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Theodore Roosevelt National Park, photo 1 of 5

Photo: NPS/Mark Hoffman / Public domain · source

Canyons & deserts

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Medora, ND · North Dakota Badlands$$30 per vehicle, good for 7 days; cards only

About

The wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park are all in the South Unit, often in sight from I-94 or the scenic loop out of Medora, North Dakota. Painted Canyon Visitor Center, 7 miles east of Medora at exit 32, isn't a park entrance. Drive on into town to start the loop, and give it at least two hours. Behind the Medora visitor center, Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin still has its original 1883 ponderosa pine logs, and it went to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis before it came to the park in 1959. The North Unit is 1 hour 10 minutes north by car, in a different time zone. Its scenic road runs out and back, 28 miles round trip, with River Bend Overlook about halfway.

Highlights

36-mile South Unit scenic loop with badlands overlooksBison and wild horses along the loopNorth Unit byway ending at Oxbow OverlookPainted Canyon Visitor Center off Interstate 94Roosevelt's restored Maltese Cross Cabin near the visitor center

Getting there

201 East River Road North, Medora, ND 58645

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Part of these collections

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.