August 31 - Where the Deer and Antelope Play

(August 30th - too tired to blog - decided to just catch up and do today, rather than try to catch up.  Linda blogged about the day:  https://judylindatravels.blogspot.com/2022/08/number-two-leaving-twin-cities-with.html.)

Sitting under the stars and Milky Way - a wonderful star-fill night!  It's so dark in our campground, we can see so many - Where's Frank Mills when you need him?  He really could enlighten us about what we are seeing.

Hello from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit.

Badlands landscape behind us.

Great day - We're in Medora, ND, about as far west as you can go on I-94 in ND.  We rented a car yesterday in Dickinson - on our way here.

Morning was a little cold - 50-ish.  We did get the heat working today!  Thanks to dad Herman, who I heard say so many many times, "Did you try turning the furnace off and then on again?" before running out to a nighttime call.  After scouring the online manual and still not having heat - and after a cup of coffee - we tried that, and had heat!

The daytime temps are in the 90's - nighttime int he 50's. 

So, off we were this morning to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit.  The South Unit is right here in Medora, but I thought we should go north first; I had read that it had fewer visitors, but had spectacular views and geology.

Of  course, I decided to take the more scenic route - adding an additional 25 minutes onto our drive to the North Unit.  We meandered through badlands - generic for land that wasn't good for settling or farming.  We were just south of I-94, but paralleling it.  We saw lots of wheat fields and more sunflower fields - and oil pumps.  Once we left Dickinson, traveling west, the pumps appeared.

North to Roosevelt NP - North Unit, we were next to the National Grasslands - just nice rolling terrain.  The time zone changed back to Central Time as we traveled northward.  As we got closer to the park, the badlands appeared.  The Visitor's Center here is a couple of trailers - pretty stark.  Linda and I took turns viewing the video and watching Corky, as dogs are allowed in the park - parking areas only.  

The drive was spectacular!  Laid down as an inland lake bed, this area was filled with various sedimentary layers, evidently from run-off and glacial melt waters coming from the Rockies - over hundreds of years.  The layers were so interesting - and each weathers at its own rate from current rain, snow, and wind, making for beautiful and interesting landscapes.  

Layers of Sedimentary Rock, carved out by the Little Missouri River

Besides the table-like top of some sedimentary layers, you can see areas where it looks like flowing sediment coming from between the formations.  That's benonite clay, which does actually dissolve in water and flows out.  Looks like waterfalls.

Each twist and turn brought new sights.  One my favorite was the cannon balls - roundish concretions that were caught in the sediment.  As the sediment erodes away, these balls sit on the ground, looking totally out of place.

Huge "cannonball" concretion !

We drove the entire scenic route - then needed to backtrack to exit the park.  Had lunch under the cottonwood trees in the picnic area.  We were the only ones there - so quiet and peaceful. 

The cottonwood trees along the Little Missouri River outline the flow of the meandering river.  Part of the river was cus off forming an oxbow lake.  So geologically cool!

We looked for buffalo and wild horses.  We finally saw a lone buffalo along one of the rock formations.  Linda has that great shot.  Great scenery - disappointed in wildlife sitings.

After an hour drive to the South Unit, we finally saw some wildlife:  small herds of buffalo.  Magnificent animals.  We kept our distance but did get the photos!  Most are on my camera (all these photos from iPhone).  

This buffalo is one of about 30 in the herd in this grassy area.   They were eating and resting.

Although the South Unit is badlands, it differed from the North Unit.  It had more vegetation growing and the rock formations were not as spectacular as in the north.  We couldn't do the entire scenic drive - ran out of time.

Also, it was fun to watch the playful black-tailed prairie dogs in the prairie dog towns.  I have some video of them playing, but difficult to put video in this blog.

There's at least one prairie dog in this photo, and you can see their many holes.

Sad not to see the entire scenic route, but we needed to get back for rest and dinner before the Medora Musical at 7:30.  It was great.  The Medora Musical is held in an outdoor amphitheater built into the badlands.  The singers and dancers were great with a selection of music to compliment the development of the area, especially Teddy Roosevelt.  I
would come back just to see the show again!  The ending was especially moving, with a rider on horseback riding up one the hills in the background carrying the American flag with a spotlight on him, while the singers and dancers on stage sang songs of a patriotic nature.

Elevator ride into the a\amphitheater in the Badlands.

Finale to the great show which rider carrying American flag on horseback, riding in mountains.

So much more to the day - learned about Teddy Roosevelt, geology, and Medora.  One last glass of wine under the starry, starry night sky - seeing the Milky Way and thousands of star.