North Dakota Sampler - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 523

icons of the Old West are scarce; only 100 are found in the park's North Unit, with about
300 in the South Unit.
Did you know…
Theodore Roosevelt often said that if it hadn't been for his experiences in North
Dakota, he would never have become president. The untamed grandeur he so
admired—the “vast silent spaces” that later inspired him as president to expand
our national parks system—still endures.
13. Little Missouri National Grassland
As Rte. 85 makes its way south, it skirts the eastern border of the Little Missouri National
Grassland, one of the largest and most varied of the 20 grasslands found in the West. The
region—embracing more than a million acres of open prairie, buttes and Badlands—was
overgrazed and abandoned in the drought-stricken Dust Bowl 1930s, but it was later re-
claimed for cattle ranching and recreation.
A number of red scoria knobs may be seen throughout the area. They are composed of
sediment that was baked red by burning lignite coal. You'll also note a number of petrified
wood stumps. These are millions of years old, all that remains of North Dakota's once-ex-
tensive forests of sequoias.
For the best views of the grasslands, follow the Maah Daah Hey Trail, a 96-mile-long
horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking route through the Badlands that joins the
North and South Units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.