Legendary

One of my favorite books is Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough (1981) which describes Theodore Roosevelt's early life, including the time he spent in North Dakota after the death of his first wife and mother on the same day. We are now in Medora, North Dakota, Headquarters of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and looking forward to experiencing the countryside that gave birth to the future environmentalist.

The drive here, from South Dakota, was in the rain.

It began raining last evening and Frederick had to do the outside work in a steady downpour. When we got on the road, the rain continued.

The town of Buffalo, South Dakota, population 330, and the largest town in far western SD along route 85 that took us all the way from Spearfish to I-94 right outside of Medora - 210 miles.

The Buffalo area is the beginning of a glimpse of what is to come - the oil fields of North Dakota.

The road north, and...

a welcome to North Dakota.

At this point we saw a sign that read - White Butte, El 3,506 feet, Highest Point in North Dakota - with an arrow pointing east. There it is, White Butte in the distance (not the little bump in the foreground).

At the campground, called Red Trail, this young man, Ben, led us to our site. Later, as we passed by the office, he was outside with a karaoke set-up serenading the campground. Good for him, but he should not give up his day job.

After un-hitching we headed out for a bit of exercise after the long drive.

The rain had stopped, but the skies were still threatening.

There is a western feel to Medora, population 129. It is the county seat of Billings County and the only incorporated place in the county. Pretty sparsely populated out here!

Dinosaur on the hill

Blog for May 22-

It seems that once again, as last year, as the time approaches to traveling into Canada, we begin to stockpile food and supplies - as if there are no grocery stores in Canada. The back of the Benz is chocked full of 28-oz cans of chopped tomatoes, cartons of chicken and beef broth, cans of artichoke hearts, quartered, and bags of pecans & almonds, apricots & prunes. 

Today we drove back into Rapid City, picked up our last, in-person shipment of mail and six boxes, shopped at Sams and Safeway and filled the car with fuel. We’re all ready to begin our move into North Dakota and on into Canada. Oh yes, we also went to the laundromat. 

In the Safeway parking lot we looked up and noticed this dinosaur on the hill. Why is it up there?   We don’t know.

This is our rig in the Badlands' Cedar Pass Campground. Not bad scenery to enjoy with our breakfast! 

Our favorite view from the campground in the morning light.

Sheep Mountain Table

Blog for May 21-

There are two “units” to Badlands National Park, the North Unit called Sage Creek Unit, and the South Unit referred to as the Stronghold Unit. Most development is in the eastern (Cedar Pass) part of the North Unit - the Visitor Center, Lodge, campground and the most popular (short) trails. We use a book entitled, Secrets of the National Parks, published by National Geographic. For the National Parks that are covered in the book (the major parks) Rangers and Volunteers identify hikes or other experiences that are beyond the normal tourist encounters. From this book we found today’s trail, the Sheep Mountain Table Trail in the South Unit.

The South Unit of Badlands lies within the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Lakota Nation and parts of this unit of the National Park is operated by Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority staff. One site in the South Unit that’s always open for public access is Sheep Mountain Table, reached by an unpaved road that is 7-miles long. The dirt road starts out really flat and after 5 miles the road turns into a really rutted two-track. At that point there is a parking area and we hiked the remaining 2+ miles on a road that requires a high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle. 

Here is some of what we saw today. From the time we turned off the main highway and began the dirt road, we did not see another car or hikers on Sheep Mountain Table. It was just us and wonderful bird sounds and extraordinary scenery.

View from the parking lot where we left the car.

The sign reads - High Clearance Vehicles Only Beyond This Point.

The geologic features here look slightly different from the rest of the park. A lot of people compare it to Bryce Canyon National Park and we agree.

The end of the road/trail. 

Sheep Mountain Table is sacred to the Oglala and they come here for vision quests. Notice the red offering in the tree.

On the hike back to the car we noticed these deer in the distance. They noticed us, too.

On the way back into the North Unit we travelled through some pretty isolated areas and came upon this scene of a dad and his kids herding some cattle along the road.

Friendly wave from dad.

Back in the North Unit we traveled along the Scenic Drive. This formation is call the Yellow Mounds.

We stopped at the Fossil Exhibit Trail that featured fossil replicas and exhibits of now extinct creatures that once roamed the area. The message on this sign is that the mammals of the time either moved to another location, adapted to the changes in the environment or they died. 

The final section of the Castle Trail began across the road from the Fossil Exhibit and we picked up the last two miles of the trail that we began yesterday.

Fit for a king

It's Memorial Weekend, the beginning of the summer camping season and the campgrounds are full of families once again. We love to see the kids having fun and its a nice change from just having other retired folks in the campgrounds.

We are beginning our trip into North Dakota and are spending the night in Spearfish, South Dakota. It was a fairly short drive today, 130 miles. Tomorrow is the long day, about 200 miles to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Just west of Rapid City was a Camper's World store - nirvana for RVers.

A big change for us, tonight we are staying in a private campground where there is a heated pool. The outside temperature is in the lower 50's. 

We didn't un-hitch but went out for a walk and found these lilacs.

The path that we took, as advised by the office staff, had us walk for a while alongside I-90. All through South Dakota we would see these signs that can notify travelers of road closures during the winter months.

Our big purchase at Camper's World was a replacement toilet seat. The one on the left came with the Dometic toilet in the Airstream; a cheap, flimsy, plastic affair.

The new one is wood with an enamel coating.

Castle trail

Blog post for May 20, 2015

Castle trail is the longest marked trail in the park and can be completed in three section of approximately 2 miles each. We began the day with the first section that starts at the parking lot at the far eastern part of the scenic loop.

See the blue bird in the middle of the picture? The bluest bird we have seen - mountain bluebird.

We went out 2 miles and then came back for a total of 4 miles. Then we ate our lunch.

We began the second part of the Castle Trail by climbing the Saddle Pass Trail.  

The Saddle Pass Trail begins in the valley and climbs about 400 feet.

We then hiked the Medicine Root /Castle Trail Loop for another 4 miles. Scenes along the Loop trail-

Back at Saddle Pass we begin the hike back down to the valley floor.

Half-way down. Notice the toadstool formation above Frederick's head.