Day
68 – 7-18-15 Saturday We slept late this morning since we were
staying here today. The temperature is 60 degrees this morning with
some gusty wind. After breakfast we started exploring the park. We
discovered this area is located in what is called “The Badlands”
of North Dakota. The large hill just across from the campground
entrance is named Battleship Butte and there are large round balls of
what looks like hard sand that are called Cannonball Concretions. We
drove on up the park road and stopped at different places to get
photos of the unusual landscape. At River Bend Overlook a man noticed
our license plates and started talking to us. He is from Iowa but got
his college degree in North Carolina and worked as a Park Ranger in
the Smokey Mountains. He was working a Summer job here in this park.
Oxbow Lookout was as far as we could drive and almost to the back
edge of the park lands and the highest elevation. The wind was really
blowing and I had to hold on to my cap and be careful and not get
near the edge of the cliffs. The view overlooking the river and hills
was unlike anything we have ever seen.
 |
| Little Misssouri River in background |
We
drove back down the road to the front entrance. There was a buffalo
herd a couple of miles from the front entrance. My best guess, there
were probably 100 in the herd. There were a couple of very young
buffalo and we saw the longhorn cattle herd again. The park maintains
the cattle herd because of the history of the longhorn cattle drives
that came through this area in the 1800's.
President
Theodore Roosevelt owned an interest in a cattle ranch in this area
and also wholly owned another cattle ranch near here
in the South Unit of the park.
After
lunch we walked one of the trails near the campground, then returned
and read and relaxed the remainder of the day. We are glad we found
this park. If not for the detour we would not have stopped here.
After
thinking about how to describe the landscape it reminded me of the
old westerns on TV I watched as a kid, where the bad guys always went
up into some really rough looking terrain to get away from the posse
that was after them. If you are my age you might remember the old
westerns on TV.
The
wind has blown rather brisk all day but as I write this at 8:50PM the
leaves are barely wiggling.
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