As the sun dips behind the buttes of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, I can't help but share the whispered tales and echoes of conservation that dance through the canyons. This episode takes you on a journey through the South Unit's untamed wilderness, where my solitary path crossed with wild creatures, stirring a poignant discussion on the fragility of our cherished natural spaces. We'll wander through Teddy Roosevelt's transformative Dakota days, understanding how his own footsteps carved a legacy that demands our respect for the environment. And as the park rangers who tirelessly protect this rugged landscape remind us, every step we take is a chance to honor the past while safeguarding the future.
Gather 'round as I recount the unfiltered beauty of backcountry camping, where preparation meets the raw freedom of the great outdoors. The call for a future backpacking expedition echoes throughout the episode, inviting you, my fellow explorers, to join in the adventure that lies ahead. We'll share stories beneath the stars, embrace the unpredictable embrace of the land, and together, carry on the torch of those who taught us to love these wild places responsibly. So, lace up your boots and let the trail be our guide—until next time.
As the sun dips behind the buttes of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, I can't help but share the whispered tales and echoes of conservation that dance through the canyons. This episode takes you on a journey through the South Unit's untamed wilderness, where my solitary path crossed with wild creatures, stirring a poignant discussion on the fragility of our cherished natural spaces. We'll wander through Teddy Roosevelt's transformative Dakota days, understanding how his own footsteps carved a legacy that demands our respect for the environment. And as the park rangers who tirelessly protect this rugged landscape remind us, every step we take is a chance to honor the past while safeguarding the future.
Gather 'round as I recount the unfiltered beauty of backcountry camping, where preparation meets the raw freedom of the great outdoors. The call for a future backpacking expedition echoes throughout the episode, inviting you, my fellow explorers, to join in the adventure that lies ahead. We'll share stories beneath the stars, embrace the unpredictable embrace of the land, and together, carry on the torch of those who taught us to love these wild places responsibly. So, lace up your boots and let the trail be our guide—until next time.
Hello there, this is Craig the Natural Medic Coming at you with another audio podcast special edition coming to you live at the time of this recording from Theodore Roosevelt National Park, located in southwestern North Dakota. That's my kazoo and I just hiked part of the wilderness in the South unit. The park is divided into three units South, the North and then there's also the I think it's called the Elkhorn Ranch, which was basically just where his ranch was located at one time. But nothing's there now, just ruins. But I was just thinking about how our legacy as conservationists can endure forever, how we treat the land, how we conduct ourselves and things like that.
Speaker 1:If you're watching my YouTube, you probably have seen or you will see in the upcoming episodes let's put it that way you will see people, at least from a distance. You will see people and I apologize if I sound like I have a cold. It's just really cold out there. I was just hiking out to the petrified forest. But anyway, back to my main subject. I encountered these people when I got to North Dakota on Monday. I think they might be oil field workers and I have nothing against oil field workers, but I do have things against people that mistreat the land. Teddy Roosevelt was not one of those people. We'll get back to him in a second. But always when you're traveling on a trail I don't care if it's a trail in your neighborhood, your regional park, state park, national park, national forest, whatever it is you should always treat it with respect and leave no trace. Rules you can't adhere to all of them all of the time that's in a perfect world but you should try to conduct yourself to the best of your ability.
Speaker 1:And I met three gentlemen. I was hiking white buit, the highest peak. I use peak lightly, the highest point, let's put it that way in North Dakota that's my 10th high point. I was pretty excited about that and when I was coming down I saw U-Haul Park down in the parking lot. I can see that from the top of the butte where the marker was, and I was thinking where are these people? And I finally encountered them coming up the bluff like way off of the trail.
Speaker 1:And this stuff is super fragile, y'all. Not only are you potentially damaging the resource, you could be endangering yourself by quote unquote exploring. I talked to them. There's three of them. I wasn't too keen about trying to start something, but I wanted to make them aware that they were in possible jeopardy by doing that.
Speaker 1:They built the trail for a purpose to protect the resource and to protect you from falling to your death. North Dakota is not known for high mountains, but there were definitely high enough cliffs there at White Butte. You could have fallen to your death and died, and part of me as a paramedic would have to do something to help them. I feel like Part of me as a park person, forester, conservationist whatever you want to call me, lover of the outdoors. I like that one. I almost want to say you made your bed. You need to lie in it. They built that trail for a reason for you to access the top and to go on that trail so you don't damage the resource and to top it off. This is private property that it's on and they have been so gracious to allow the public to access that. We're becoming a land of idiots. Y'all. People like that are going to ruin the good time for everybody else. They say a bad apple ruins the whole bunch. The thoughtless actions of a few are going to ruin it for everybody else. If you see somebody like this, I might have started to fight with them, but I'm saying you need to make them aware. If they're off trail, especially if they're in a dangerous area, like I saw these people, I think they need to be made aware of it.
