USA
North Dakota Offers a Dash of Frontier Flair
by Randy Mink
Crowning a distant hilltop, silhouetted against the sky, they appeared to be statues until we noticed the two animal forms had tails that swished back and forth. To our delight, these were the first wild horses we had encountered at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a vast wilderness of grasslands, barren plains and towering buttes in the rugged Badlands of southwestern North Dakota. The park’s free-roaming bison, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mule deer and prairie dogs also captivate wildlife watchers.
A sparsely populated agricultural state bounded on the south by South Dakota and on the north by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, North Dakota is not exactly on the average traveler’s radar. It’s often overshadowed by South Dakota, whose Black Hills/Badlands region abounds with top-tier tourist attractions like Mount Rushmore.
Why Not Minot
Always looking for new places to explore, I took Amtrak’s Empire Builder from Chicago to Minot, a pleasant 18-hour overnight train journey. Minot, only 50 miles from Canada, attracts many Canadian girlfriend getaway groups who come to shop in the downtown boutiques and at Dakota Square Mall.
I was primarily interested in the town’s Norwegian roots and enjoyed my visit to Scandinavian Heritage Park, a free-admission outdoor museum that celebrates the cultures of immigrants who came to North Dakota from not only Norway but from Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland as well. The best photo ops are the full-size replica of a wooden stave church from Norway; a 1928 Danish windmill; and a 30-foot-tall, orange-painted statue of a Dala horse, the most recognizable symbol of Sweden. Dala figurines and other Scandinavian imports are sold in the park’s gift shop. Norskfest, the largest Scandinavian festival in North America, is held the last weekend in September.
The 9-day North Dakota State Fair takes place in Minot every July. Also on the summer agenda are the Minot Hot Tots, a minor league baseball team named after a popular Upper Midwest comfort food—the tater tot hotdish, which is served at the ballpark. Another Minot crowd-pleaser: Dakota Territory Air Museum, whose four cavernous buildings house 60 civilian and military aircraft.
A Pioneer Past
Taking Route 83 south towards Bismarck, the state capital, travelers should stop in Washburn and tour the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. Bold exhibits chronicle the historic journey westward of trailblazers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the hospitality shown them by the Mandan and Hidatsa peoples. Two miles up the Missouri River is Fort Mandan, a replica of the explorers’ 1804-05 winter home. The Lewis & Clark expedition, consisting of about 50 men, spent more time in North Dakota than any other (future) state.
More frontier history surfaces in the Bismarck-Mandan area. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri rivers in Mandan, features a reconstruction of the U.S. Army post from which Lieutenant General George Armstrong Custer led his troops in 1876 on the ill-fated trip to Montana to confront the Sioux at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Also in the park are six rebuilt earthlodges in On-A-Slant Indian Village and a visitor center with Mandan Indian artifacts and items relating to Custer and Lewis & Clark.
Best of Bismarck
Bismarck’s premier attraction is the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. Located on the State Capitol grounds, the largest museum in North Dakota has lots of hands-on exhibits. I found each of its cavernous galleries more engaging than the next and learned much about the state, from Native tribes and dinosaur fossil finds to agricultural innovations and the booming oil industry. (Only Texas and Alaska produce more oil than North Dakota.) Steps away is the North Dakota State Capitol, a 19-story tower with an observation deck offering panoramic views.
A great way to end the day in Bismarck is a sunset cruise on the Missouri River aboard the 105-passenger Lewis & Clark Riverboat.
Medora and the Legacy of Teddy Roosevelt
West of Bismarck, the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and its gateway—the tiny Western-themed town of Medora—have always been one of North Dakota’s biggest draws and soon will offer another incentive to visit. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a museum and research center overlooking the park, will open on July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The 26th U.S. president, acclaimed for his visionary conservation policies and one of four chief executives memorialized in stone at Mount Rushmore, ranched in the area for two years as a young man in the 1880s. He returned almost every year until his death in 1919. In the Badlands the New Yorker found inner strength and renewal through the healing power of nature. Looking back at his life, Roosevelt remarked, “I would not have been president if it were not for my experiences in North Dakota.”
The Medora Musical, a summertime staple staged in an amphitheater affording views of the majestic landscape, is built around the life of Teddy Roosevelt. A rousing, patriotic variety show featuring a cast of young cowboys and cowgirls and an actor playing TR himself, it concludes with fireworks and a flag-carrying horseback rider dramatically positioned on a bluff beyond the stage.
Before the performance, close to the theater, my group feasted at Pitchfork Steak Fondue, a Western-style cookout where 12-ounce steaks are loaded onto giant pitchforks, deep-fried in lard and served with all the fixin’s, including baked potatoes, baked beans, garlic toast, coleslaw and mixed fruit, with brownies and mini-donuts for dessert.
The next day I took part in an early morning group hike in the hills above Medora with Joe Wiegand, the man who had played Teddy Roosevelt in the musical the night before. Still in character and dressed for the part, he uncannily portrays TR right down to the iconic wire-rim spectacles, bold mannerisms and lust for life. At one point during the hike, he scrambles up onto a rock balanced on a sheer cliff, addressing us from his “bully’s pulpit” (and making me nervous). Roosevelt had referred to the White House as his “bully’s pulpit,” a national platform he used to make his voice heard.
More to Explore in Medora
Medora’s Bully Pulpit Golf Course, set against gorgeous Badlands backdrops, winds through meadows, buttes and bluffs. For riders of all skill levels, Medora Riding Stables offers guided trail rides through the hills east of town.
The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, another Medora crowd-pleaser, is a treasure house of art and artifacts celebrating ranch life, rodeo champions and Native American lore. Just outside of town lies Chateau de Mores, the well-preserved ranch house built in 1883 by a French nobleman who came to the Badlands to develop a beef cattle operation.
North Dakota’s National Park
The visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, within walking distance of town, shows a 17-minute orientation film. Items in the small museum include the bullet-scarred shirt the president was wearing when shot by an assassin in Milwaukee.
From overlooks at pullouts along the park’s 36-mile scenic loop drive, motorists enjoy spectacular views of vast horizons stretching over the northern Great Plains. Close to the roadsides they likely will see some of the 500 bison and 200 feral horses that inhabit the rolling prairies. And everyone likes watching the little critters scurry from hole to hole in the grasslands’ prairie dog towns.
The loop offers a dozen hiking trails, one of which leads to a cliff that affords dramatic vistas of Wind River Canyon and the Little Missouri River. Happily, this unspoiled North Dakota kingdom is much less crowded than Yellowstone and other popular national parks that get overrun every summer and fall.
