Miles City was the largest town we went past, it was still in Montana but was large enough for us to get some food supplies from camping at a grocery store, top up our fuel and grab some lunch (we gave up on the coffee!).
Not far over the North Dakota state line near the city of Medora was our destination, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We arrived to find that the park campsites (all FCFS) were full, we'd forgotten it was a Saturday and still peak season. Our options were to either get a free back country pass, hike a few miles and camp in the wilderness or to find a campsite outside of the park. Lee wasn't so keen on back country camping, maybe he was remembering back to White Sands where he had to carry everything whilst we hiked to our campsite, so we headed out of the park and to a campsite next door called the Medora Campsground.
Unlike the National Park campground, this place had flushing toilets, hot water, showers, a camp shop and best of all, high speed wifi! The price was about the same as the park and being nearer the town of Medora, had we stayed a little longer, we would have had plenty to do in the evenings too.
After pitching our tent, we headed back into the park. We stopped off at the visitors center for our stamp and to learn why this park was named after one of America's presidents. In 1883, Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota Territory to hunt bison. He fell in love with the landscape and lifestyle, so he set up a ranch here. After the deaths of his mother and his wife, in 1884 Theodore returned to North Dakota to heal and it was during this time he set up a second, larger ranch. Theodore became president in 1901 until 1909 and one of his greatest achievements during this time was the impact he had on conservation in America. He created 50 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments during his term as president but also enabled the 1906 American Antiquities Act so that more land could be protected during the last few years of his presidency and by future presidents. The museum in the park implies that Theodore's time in North Dakota gave him an appreciation for the land and the importance of protecting the natural beauty and the animals within it from people, this lead to him having so much drive to put laws in to protect it.
The best way to see this park when you only have half a day is to follow the south unit scenic drive. So this is what we did. The drive took us through prairie dog towns where we were able to get up close to these little creatures, we pulled out at vistas looking out at the Badlands, watched wild horses and bison grazing, enjoyed the colours from the foliage (it's not yet fall, yet there were a lot of yellows and reds on the trees), and took a couple of short hikes out to view points. It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon. We saw a lot of signs for horse riding trails; with a little more time, this would also be an excellent way to see the park.
At the end of the drive, we headed back out of the park and into Medora for a quick look around. Although this is a small town, there is a lot going on here with quite a few bars and restaurants for tourists, several museums and nightly musical show in the amphitheater. We had both assumed that this park was remote and there wouldn't be many visitors, I think we were wrong, it looks like a really popular park with a good little town next door to keep you entertained during an extended stay.
Back at our campsite, we shared huge slice of gammon which we nicknamed the Dinosaur Steak. Lee cooked it perfectly on the grill and with the fire still going, we sat in the dark listening to one of our neighbors who was singing and playing the guitar. Luckily he was really good and we had a enjoyable night chilling out after a long day before heading in the bed.
IN all my excitement to see entry 120, I somehow skipped over this entry - oops.
ReplyDeleteCouple of weird shots to start the vid; Meth + Death and the 'H' on the hill.
It does look quite sparse, my only knowledge of this area is from the excellent film/series Fargo.
Whilst it was a struggle to find somewhere to stop I see that you still managed to find a beer with your lunch!
It was cool to see all the wildlife and there were tons of PD mounds in a couple of shots, more cities than towns :-)
Some lovely countryside and views, the Badlands reminded me of the South Downs in some places but this is big open countryside. The more moutainous / rocky area was amazing.
The campsite looked good and that is one huge Gammon steak!! Riley was watching this vid and his face did an 'OMG' view when Lee said he was having dinosaur with devil's testicles ;-)