Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Sunday, Aug 14, 2022

Travel Day

Solo trip for me.

Long travel day. United switched my 2 1/2 hour non-stop flight to Bismarck to a 1 stop flight through Denver....arg. And, when I got to Denver, the plane to Bismarck had maintenance issues so we had to wait for a new plane to be available. The 2 1/2 hours turned into 7 hours.

Due to the lateness of my flight I bagged the trip to the Capital and Abe Lincoln State Park and headed straight to Dickinson, ND which is my jump off point to the park.

Grocery shopped and relaxed after a long travel day and watched movies on Netflix.

Monday, Aug 15, 2022

Weather Hot high of 93 degrees. Had just a little rain in the morning as I drove to TRNP but weather was clear the whole time I was hiking.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Painted Canyon Visitor Center and a Hike

When I pulled up to the visitor center there were about 30 bison all over the road and parking lot. Bison are impressive animals, big (up to 2000 lbs.), horned, grunty, agile, fast (up to 35mph!), and intimidating. They walked around the place like they owned it. Which they do and they should!

I did a short but very steep hike down into the painted canyon. The hike was great but, when I got back up to get to my car, it was surrounded by 6 bison! I had to circle around to the visitor center and wait until they ambled away. One Bison continued to graze right next to my car so I had to wait until he walked off. One bison up close to the visitor center was about 30 yards away so I went to my car. Halfway there he decided to run and ran right past me grunting. Zoiks! As I slowly drove out of the parking lot another Bison just walked onto the road right for my car. He came so close if I had rolled down the window I could have almost reached out and touched him. He looked me right in the eye. He was the boss of this place. Very cool.

South Unit Visitor Center, Scenic Highway and Hikes

The South Visitor Center was a few miles further down the road and was the start of the scenic highway. As I drove the scenic highway I stopped at many of the overlooks with very short hikes and along the way I did some longer hikes. One was through a Prairie Dog Town many of them chirping as I walked by. Stops and Hikes were: Medora Overlook; Skyline Vista; Hiked two trails at Peacefull Valley Ranch; Hiked the Lower Paddock Creek Trail; Hiked the Wind Canyon Trail; and two very short hikes at Boicourt and Buck Hill Overlooks.

Total for the day was 7.2 miles and ~700 ft. in elevation. It was hot! When I finished my last hike it was 93 degrees. Most of the hikes I didn't see a single sole. On my longest hike I only saw three people on horseback; they asked what the heck I was doing all the way out here! I said relaxing!

Videos: I took couple of videos but I am pretty shaky with the Canon.

Tuesday, Aug 16, 2022

Weather: Another hot day with a high of 92 degrees.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit

TRNP has two distinct units (North and South) which are not connected so, experienced the North Unit this day. First stop was the Visitor Center where I talked to a Ranger about coming across bison on the trail. His main advice was to keep a minimum distance of at least 25 yards, don't startle them, don't make eye contact, if you see them change their behavior your too close.

Visitor Center, Cannonball Creations and Buck Horn Trail

First two hikes were at Cannonball creations on the buck horn trail. It's an 11 mile loop I hiked the first part of the loop, came back, went around the corner and hiked the first part of the other end of the loop. You can see in the pictures the naturally formed cannon balls, some on the ground others just starting to be exposed. Geologists aren't quite sure how the round balls form.

Caprock Coulie Trail

Next hike was on the Caprock Coulie trail, the most popular hike in the North Unit so I saw a few people on the trail. The first section of the trail was the Nature Trail and had 20 different sign posts describing the geology and plant life. Beyond the nature trail, I saw no other people. I hiked deeper into the loop trail but it was hot and humid. I came to a ravine that was about 7' wide and 10' deep. It only had a small 5 1/2" board to cross it. Normally no problem but, by myself, no one else to be seen for miles I thought, a slip would be a problem. I was hot and sweaty, had much more to see in the park and the loop was another 3.5 miles to complete. So, I turned around hiked back to the parking lot and on my way to the next hike on the scenic highway route.

River Bend Overlook

Achenback Trail

Videos

Summary

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a hidden gem. The North Dakota Badlands are similar to the South Dakota Badlands, but much more colorful. The hiking was good and very, lightly trafficked. The Bison and the Prairie Dogs were a bonus!

North Dakota Badlands Geologic Formation

Excerpt from the National Park web site about the geology.

As you drive or hike through western North Dakota, the gently rolling hills open up dramatically into the varied and colorful layers of the badlands. Curiosity might lead you to take a closer look at the rocks making up the layers. This closer look takes you back millions of years to an ancient world of swamps and forests.

The story of the badlands begins over 65 million years ago during the Paleocene Epoch. The dinosaurs had just become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The western half of North America was buckling and folding to create the Rocky Mountains. Large amounts of sediments were forming as water, wind, and freezing worked to break down the mountains. These sediments, mostly sand, silt, and mud, were carried off the eastern slopes by ancient rivers and deposited here in layers. Volcanoes in South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and across the west were also erupting during this time, spitting out huge amounts of ash. Some of this volcanic ash was blown or carried by rivers into North Dakota and accumulated in standing water. Over time, the sediments turned into the sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone layers now exposed in the park, while the ash layers became bentonite clay.