Drive Across North Dakota

We continued our drive across North Dakota and made our way to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora. Our Minnesota friends were meeting us there because we had tickets to the Medora Musical and we wanted to see bison. But first, we made a stop along the way to see some dinosaurs.

Dickinson Museum

The Dickinson Museum Center is in Dickinson, a small town on our drive across North Dakota to Medora.  The museum is actually four museums in one and has the largest display of dinosaur fossils in North Dakota.  Its 12 acres feature the Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Joachim Regional History Museum, Pioneer Machinery Hall, and a Prairie Outpost Park.  A small admission fee of $6 for adults and $4 for children gets you access to all of them plus a guided tour.  

Badlands Dinosaur Museum

The Badlands Dinosaur Museum opened in 1992 and houses an everchanging display of dinosaurs and other fossils.  It has full skeletons of the Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, Thescelosaurus, and Albertosaurus!  They have scavenger hunts for the kids to engage them more in the displays.  They also have a lab area where you can watch the volunteer paleontologists clean and preserve the fossils and specimens.  This was just part one of the museums. 

Joachim Regional History Museum

The second part is the Joachim Regional History Museum.  It includes items significant to the history of Southwestern North Dakota.  This interactive area takes you through the different time periods of railroads, the prairie lands, and the resettlement of immigrants in North Dakota.  Included in this area is the Osborne Room which is a collection of historical resources for the public to research their family histories.

Prairie Outpost Park

The last parts of the museum are only available by taking a tour, held daily between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  The Prairie Outpost Park consists of many historical relocated structures.  German, Scandinavian, Russian, and Czech cultures are remembered with the different buildings here. It shows how they lived and survived in North Dakota when they first came here.  There are also demonstration gardens and many pieces of petrified wood around the grounds.  The guided tours are very informative and it was interesting to learn how new settlers managed prairie life.

Medora

After the museum, we continued our drive across North Dakota to Medora. Our friends from Minnesota met us in Medora at the Medora Campground and we did some sightseeing together. Medora is a small cowboy town just packed full of history. Theodore Roosevelt spent quite a bit of time here before he became our 26th President. While we didn’t have time to do it all, we did spend a couple of days exploring Theodore Roosevelt National Park and attending the Medora Musical.

Medora Campground

The Medora Campground is located just on the edge of Medora along the Little Missouri River. There are 150 sites with full hook-ups, laundry, restrooms with showers, a playground, and a small store. It’s inexpensive at $40 for 30 amp! There are spots for tent camping and cabins for rent as well. It’s just a short walk to the Little Missouri River for swimming, canoeing, or other water sports. Note: The campground is full of shady cottonwood trees and they drip sap constantly. Don’t wash your vehicle or camper before going there!! It took a few washes to get Maximus Prime clean again.

Medora Musical & Steak Fondue

The Medora Musical and Pitchfork Steak Fondue were the main reasons for our drive across North Dakota. We had planned a few months in advance and purchased our tickets online. The cost was only $29 for each adult. We came specifically on Sunday because kids eat free on Wednesdays and Sundays. Our friends have 5 kids! The steak dinner was amazing. There was steak cooked in oil on a pitchfork, baked potatoes, garlic bread, sides, and desserts! It was a wonderful meal and we had the privilege of meeting Theodore Roosevelt and his wife!

The Medora Musical is a well-known North Dakota family tradition and is just around the corner from the Pitchfork Steak Fondue. Tickets were very reasonable at just $37.95 for adults and, yes, children are free on Wednesdays and Sundays. The musical is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt, the town of Medora, and the wild, wild west. It’s a lively musical act full of dancing, boot scooting and singing. Unfortunately, as soon as we started getting into the musical, a nasty thunder cloud came in and there was a horrible storm. So, sadly we packed it up. We had the option of getting a refund or going to another show. We chose the refund as we were only in the area for a couple of days. Hopefully next time, we’ll get to see the whole show.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was founded in 1947 and is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt’s dedication to the conservation of nature. The park is divided into three sections: the North and South Units and the Elkhorn Ranch. The South Unit is right in Medora while the Elkhorn ranch and North Units are located about an hour or more away.

North Unit

The drive to the North Unit was about 70 miles from Medora and went through the badlands and prairies. At the visitor’s center, we got a Junior Ranger Program book for Corbin and a map of the trails along the 14-mile route through the park. Corbin had quite a few tasks to complete and we needed to make sure we went to the right spots.

At the beginning of the route, we found strange rock formations, called cannonball concretions. They were completely round rocks and came in all sizes. Across from the rock formations, we hiked on the Little Mo Trail. It was a nice and easy 0.7-mile trail that led to a river where we saw many long-horned cattle. The park keeps a herd of 14 longhorns to remind folks of what the park was like when Theodore Roosevelt lived there.

The best part of the North Unit was the bison. There were herds and herds of them. Males butting heads, calves hanging out with their mothers, and others just standing all majestic. What a beautiful sight! It was exciting. But not as exciting as Corbin earning his Junior Ranger Badge. He even had a swearing-in ceremony! (Check out the footage HERE.)

South Unit

The South Unit entrance was right near the campground and there’s a 26-mile loop through the park. It was again full of the amazing bison, wild horses, and all kinds of deer. We even saw a pack of coyotes following the deer. We have definitely seen more animals here at this national park than we have in others. It’s been great for Corbin to see so much nature.

We chose a few hikes that were kid-friendly since we had 6 kids between our two families. The hikes went to beautiful vistas overlooking the park. From the vistas, we could see where forest fires had come through. There was new growth and some parts still had scorch marks. You could smell the old smoke in the air.

Elkhorn Ranch

While the ladies and kids stayed behind at the campground, the men took Maximus Prime out to the remote Elkhorn Ranch Unit. The 45-mile drive is on dirt roads most of the way so make sure you get road conditions from a ranger before you go. The Elkhorn Ranch is where Theodore Roosevelt spent almost 4 years of his life after the deaths of his wife and mother on Valentine’s Day in 1884. It was here that he grew into the man, hero, and legend that we all know today.

The ranch is mostly gone now but there are cottonwood trees and some stones that mark where the cabin once stood. The land is beautiful and it’s easy to see how someone could choose to stay in this area. There is a feeling of awe and amazement when standing in the place that shaped the life of a truly wonderful man.

See You Soon!

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, and the Dickinson Museum were great finds on our drive across North Dakota. We decided that we will be coming back, especially for the Medora Musical, and maybe to see more bison! After another goodbye to our friends, we were off to Yellowstone!

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