Not sure when I'll ever catch you up on the trip, but I did manage to write this blog about the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where we were on August 31. This was the same day we drove the Old Red/Old Ten Scenic Byway.
We fell in love with western North Dakota! It's such a shame that most Americans never get to North Dakota. A store clerk I was talking with in Medora, N.D., said you wouldn't believe how many people come through who have on their bucket list to see all 50 states (or all the national parks) and North Dakota and its Theodore Roosevelt National Park are usually last on the list. I must admit that, if my husband didn't have this as one of his last 48 lower states to "check off," we may have gone through South Dakota and missed it, too!
From I-94 West, we exited at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and took photos of the badlands. Gorgeous views and my first glimpse of this kind of geologic formation.
We drove on to Medora, N.D., a very interesting place. It seems to be “owned” by the Theodore Roosevelt Foundation. Most of the people working in the motels and shops are “volunteers,” who give up 3-4 hours a day in exchange for room and board. Lots of senior citizens (and the ones we talked with who had multiple homes certainly could afford to pay). But they enjoyed the experience and came back year after year to “volunteer” again. We were talking to some people from Minnesota who said that the waiting list to get the opportunity to volunteer in Medora is very long.
We stopped at the Badlands Motel, but opted for the less expensive option—the Bunkhouse. We just happened to arrive on the last Tuesday Senior Discount of the season, which gave us 15 percent off the regular price. The clerk put us in the Red Fox bunkhouse. These units aren't much to look at. Each one had 8 rooms and a center hallway. A tiny, functional room, but the best mattress I’d slept on the whole trip.
We unloaded our things, took a nap (all this driving is getting to us!), and then headed to the National Park at about 5:30. It was kind of exciting to see the ranger station where fees were collected, because my husband was going to get his “senior pass,” a $10 pass for those 62 and older that gives them free admission to the National Parks for the rest of their lives. What’s even better is that, if the park charges by the carload, everyone in the car gets in on the pass. My mother first learned about these when she got hers while living in Albuquerque in the 1990s, which is how we knew to ask for one. With four or five National Parks on the agenda this trip, what a bargain! (Glacier and Yellowstone alone charge $25/carload each!)
If you don't have much time while passing by on I-94, try to do all or part of the South Unit loop. It took us about three hours, but we stopped at every wide spot in the road to take photos. What we enjoyed most was the lack of cars that we expect to find in Yellowstone after Labor Day. There were lots of places to pull off and observe the scenery and wildlife. We stopped at three prairie dog colonies and you could get rather close to them.
But the high point was encountering two groups of bison. (Neither was quite a herd, but six or seven in each group grazing together by the roadside.) We had seen bison manure at every stop we’d made, but didn’t know if we’d actually see the real thing, so this was very exciting.
The males are enormous! This one was taken through the passenger window (while I was in the driver’s seat). It was just a few feet away!
If you go, be sure to take the drive up to Buck Hill. When you get to the parking area, climb up the hill (not too bad) on the right (western side). The view is breathtaking. A park ranger told me this would be a great place to view and photograph the sunset--but we were there an hour too early and didn’t want to be that far from the exit at night.
We also drove up to the Coal Vein Trail, but it wasn’t that interesting. (Probably was back when the vein was on fire, but now, not so much.) Then we came upon a mule deer alongside the road and I managed to take a picture through the windshield. My, what big EARS she has!
Later, we saw three more, but no photos then. When it looked as though sunset was imminent, we just pulled into the next parking area. Not the best shots, so I won't even share, but another chance to practice the aperture/shutter speeds to find the right combination. I don’t think I captured it, though. It looked gorgeous through my hubby’s binoculars, though.
It was rather eerie driving the rest of the way out of the park in the dark. At one point, I came around a bend and there on the right was a huge bison. I asked my hubby, "Did you see that?" "What?" So, I put the car in reverse and backed up to look at it a moment as it scratched on a post. I didn’t take a photo, because the flash would have startled it. But it was nice to just share a parting moment with one of the park's bison.
Next stop, Glacier National Park! While hiking a very populated trail, we came upon a grizzly bear sow (and saw her later with her twin cubs). What a moment! More to come!
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