Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 Laundry Day!

Catching up on the blog at the laundromat after spending two wonderful nights at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Theodore Roosevelt originally traveled there to hunt bison, fell in love with the place and started a ranch which later failed.  It is part of the Badlands and it was so was impressive to drive into after being on the prairie for a few days.  We had a short drive (150 miles) to get there and left our previous campground early to get a campsite, worrying that we were arriving on a Saturday in the middle of the weekend (campground was first come, first served).  Glad we did, half the campground was already closed for the season and we got one of the two remaining sites left.  After the half price discount effective October 1 and our senior pass discount we paid $3.50 per night.  Score!

We saw our first California license plates in TRNP since leaving Maine, two of them in fact.  

Today we are headed to a state park near Sturgis, SD.  We plan on seeing Sturgis tomorrow before heading to Wind Cave NP.  Sturgis wasn't on our itinerary but we are going right by it so of course we have to stop and see it and imagine what it must look like with almost 1/2 million motorcycles in the town.

We enjoyed a mostly sunny day with temperatures reaching 72 degrees.  Above the Little Missouri River cuts through the canyons.  A photo of me enjoying the view. 

Road block ahead!  The bison clearly paid no attention to the cars and stopped traffic for about five minutes while they decided which way they were going to go.  There are two main herds in the South Unit of the park, maybe 25-30 bison each.  We know that one walked through our campsite the first night of our stay because of the "proof" on the pathway.

There were Prairie Dog "towns" everywhere.  It was fine to walk among them as long as we avoided the little hills they poked their heads out of.  We saw them chasing grasshoppers which were everywhere.  The bottom photo Prairie Dog is a little hard to see - in the middle of the picture.

"Wild" horses in the campground.  They moved about lazily and didn't seem to pay much attention to me as I passed by them to get back to our campsite.  

The trees were in full color, yellows and oranges.  They served as a beautiful backdrop to the barren hills.

We walked around the tiny western town of Medora at the entrance of the NP.  They did a great job of keeping the character of the old west.