Speaker 1:I come from a park ranger background. I'm part of my park ranger career I was in law enforcement. My job as a police officer or park ranger, however you want to call me same difference really. I was one in Arkansas and one in Texas, for both states in the state park system for several years and a lot of the stuff people don't know any better. So I try to educate them. The very first time I contact them and give them a chance to correct the behavior. But on the second, or possibly, depending on the situation, third try they're going to get a citation or if it's severe enough, they're going to go to jail. Our resources are important. Park rangers that are law enforcement, whatever the name is park police, park rangers, whatever whether that be a local agency, a state agency or a federal agency they're there to protect the resource, but they're also there to protect the person from the resource, because there are things that can hurt you out here in the wild.
Speaker 1:Anyway, let me get off of that soapbox, at least for the moment and talk about Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt, when he came here to what is now theodore Roosevelt National Park he was 23 years old. I can't even imagine that Came out to the Dakota Territories they weren't even states at this time. He came out in the 1880s, had purchased a ranch actually purchased two ranches, I believe, in what is now North Dakota. Then it was the Dakota Territory and successfully for the most part was a rancher and spending time out here in what is now Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A lot of this was his ranch land. I don't know all the story of that. I'll have to look that up and give you another time to explain that, but this land is rugged, it is rough, it is dry. Right now it's February, it's cold and it's windy, but it could be a lot more. And I'm the only person out here right now parking this wilderness parking lot that accesses the northwestern corner, basically, of the South Unit.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you I mean this was no easy task for him to do that, but he said several times that he, if he had not had that experience as a Dakota rancher, he would not have been one of our greatest presidents. It's debatable whether or not that's a good thing that the president's faces are on Mount Rushmore. That's the subject for another day. We're not going to get diving into that topic, but his face was up there for a reason. In my opinion. He was one of the greatest presidents that we had. He created a conservation legacy. It was carried on by his cousin I think it might be it was his fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s. We'll talk about him another day as well, but during the time that President Theodore Roosevelt was in office, he set aside hundreds of millions of acres of public lands. He did a lot of self-reflection, I would imagine out here.
Speaker 1:You have a lot of time to think about things when you're in an environment like this, and if you haven't been to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, it's remote. I happen to be working right now in South Dakota, as you probably know if you're listening to the podcast or watching my videos on YouTube, but it's only about a three, three and a half hour drive north from where I am in the Black Hills, so not too terribly bad. I don't know where you would fly into if you were going to come visit if you're from another far off place, but it's a fascinating place. I'm glad I got to experience it. It made me think about, like I said, going back to my roots of conservation thoughts. Degree is in forestry. Forestry is thought about people that cut trees and make them into products and stuff like that, but it's so much more than that A lot of foresters out there.
Speaker 1:The other name I'll throw out there, which I'm sure President Theodore Roosevelt knew, was Gifford Pinchot. He was the first director of the Forest Service, which is part of the US Department of Agriculture, part of the Department of the Interior, like the Park Service. The Park Service I don't believe came around as an actual agency until after Roosevelt passed away in the 1920s. I believe Roosevelt passed away in 1919, if I remember correctly from my history. But Roosevelt while he was president from 1901, after McKinley was shot and was elected to, I believe, two terms into the presidency, in 1909, I think. But he set aside millions of forest which are now national forests. He set aside millions of wildlife refuges, national parks. He set aside the very first national monument, which you heard me talk about before on this channel probably, or on this podcast which is Devil's Tower, located in Northeastern Wyoming. The Antiquities Act was really designed for something totally different than he used it for. But it was a great tool as well to set aside special places, and Devil's Tower was the very first national monument ever set aside, and Theodore Roosevelt did that. It's a very special place to me. I've been there three times now, going on for a fourth time as of this recording very soon. We can thank Theodore Roosevelt for that.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of thought of that whole manifest destiny and it was still happening during the time of Roosevelt, during, I think, during his presidency, if I remember Corrado. Right around that time the states of Arizona and New Mexico became states, oklahoma during that era as well. The Dakotas both became states, I think the same day, but separate states, in November I don't want to say November, the 8th, 1889. How can I remember that? I don't know, but I think about, just on my little hike today, what a special place this was. It's hard to think about. There's petrified forests that used to be Everglade Think about Florida. So you have these swampy forests those used to exist right here in what is now North Dakota. That's weird to think about, as it's 30-something degrees or maybe even lower than that now. Now there is some bad weather rolling in. Luckily I'm headed south, back to South Dakota. I'm not going to escape it there, but it'll be a little bit less severe. But anyway, I just wanted to bring that to your attention.
Speaker 1:About Theodore Roosevelt If you haven't researched him, if you haven't learned about him and you are a lover of the wilds like I am, I encourage you to look him up and look up his information. Sometime I'm going to come back and I'm going to hike this entire loop trail. The loop trail here is 10.4 miles. It goes the north If you take the North Petrified Forest it's 2.8 miles to the Madahey Trail, 2.9 miles down, then another 4.5 miles to the South Petrified Forest Trail. That brings you back and makes a big loop.
Speaker 1:Unusually here, most backcountry campsites in national parks are designated here. That's not the case. You can pretty much camp wherever you want to camp. You just have to get a free wilderness or a free backcountry permit to be out here. Someday I want to come back and back back here. I think that would be amazing. It's a 10.4 mile loop. Today the trail was cold and wet and mucky, but I really enjoyed my time. I'm going to sign off for now, until next time I'll see you down the trail. Make sure to listen and tune in next time. Bye.