Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota protects a landscape and a legacy: Part of the park acreage came from the historic Elkhorn Ranch of Theodore Roosevelt, who credited these stunning badlands with helping build what would become his presidential character. Bison, elk, mule deer, prairie dogs, coyotes and burrowing owls are a few of the Great Plains creatures roaming the grasslands, uplands and gallery forests of this 70,500-acre park, which saw some 500,000 visitors in 2008.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Box 7
Medora, ND 58645
South Unit: (701) 623-4466
North Unit: (701) 842-2333
nps.gov/thro/index.htm
Guadalupe Mountains
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a far-flung wilderness in West Texas, preserves a tremendous fossilized reef in its dramatic limestone uplift. Remnants of creatures from the Delaware Sea, a Permian-era inundation, share space with modern-day residents such as mountain lions, peccaries, ringtails, western diamondback rattlesnakes and northern mockingbirds--all amidst the rugged context of the Guadalupes and the Chihuahuan Desert.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
400 Pine Canyon Rd.
Salt Flat, TX 79847
(915) 828-3251
nps.gov/gumo/index.htm
Gates of the Arctic
More than 13,000 square miles of wilderness comprise Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, one of the largest and most remote units in the park service. Set amid the jagged fastnesses of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, Gates of the Arctic has no roads, no official trails and no visitor facilities. This is a park for the adventurous (11,000 in 2008), who enter on foot or by bush plane. Wolves, grizzly bears, caribou, wolverines and a slew of other animals roam its highlands, tundra and river valleys.
Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (Fairbanks headquarters)
4175 Geist Rd.
Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 457-5752
nps.gov/gaar/index.htm
Dry Tortugas
Florida's Dry Tortugas National Park is another kind of remote, lying 70 miles from Key West in the rolling azure of the Gulf of Mexico.This string of isolated islands, or keys, harbors large colonies of nesting seabirds and much cultural history, embodied in the 19th-century U.S. naval battlements of Fort Jefferson. The park, which hosts a single campground, is accessible by seaplane or boat.
Dry Tortugas National Park
P.O. Box 6208
Key West, FL 33041
(305) 242-7700
nps.gov/drto/index.htm
