Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Our next destination, Teddy Roosevelt National Park consists of Three separate areas called Units. The South Unit is just off Interstate 94 and is the most visited. It’s here where the wild horses or as the National Park now references the feral horses reside. The Park announced this past year that they would be removing the feral horses from the Park. Public out cry was so great the reversed from that statement and are reevaluating how to manage the horses. More on that further down in today’s entry.

The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is the site of Teddy Roosevelt’s ranch which he had prior to becoming President. It’s the least accessible and receives the fewest visitors. The third area, the North Unit, is roughly 80 miles north of the South Unit, and although is very accessible being off the beaten trail is never crowded. We stayed at the campground in the North Unit and there were plenty of empty campsites. The campground host told me they had not filled up even once this year.

Buffalo or Bison are found in both the North and South Units while horses only in the South Unit.

While exploring the North Unit we came across a Steer which seemed strange so we reported it to a Ranger. He told us they had 6 Steer in the North Unit to uphold “tradition” since the area was once used for cattle ranching. I found this to be a bit strange since in the South Unit they wanted to remove all horses since they were not native to the land. In addition to the horses the South Unit has roughly 500 Bison. The North Unit has roughly 250 Bison.

North Unit

North Unit

North Unit

North Unit

North Unit

South Unit

We stayed in the Park for three nights and explored both the North and South Units. On our foray to the South Unit we visited the Enchanted Highway where a metal sculpturer created several large sculptures spaced out every 5 to 10 miles apart along a desolate highway. These works of art tower overhead to around 59 feet.

Enchanted Highway