What a day! I started early, since Teddy Roosevelt National Park is only about five minutes from my campsite. The park is named as an homage to the Trust-Buster’s time spent as a rancher in North Dakota, and aims to capture the prairie as it was before Euro-Americans pushed west. I spent today in the park’s North Unit, and by the time I had traversed the fourteen-mile scenic drive, I had seen herds of buffalo and several bighorn sheep.
I stopped by the ranger station for a talk called ”Perceiving Coyote”. It was led by Ranger Rob, who reminded me of a very intelligent Andy from Twin Peaks. He discussed how coyotes have been different things to different groups of people—emblems of trickery or creation, pests, evil predators, or just another animal. Are any of these perceptions more right than another? Should we try to assign morality to a part of nature? Great questions, Ranger Rob, which stayed on my mind as I headed out into the backcountry in search of a prairie dog town.
I took the Buckhorn Trail into the prairie, wading through waist-deep grasses and clambering through dry creek beds. All around me were the cliffs of the badlands, showing colorful stripes of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and clay. Occasional groves of trees peppered the landscape, and insects snapped, crackled, popped, and occasionally torpedoed into my chest. The trail was poorly marked, and I lost it almost immediately. Using only wit, guile, and my map and GPS, I tracked down the prairie dog town and sat down for lunch with my new friends.
Only two miles from the main road, I hardly saw anyone on my hike (I found the trail on the way back). After returning to the car, I drove into nearby Watford City for supplies and rest. I wish I were a better photographer, so that I could show more clearly how different and special this part of the world is, but for now I’m stuck with mostly words. Talk to you tomorrow.
How excellent that you saw the buffalo right there on the side of the road when you were in the TR National Park. Your picture is great! They must be used to having their picture taken since they did not run away when you stopped. What’s nice about remote places like this is that you are not tripping over crowds of tourists. Buffalo can be seen and photographed at Yellowstone National Park but only surrounded by tourists taking pictures of them. But that’s a good place to go anyway and I hope it’s on your list. You will need a few days there to take the highlights in. But you won’t want to stay too long. Glad you found your prairie dog friends. They are cute. It’s said they can spread monkeypox, though, so keep your distance! I also was so impressed with the different landscapes across the country that we encountered them on our driving trips. Your photographs have been right on target as far as I can tell. Keep taking those pictures! Love, Grandma