Photos from Day 27
Leaving our campsite at Makoshika we headed northeast to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota. We broke up the long drive with side trip to Wibaux, Montana. The town, whose population is only 600 is named for Pierre Wibaux, a Huguenot who came to eastern Montana, liked it, stayed. and became one of the largest cattlemen in the state. Wibaux built a Catholic church renowned for its exterior of lava rock and stained glass. We searched futilely for the church. Wibaux was also visited by Theodore Roosevelt who got into a bar fight with the local bully.
From Wibaux we continued to Medora, ND, and the home of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Park is divided into two units, the South Unit is in Medora, and the North Unit is located 60 miles north of Medora. We decided to visit the North Unit first and enjoyed a much quieter national park compared to Yellowstone or Glacier. After a brief stop at the Visitors’ Center, we followed the sole drive in this unit which takes you through 18 miles of incredible scenery unique to the badlands of the Dakotas. We saw several buffalo during this drive. Very exciting.
Leaving he North Unit, we returned to the South Unit where we had reserved a campsite. Our campsite was located 6 miles inside the park. and on the way to the campground we encountered a herd of buffalo who blocked the road for quite a while. Buffalo have no natural predators, so they are afraid of nothing. Eventually the beasts cleared the road and we were able to get to our campsite, only to find a couple of buffalo in our site, and more of the the herd drinking from the East River which was immediately adjacent to our site.
Something tells me I have no idea how big a buffalo is. (In my deleted comment I referred to the critter as a bison.)
ReplyDeleteBuffalo and bison are synonymous.
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