Day 19, Sunday June 26,2022 Last day at Buffalo Trails ,Williston ND

 Day 19, Sunday June 26,2022 Last day at Buffalo Trails ,Williston ND

The day was beautiful and after a pleasant night, we headed out of town to the Theodore Roosevelt, National Park. We had been there once before, and as we were only staying two nights here, it was a good day to do it.

Western Wallflower

 

Entry to the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The route is west on US 2 out of town, then south 50 miles on US 85 to the park. The entrance is seen from the highway "way down there" as the Little Missouri River has cut a huge  Valley and floodplain which makes up most of the accessible part of the Park. There are three units in the park. A South  and North unit as well as the Elkhorn Ranch Unit which has no buildings standing, as it is looooong gone. It is where Teddy Roosevelt  built a ranch and stayed there when he visited. He lost both his wife and his mother on Feb 14  and he started coming here just after that to recover those losses. He lost all of his cattle in the winter of 1887 two years after the buildings were completed by his workers. He went back to NY.

Scarlet Globe Mallow

Prickly Pear Cactus

Black Samson (a Cone Flower)

 

Ruth and I saw few birds ...I mean a few, but added the Cedar Waxwing which we did not have yet. There were 21 birds that day. We were able to identify in flight, the Lark Sparrow with its white patches on the wings against as all black body. We saw no Hawks or large birds although we know there are Golden Eagles in the Park. We saw no birds at all along the Little Missouri River. We stopped at the picnic grounds and the camping area but, again,  very few birds.

 

Concretions formed by water dripping on sand.

Irregular  formations in the soft rock.

Ledges formed by resistant layers to ersosion

 The end of the road at mile 14 is the Oxbow Overlook where the river actually does two complete oxbow loops. almost coming back on itself two times.  In 100 years  or so it probably will straighten itself out.

The Little Missouri River looking east

The Little Missouri at the double Oxbow..

The gray rock is Bentonite rock, that flows when it gets wet. (Waterfall like)

 

The rock formations I will show in the photos as there are many.

There are Buffalo in the Park and we did see them three times. They were reintroduced in 1956 and now have established themselves so that have to be managed each year. There are also Bighorn Sheep, Elk and Pronghorn (Antelope) in the Park.

The road to the Park  (US 85) is loaded with many "oil pads"and  all sorts of accessory pits that hold trucks, tankers, pipe, wire, metal, welders, parts stores and the like for the oil industry there and around  NE North Dakota. The industry is down about 20% since the pandemic began.

After getting home we did get to "Doc Holliday's" restaurant and saw the west as it might have been a few years back. The walls and ceiling were loaded with western memorabilia. Our guest on the wall at our table was my favorite "General"---Chief Joseph. There were two shiny Harley Davidson motorcycles that were displayed on platforms . Sturgis SD is a center for the  BIG Motorcycle rally each year. It is not that far from here. Quite a contrast in cutures.

So it was a great day in the sun and with little wind it was an ideal day. Tomorrow we head for Montana and the town of Malta, where we will spend 5 nights and see a number of NWR there.

See you on the road.