All right, still over on the western side of NoDak, next up is Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit. Medora is the resort hub of the park. It's got a western, cowboy theme going on. There's a big country musical there every year - not my sort of thing, so I've never been to it.
The badlands are quite spectacular. Also extremely hot in mid-July. It was sweltering the day I took this photo of a huge bull bison.
A Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Did I say it was hot that day
On to the Cross Ranch by the Missouri River, some 30 miles north of Mandan.
The Nature Conservancy has secured a portion of the ranch along the western side of the river, plus there's a state park. Nice quiet place to stay. Good fishing I think. Spotted Towhees and Lazuli Buntings had nests in the shrubs around my isolated campsite. Field Sparrows sang all day long.
This is on the Lewis & Clark Trail (click on photo to enlarge).
There's interesting information about TRNP at these links:
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm
http://www.realnd.com/badlandsindex.htm
The geology of the park:
http://theodoreroosevelt.areaparks.com/parkinfo.html?pid=26955
About the Lewis & Clark Expedition
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition
The badlands are quite spectacular. Also extremely hot in mid-July. It was sweltering the day I took this photo of a huge bull bison.
A Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Did I say it was hot that day
On to the Cross Ranch by the Missouri River, some 30 miles north of Mandan.
The Nature Conservancy has secured a portion of the ranch along the western side of the river, plus there's a state park. Nice quiet place to stay. Good fishing I think. Spotted Towhees and Lazuli Buntings had nests in the shrubs around my isolated campsite. Field Sparrows sang all day long.
This is on the Lewis & Clark Trail (click on photo to enlarge).
There's interesting information about TRNP at these links:
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm
http://www.realnd.com/badlandsindex.htm
The geology of the park:
http://theodoreroosevelt.areaparks.com/parkinfo.html?pid=26955
About the Lewis & Clark Expedition
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition
It's not a really cold day here, but I really got warmed up remembering N.Dakota in July. Really loved the wild horses on the hilltop pic. Made me think of old John Wayne movies.
ReplyDeleteWestern NoDak is definitely cowboy/western movie territory.
ReplyDelete