Theodore Roosevelt was known as America’s First Cowboy President.

During the 1880s, this privileged, wealthy Harvard and Columbia University graduate went to North Dakota. Roosevelt enlisted a guide to show him the ‘Badlands’ — a term initially associated with this area because of people's difficulty travelling over the landscape.

Roosevelt rode wild horses through the maze of canyons, pillars, and buttes that make up the geological formations and fell in love with the Badlands and the cattle ranching lifestyle. Roosevelt said he “found himself” in this area and subsequently bought land and a ranch near Medora, North Dakota. In the subsequent years, he identified himself as an outdoorsman and became a skilled cowboy who could rope and lasso while on horseback.

Roosevelt died in 1919. After that, the US Government received proposals to establish a national park in his memorial. Almost 30 years later, in 1947, the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established. The land initially designated for the park was increased in the late 1970s with a name change, dropping the ‘memorial.’ Today, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) consists of 70,448 acres recognized for its cultural and geological value.

Karl would have had to ride his bike the 550km west from Fargo to get to TRNP. Not only would such a sidetrack significantly delay his journey, but it is also unlikely that he could have navigated the terrain of the Badlands on bicycle given the topography. Also, there was likely minimal appeal for him to visit this area, given that back then, the national park was just cattle ranches like the one owned by Roosevelt.

But for me, this sidetrack was necessary for two reasons:

It would provide a very different glimpse into life during the late 1800s in this area of America — the ‘Wild West’ — having just travelled north along the Mississippi River through wheat farms along fur trade routes; and
It was an opportunity to see the Badlands and the Wild West!

I allocated five days to explore the two units of the National Park and booked accommodation at the historic Rough Riders Hotel in Medora, North Dakota.

Medora is a well-preserved quintessential western town, offering everything you might imagine, from the town hall and post office to the big skies and the Badlands backdrop. The town feels like you are walking through a Clint Eastwood movie set. No sooner than I checked into my hotel, I was right back out again to explore. Roosevelt said: “the Badlands do not seem to belong to this earth” I had been here less than 15 minutes and understood how he fell in love with this area.

I’m dedicating two blogs about my side track to the Badlands. Stay tuned next week for Part 2. I’ll end with images of those first moments on my arrival in Medora. Do you feel the spirit of the Wild West?

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