This morning we drove 70 miles from Medora to the North Unit
of the park. It was a beautiful drive, mostly through grassy ranch land
with a few oil wells, several fields of yellow rapeseed (thank you, Simmonds
Encyclopedia!), and a smattering of cattle thrown in for interest. We
were apprehensive about misjudging the weather at first when it started out
completely overcast with wind and a temperature of 58. We were dressed in
short pants, sandals and no jackets. We got lucky when we arrived at the
park as the skies were clearing and temperatures got into the 70’s.
We know better than to believe weather forecasts but it’s been a while
since we’ve been in areas like this where the weather can change drastically in
a short period. Next time we’ll try to be better prepared. (Don’t
hold your breath.) :-D
One of the lovely views coming into the park. The land
is more rugged here than in the South Unit. The hills are higher and more
dramatic. It is all strikingly beautiful with VERY few people. This
is truly off the beaten path and we LOVED it! We stopped at the
campground to use their restroom and saw no campers at all and here it is the
week before July 4th. What a lovely place to camp for total peace and
quiet. The reason for using the campground’s facilities was that the
restroom building at the tiny visitor center had shifted a foot out of line and
was deemed to be unsafe. I looked back as we left the parking lot and it really
was very seriously askew.
This is a very nice collection of concrete
concretions. The center one looks like a half-peeled hard-boiled
egg. The round ones look like cannonballs of various sizes. They’re
formed when minerals are deposited around a core within layers of rock such as
sandstone, shale, or clay, etc. As the surrounding rock erodes more
concretions will be exposed.
One of the many fantastic views in the park. Much of
it reminded us of the Grand Canyon…..not as deep, of course, but very
canyonesque. The blue-gray layers are bentonite clay which flows when
wet. It gives the impression of frosting flowing over the lower rock
layers. The layers can be traced for miles up and down the river.
The Oxbow Overlook, one of the most photographed spots in
North Dakota. It is really a double oxbow in the Little Missouri
River. It flows in from the right (west), winds around in an “S” shape
and leaves to the left (east). This river used to flow north to Hudson’s
Bay but, during the last ice age 10,000 years ago, a glacier caused it to turn
sharply east so that it now flows into the Missouri and thus ends up in the
Gulf of Mexico. Those glaciers did some serious landscaping.
We didn’t see any buffalo herds today but we had a special
treat with this pair of bulls who were really enjoying their surroundings. What more can a buffalo ask for? Grass to eat, dirt to
roll in and a rock shelf to scratch your back on.
Wallowing and scratching……..
Has this captured the “aahhhh” moment or what? That
rock shelf is just the right height for a back scratcher. This was not a
new discovery…..he knew exactly what he was aiming for and we got supremely
lucky by arriving at just the right time.
Our two thoroughly enjoyed days in TR’s national park are
over. We’d love to come back and camp at the under-used North Unit’s
campground someday. It’s a long way from home, but who knows……maybe we
will. This has got to be the best place in North Dakota.
Tomorrow we head off to Garryowen, Montana, and add another
state sticker to our map. The only down-side so far is that the
temperature in that area is supposed to be 90 for the next few days. We
sure have enjoyed the 70’s in ND today.
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