Theodore Roosevelt National Park | EP.01 | BTS
We are so excited to be back in action with our first episode of our new series, A Long Time Coming. Here is episode 1!
This series, like all our others, I’ll be posting behind the scenes (BTS) blog posts for each episode. In these blog posts I will be sharing a selection of images we took while filming each episode as well as some stories that didn’t make it into the series. In the episodes there is only so much time to cover everything!
Makoshika State Park
Makoshika State Park is located in Eastern Montana in a town called Glendive… Of which wasn’t on our list of stops! As we were preparing to leave the state we started to see signs for dinosaurs and I immediately turned to Owen to beg him to stop. Luckily, Owen and I are distracted by the same things (as seen in this video where we both got extra nerdy about dinosaurs) and he was easy to persuade. We found camp for the night and decided to set the next day aside for seeing what the park had to offer.
This series, more than any thus far, we were filming on a time crunch. We had exactly two months to see everything we wanted to see in the Northern Midwest in time to fly to Peru for two months. Normally, being on strict schedule isn’t our thing, but we had two group trips to host so sacrifices had to be made.
In the morning we went straight into the park and were wildly impressed with what we saw. We often overlook state parks and this is proof as to why we really need to be better about that. Never, in all of our years of travel, have we seen such incredible hoodoo and badland formations. But here they are, quietly hiding in Eastern Montana.
After spending a few hours wandering around with mouths agape, we decided it was time to hit the road and start making our way towards North Dakota. As we pulled back onto the highway we both swore we’d be back some day to spend more time here because… well, you saw the pictures!
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Arriving in Theodore Roosevelt National Park also meant we were arriving in North Dakota for the first time. We’ve been intrigued by the state for a long time and were excited to have some time to get to see it for ourselves.
The first thing that really struck us about Theodore Roosevelt National Park was just how diverse the landscape was in the area. Like most people we pictured rolling hills of corn and thats about it. Don’t get me wrong, this part of North Dakota has its fair share of corn fields but the National Park itself was something else entirely. It felt like TRNP was the perfect blend Great Plains Grasslands to the east and parched badlands that were prevalent to the west. Admittedly, it was a relief to be slowly weened off of our beloved desert landscape.
TRNP is home to a strong bison herd that Owen and I spent a lot of time enjoying. Bison are incredibly fun to film and thus we spent hours pulled over with all of our camera gear strewn about.
Before making our way to the North Unit of the park we stopped in to see Maltese Cross Cabin which served as Theodore Roosevelt’s temporary home when he first came to state after loosing his mother and wife within hours of each other. Though he came here because of a tragedy in his life, North Dakota would go on to have a profound effect him that would positively effect wild spaces all over the US.
Our first stop in the North Unit of the park was to this otherworldly formation. Here in the park the badlands appear to be melting right before your eyes. This type of flowing earth is called rivulet erosion and we’ve never seen anything like it until getting to Makoshika State Park. Then, appearing out of the badlands are massive round rocks called cannonball concretions. I love it when nature presents you with something so new, so interesting and so foreign that you can’t help but stand there and say: “Are you kidding me right now?!”
Does that happen to anyone else? Or are we just that nerdy about nature?!
During the day we spent every hour of daylight wandering around, but after sunset we left the park to find a wild camp spot to call home for the night. The camping, or rumored lack thereof, was something that we’d been worried about leading up to this trip. Because of that, I will make mention of what the camping was like in each episode even if we don’t show it or talk about it in the episode for your reference.
Around Theodore Roosevelt National Park camping was sparse, however there were options outside of both the north and south unit. We went looking for camp everyday well after dark and often found the spots outside of the South unit to be full. We like to give people their space so we opted to keep driving a bit farther away to find camp elsewhere. It was not uncommon for us to have to drive 45 mins away from the park to find camp for the night. (We found most of our camp spots using OnX as usual)
There is a special feeling from getting to see a place that has been on your “bucket list” for a long time. Though we were already feeling sleep deprived from the early mornings and late evenings shooting, we had a blast getting to know Theodore Roosevelt National Park and it made us excited for all the uncharted territory (to us) that laid ahead of us!
Thank you all so much for reading/watching this first episode of A Long Time Coming! We’re over the moon to finally be sharing this adventure with you all after holding close to the vest for so long! See you next week, same time, same place!
Love, MAK
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through the Northern Midwest and turn it into this series! Without their support none of this would be possible! We’re forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Presenting Sponsors
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip! If we are cooking on trail, or making coffee with a view… it’s with a Jetboil.
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
We’ve now been living out of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 3 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
Supporting Sponsors
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road!
We’ve been in a deep love affair with Bedrock Sandals for nearly as long as we’ve been on the road. They make the best go anywhere, do anything adventure sandals!
Born from our rebellious philosophy to question everything, we feel right at home in KÜHL. Making everything from hiking clothing to casual wear KÜHL has us covered.
Our photo and video gear lives a tough life out on the road. Pelican protects everything from our microphones to our film cameras! They are tough and take the fear out of bringing the equipment we need with us!
Sawyer has been our go-to water filtration system for as long as we’ve been hiking. We love them for their Clean Water For All program that brings clean water to those without all over the world!
