Back to the Badlands: Part 1

When I moved to Colorado, I started an annual tradition of going on a Memorial Day road trip. My first one in 2007 was to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I haven’t been on one in a couple years due to working at the Ranch. So this year I was so excited to renew my annual tradition and hit the road (and see badlands again!). Although I live in a National Park (that I have not even scratched the surface of exploring), I wanted to see a new National Park as well as check a new state off my list. I left after lunch on Friday and headed to Medora, North Dakota, home of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. On the drive out to WY, I had listened to an audiobook about Roosevelt so I thought this was nice synergy. It was a nice drive on I-94 across eastern Montana and wasn’t as flat as I was expecting. I arrived 7pm. On the drive up to the campground, I saw 3 horses on the road. I hadn’t realized the park had wild horses. I set up my tent and enjoyed the sunset.

Cottonwood Campground

Saturday morning I headed out bright and early to drive the scenic road. My first stop was at a prairie dog town. I took my point and shoot camera out to take a picture and realized there was a spot on the lens.

Prarie Dog Town

I wasn’t too disappointed since I hated that camera. I have a warranty on it so I stopped in Billings on the way back and dropped it off for repair (hopefully they will junk it out and I can get a new one). Anyway, I had my work iPhone so I decided to use that as my camera. The prairie dogs were pretty entertaining to watch and I also saw a turkey.

Turkey

My first hike was the Ridgeline Trail.

Ridgeline Trail

One of the contradictions about Roosevelt National Park is that I-94 runs right through the park. The topography of the badlands means you can’t ever really see it but there is always the drone of traffic. It’s kind of disappointing. My next stop was a hike out to the Old East Entrance Station.

Old East Entrance Station

When I-94 was built, they had to reroute the entrance to the park. It was a unique piece of history to explore and the trail passed through another prairie dog town. The next trail was the Coal Vein Trail. Lightning ignited a fire in an underground coal vein and it burned for 30 years.

Coal Vein Trail

I didn’t realize there was so much coal in this region. The scenic drive takes you up on Buck Hill which is the second highest point in the park at 2,650 feet. It is a short trail up to the top with great vistas.

Buck Hill

The Boicourt Overlook was next up on the drive. I hiked out further to a ridge to see if I could spot any creatures. I had been driving since 6am and hadn’t spotted any big creatures which I thought was odd because I envisioned bison everywhere in Roosevelt National Park (as if I don’t get bison in my front yard). As I was on the ridge I heard horses squealing. I looked around and spotted them just a hundred yards from my car.

Horses

I raced back along the trail but by the time I got back to my car they were gone. I got in my car and crawled down the road until I spotted them. I hadn’t seen wild horses in the west so I was pretty excited. I later learned they descended from ranch horses set loose but still. The horses even stopped and rolled in the dirt. I really enjoyed observing them so close.

Bison

As I continued down the road, I ran into a bison jam. I pulled over to observe them. They seemed a lot smaller and scragglier than the ones in Yellowstone. I’d always heard that bison were very agile but never witnessed it so I was excited to see a few jumping over the guardrail to cross the road. For such huge beasts, they sure got some air. That was the end of the scenic drive so I went down to the visitor center to check that out. Behind the visitor center is the Maltese Cross Cabin, which is Roosevelt’s first ranch cabin.

Maltese Cross Cabin

I was pretty hungry so I stopped in Medora for lunch. I went to the Farmhouse Café. It’s a farm to table joint and very cute. Apparently, there is a large Ukrainian presence in North Dakota so I ordered a Ukrainian sounding dish. It was basically a hamburger patty inside a fried pocket of dough filled with a creamy mushroom sauce. It was delicious.

Painted Canyon

I headed east on I-94 and stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center. It’s basically just a rest stop on the interstate but it overlooks the badlands. I continued east and then cut north to go to the North Unit of the park. The road goes through grassland before coming back to the north side of the park. They too have a scenic drive but its 14 miles one way (not a loop like in the south).

Sperati Point

I drove out to the Oxbow Overlook and hiked out to Speranti Point. It was the hottest day of the year so far (92 degrees) and the trail was across the prairie and went to an overlook of the badlands. I found the one tree and rested under there for a bit since it was so damn hot. That sapped most of my energy so I just went to a few overlooks on the way back down the road.

CCC Overlook

I had enough in me for one more hike so I walked the Caprock Coulee Trail.

Coulee Trail

It went through a coulee so a lot of it was shaded and cooler. I stopped at the Juniper Campground to fill up on some more water. Across from the entrance to the campground is the Cannonball Concretions.

Cannonball Concretions

They are formed by the deposit of minerals around a core. It was crazy to see how perfectly round they were.

Cannonball Concretions

There weren’t as many animals up north but I did see a herd of longhorns that they maintain for historical accuracy.

Longhorns

I was tired and hungry so I headed back to Medora in search of dinner. There is a burger shack in the town square so I got a maltese cross burger and it was delicious.

Medora Town Square

They asked for my name for the order and told me I got a free refill with my drink so when I went back to the window after my meal the lady said “ready for that refill Kelly?” Good ol’ North Dakota hospitality! I drove up to the Chateau du Mores which was a mansion from a Frenchman who had set up a ranch. It was after 6pm so it was closed.

Chateau du Mores

I walked around his old meat packing plant that still had a chimney and some foundation walls standing.

Packing Plant

 I drove back into the park but went past the campground on the way out to Wind Canyon trail for the sunset.

Wind Canyon

Wind Canyon

It was a gorgeous night and the overlook was above the river so it was a peaceful way to end a beautiful day. On the way back to my campsite I passed a few bull buffalo and man were they huge.

Bull Bison

I don’t think I’ve seen any that big back in Yellowstone. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there was a ranger program at the amphitheater. A very energetic young man gave a talk on the history of the National Parks and it was a great way to end the day.