 last frontier. His experienc-
kilometers) between them, es there were formative:
and I didn't have time for He lost more than $24,000
both on a week-long road This Sept. 3, 2017 photo shows a cabin that Theodore Roosevelt lived in, open to visitors at Theo- when blizzards decimated
trip that also included Mon- dore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, N.D. the cattle he'd invested in.
tana's Glacier National Associated Press He witnessed the environ-
Park and Idaho's Craters of mental damage done by
the Moon. a car (unlimited mileage, About 700,000 people visit Framing it all were the fa- overgrazing. And he real-
In the end, Roosevelt Park of course). We then drove Roosevelt Park yearly, com- mous badlands stretching ized that the bison, who
won out. Photos of its bad- 600 miles (965 kilometers) pared to the more than to the horizon: flat-topped once roamed the plains in
lands and prairies enchant- north through Wyoming 3 million annual visitors at stone formations with stri- the millions, had dwindled
ed me, and the story of and South Dakota to the places like Montana's Gla- ated slopes in tawny yel- to the hundreds.
Teddy Roosevelt's sojourn tiny North Dakota town of cier Park. lows and russet reds, dot- Roosevelt wrote three
there following the deaths Medora (population 132), THE LOOP AND WILDLIFE ted with bright green trees books inspired by his West-
of his wife and mother on at the entrance to the Teddy Roosevelt Park is and patches of grass. They ern sojourn. He eventually
the same day intrigued park's South Unit. open 24 hours daily. We looked like the crusty paws returned to politics, serv-
me. What was it about this Fortunately, those 600 miles arrived at 7:30 a.m. one of some massive alien ing as New York governor
place that allowed this fu- were easily done in a day, day at the tail end of last creature on the verge of and from 1901-1909, as U.S.
ture president to grieve thanks to speed limits of 75 summer. Map in hand, we rising up. president. His accomplish-
and recover — while at the and 80 mph (120-128 kph) drove the 36-mile (58-kilo- We did most of the hikes ments included the conser-
same time inspiring him to in many spots, and little traf- meter) scenic loop around along the loop drive, some vation of 230 million acres
become one of America's fic outside Colorado. Still, it the park's South Unit, stop- just a few minutes' walk to of land, a legacy that led
most influential conserva- felt like we were heading ping at many of the nearly an overlook, others 20 to to the creation of the Na-
tionists? I needed to see it to a pretty remote place, 20 points of interest along 40 minutes along hilly trails tional Park Service in 1916.
for myself. and I wondered if the park the way. covering a mile or more. At For me, Roosevelt Park
GETTING THERE would hold its own against Within minutes, we came every stop, we were awed ranks among the most in-
My husband and I flew to national parks I'd visited upon a prairie dog town. by the scenery, from the as- teresting and beautiful I've
Denver — by air from New in Alaska, Hawaii and the Dozens of the tiny creatures tonishing palette of earthy seen. I wish I hadn't waited
York, the cheapest jump- Southwest, not to mention scampered back and forth, hues to the stone shapes so long to visit, and I hope
ing-off point — and rented Yellowstone and Yosemite. popping in and out of little etching land and sky. someday to go back and
holes amid scrubby grass- ROOSEVELT'S STORY absorb more of the place
es. We'd see three more An exhibit at the visitor cen- that Roosevelt called "a
prairie dog towns before ter tells Roosevelt's story. On land of vast silent spaces —
we completed the loop, his first visit in 1883, he hunt- a place of grim beauty."q
along with wild horses graz-
ing on a hill by the roadside
and in another spot, a herd
of bison. The wildlife en-
counters were thrilling and
unexpected surprises.
THE LANDSCAPE
The landscape was thrilling
too. The scent of sage per-
fumed the air, and bursts
of red foliage punctuated
the gray-green grasslands.
Stripes of peach, cream
and mud-brown earth and
This Sept. 3, 2017 photo shows a "Do not feed the prairie dogs" stone lined the curving This Sept. 3, 2017 photo shows bison grazing at Theodore Roos-
sign at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, N.D. banks of the Little Missouri evelt National Park in Medora, N.D.
Associated Press River. Associated Press