Rough Riding with Teddy

Our slow travel schedule afforded us 10 days to enjoy Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, which we split equally between the distinct north and south units, geographically separated by 70 miles. We did not make the effort to reach the Elkhorn area, which is actually the former “home ranch” of the park’s namesake, … Read more

Finding the Wild in the Black Hills

Although we are in the high summer season, and the Black Hills were filled with tourists in the weeks just after Memorial Day, we managed to find many, many locations of relative solitude and incredible beauty in this large wilderness. Custer State Park The focal point of our visit to the Black Hills was Custer … Read more

Awed by the Rugged Grandeur of the Badlands

After our stop in Sioux City, we took two days to travel across southern South Dakota in search of the Badlands. The first day fulfilled every stereotype of South Dakota — long, straight roads shooting through massive, perfectly level fields in various stages of cultivation. The land seemed to be without end, and the tasks … Read more

Getting Introduced to National Park Camping

In what will certainly be the first of many, many national park camping experiences, we spent several days camped at Elkmont Campground inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This put us out of cell phone range and right at the heads of several excellent trails, an outstanding combination for days of uninterrupted fun. Our biggest … Read more