If you're stuck on this stereotypical image of the Great Plains, it's time to get off the interstate and take a closer look. The vast grandeur of North Dakota's western badlands, coupled with the state's lack of visitors, makes for some amazing wildlife spotting. One of the nation's prime locations for viewing bison in the wild is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This little-visited natural treasure sits astride America's largest preserved prairie habitat, the million-acre Little Missouri National Grassland, which provides perfect cover for dozens of other heartland species.
Most visitors head for the park's South Unit, just off Interstate 94 near the town of Medora. Here you'll find a 36-mile scenic loop through the badlands, complete with prairie-dog towns, a petrified forest and the Maltese Cross Cabin built by Theodore Roosevelt during his first Dakota winter in 1883-84. The future president's poetic writings reveal his utter infatuation with this part of the world: "After nightfall . . . the river gleams like running quicksilver, and the moonbeams play over the grassy stretches of the plateaus. The Bad Lands seem to be stranger and wilder than ever, the silvery rays turning the country into a kind of grim fairy-land."
The badlands' wild allure is best appreciated in the park's North Unit, 68 miles away near the town of Watford City. During the exuberant months of May and June, bird life abounds, and the landscape is a gorgeous patchwork of chalky cliffs, sinuous flower-covered riverbanks and spring-green grasses undulating off to the horizon. Even in midsummer, the North Unit's Juniper Campground often has more strolling bison than tenting humans.
Intrepid hikers seeking an incomparable wilderness experience should make a beeline for the North Unit's Achenbach Trail, a 16-mile backcountry loop involving two crossings of the Little Missouri River. The western trailhead is at Oxbow Overlook, a panoramic viewpoint at the end of the North Unit's only paved road. As you descend to the Little Missouri, chunks of brilliant red-orange scoria clink underfoot. This omnipresent potterylike clay - so characteristic of North Dakota that it was noted in Lewis and Clark's journals - is naturally hard-baked by underground coal-vein fires that erupt spontaneously and can burn for years.
Across the river, signs of bison are everywhere - clumps of hair rubbed off against trees, and the ubiquitous sandy depressions called wallows, where bison love to roll around for a dust bath. A climb up the high grassy ridges of the Achenbach Hills reveals sweeping views of neighboring promontories and ravines, where you can begin your search for the inevitable herds. With luck and patience, you'll likely see dozens of animals grazing peacefully, or during rutting season, bulls from opposing herds squaring off and butting heads.
The park's charms are not limited to spring and summer. September brings cooler weather and colorful foliage, while in late autumn and winter, coyote calls pierce the cold night air, and bison are easily spotted against the snow.
What to do while in North Dakota
If you go » Great Lakes Airlines (www.greatlakesav.com) offers nonstop flights from Denver to Dickinson, N.D., less than an hour east of the national park. Other cities within driving distance of the park include Bismarck, N.D. (two hours), Rapid City, S.D. (four hours), and Billings, Mont. (four hours).
Sites at Juniper Campground » (701-842-2333; www.nps.gov/thro; Theodore Roosevelt National Park; per site $5 October-April, $10 May-September) rarely fill up, thanks to its secluded location in the park's North Unit.
Buffalo Gap Guest Ranch » (701-623-4200; buffalogapguestranch.com; Interstate Highway 94, Exit 18; cabins $55-$90) features 10 rustic cabins, plus a steakhouse and bar overlooking the badlands a few miles west of the park's South Unit.
Dakotan Restaurant » (701 842-2595; 608 Second Ave. S.W., Watford City; meals from $5), where the service is friendly, the food is all-American and the gossip focuses on feed, tractors and other intricacies of local ranch life.
