Woke up to very black and threatening clouds. It's going to be another scortcher! We enjoyed the historical sites we visited, but Williston was disappointing. Still following the Lewis & Clark Trail (Rte 85 S) we are excited as we are getting closer to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Coming down the winding road into a valley we spotted a beautiful bridge in front of us. As we approached we found it was the Lewis & Clark Bridge crossing the Missouri River. With limestone buttes in the distance the road leads us up the hills into a wildlife management area. The scenery is changing again. The rolling hills are dotted with small trees, sage, many large limestone buttes. Eventually the buttes began blending into the majestic colored walls of the badlands.
We pulled into the Thodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit to find our tax dollars at work. They were doing road work in the park so we followed the pilot car down the rutted dirt road from the park entrance for about 5 miles. As we pulled into the Juniper Campground we can see the beginning of the badlands and the limestone formations. They are just awesome.
This is a "primitive" campground and the sites were beautiful. No water or electric hookups, but we are self sufficient and surrounded by natural beauty. The campground is circular with the campsites around the edges and an open area in the middle. Our campsite was a pull through and is bordered by forest with a nice view of the open area. It's in the mid 90's today, so we got set up and then relaxed at camp. Time for a walk so we decided to check out the Little Missouri river which flowed around the campground. Along the river bed we could see where animals come frequently including bison whose tracks you can't miss. We cooked dinner and while eating at the picnic table a Mule Deer walked right through the trees in front of us about 30 feet away. We watched him and he finally ambled off..it was great!
The park was originally established as Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park on April 25, 1947, to honor our 26th president and to preserve a portion of the scnic North Dakota badlands. An Act of Congress in 1978 changed the name to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was here that Roosevelt rebuilt his health and life after a series of personal losses, including the deaths of his wife and mother. He remarked that he never would have become president if not for his time ranching in North Dakota. During his time in office, President Roosevelt set aside 230 million acres of public land in national monuments, national parks, wildlife refuges and forest reserves. Thank goodness for his foresight, without it I'm sure we would not be able to ejoy the beauty today!
After dinner we drove the 13.5 scenic drive that winds through the North Unit of the park. We left the campground about 7PM hoping this would be good wildlife viewing time. Across from the entrance are formations of rock that look like cannon balls sitting on pedestals. Down the drive we stopped at a pull out and walked part of the Camprock Coulee Trail. We walked along the floor of the dry water gulch and admired the fantastically broken rock formations. Walking through the coulee we saw a mule deer and then jumped a little pronghorn. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us. It is still really hot and sunny and we weren't prepared for a long hike so we went back to the car. Further up the road we saw the first herd of bison across a grass field and caught sight of the elusive big horn sheep on a precipice to our left. Continuing on we saw more deer and a doe with a fawn. There was a little hiking trail that led along a ridge with a stone building out on a ledge. The shelter at River Bend Overlook was built by the Conservation Corp and has spectacular panoramic vistas in every direction. At the end of the road we came to the Oxbow Overlook and were watching a deer in the gullies below. When I looked to the right about 10 feet away a huge bison was sauntering up the hiking path just to our right! We slowly backed away and cautiously got back to the car where we grabbed the camera in time to see our bison come off the trail and into the meadow a few yards in front of us "grunting" and eating. Wow! We watched him and continued back down the road to camp. We saw more deer and one posed for a picture... We are getting closer to camp and came around a corner and there was bison beside us on the side of the road! We pulled up carfully and got a photo and moved on quickly. They snort and grunt and are HUGE! As we approached the little bridge leading to the campground a herd of bison are coming towards us on the road. There are "baby" bison in the group and the adults are very protective. They kept coming towards us across the bridge and then just before the car they turned onto a path to our right.... right into the campground!! After they all crossed we pulled into the entrance. There were approximately 100 bison roaming all over the picnic area and roadway. Awesome!
We made our way carefully back to our campsite and talked about all the great things we saw today. We can't wait for tomorrow!
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