Day 4 - even though both of us are still working a bit (Kimberly waaaay more than I), it's now starting to feel like a real vacation. This morning we got to sleep in past 7, or at least attempt to. Then it was time for this, which was far too early.
Yes, that is the world's (or at least Bismarck, ND's) smallest merry go round.
Since we needed very little prep (KOA pull-thru site FTW), we were on the road in no time, headed for Teddy Roosevelt. We passed the bravest bikepacker in the world (the 75mph speed limit is a suggestion, largely ignored by the biggest rigs and triple trailers) on the shoulder - I hope he has some quality earbuds.
Next up was a metal sculpture, which we had seen makeshift billboards for over the past 10 miles or so. Something about the 'Enchanted Highway', which of course prompted us to research it. Again, either look it up or drive out here, I can't be doing all of the work for you. Kept the sign in there to give you an idea of scale.
We decided that the North Dakota state flag should be an oil rig surrounded by 'hay barrels' as Jordan describes them. All you see is this.
Once we got close to the park, we turned north on 85, and this is the traffic scene we encountered.
The tanker trucks basically drove as fast as they wanted, and the one behind us may have stolen the spare tire off the Jeep as he was a foot away. We found out yesterday that venturing north of 65mph drops our mileage below mpg, so not even Lord Humungous himself was going to get me to go any faster. Also, with all this Mad Max talk, blatant plug for this trailer. Even though a reboot of the Mad Max franchise is blasphemic at best, I will likely be in the theater the moment this is released.
50 miles beyond Thunderdome, we crested a hill and saw this.
The park entrance and visitors center was closed - for a brief moment I was about to go into a
Wallyworld (mind the Fs in that clip) rage, but then we found out that the temporary visitors center was 5 miles further, and that the park was open despite the orange cones across the entrance. Some marketing intern just got fired.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the campground to find that the new temporary visitors center was closed for the next hour for 'lunch break'. I get that we are 200 miles from anywhere, but a tiny bit of effort would be cool. We proceeded to head in and pick a campsite, settling on this guy...
...with this view about 50' out the back of the site.
Not terrible, especially for 10 clams.
Fast forward to setting up camp, taking the top down on the Jeep, and heading to the visitors center to check out the child-friendly exhibits.
We chatted up the park ranger and found out that less than 15% of visitors to Theodore Roosevelt NP go to this North Unit, likely because of the oil tanker Frogger challenge and the park playing defense against visitor entry.
I'll save you the 100 pics we took of all the badlands and formations, but these couple give you the gist of the place.
We drove the 14 mile scenic route, seeing some Bison 10,000 yards or so away, then did a non-ginger-friendly hike across the prairie grass for a few miles to a poorly identified point with little rewarding value.
Just when things were looking a bit down, this place came through and
totally redeemed itself. We chose one more hike, a few miles to a place called Prairie Dog Town.
You do not get a 6 year old all excited about the promise of an entire village of giant hamsters without delivering, so I was quite nervous about this hike. After about mile and a half or so, Jordan was running on E, and we were doubting whether these guys were going to be putting on a show. Then in the distance I caught a few of them popping up to check us out, and over the next hill we were in the middle of this (the little guy is at her eye level in the background - too lazy to add a circle to the pic and the video failed after 20 minutes of loading).
Jordan even decided to mimic them, knowing that she could expend energy having bartered a free ride on the return hike.
The hike back had us all feeling a bit lazy, so while the ladies are relaxing at the campsite, I have the difficult job of heading up to my office (high enough to get cell/internet signal) to bang this out. There are worse places to be scrolling through pics/videos from today.
And while I'm typing, this guy just strolled up to look over my shoulder.
A couple of sunset pics to follow, then it's off early tomorrow for a big day - 12+ hours (depending on cool things between here and there, such as
Kettlehouse Brewery) to Glacier NP.
And here they are. As we came back for the sunset, we ran into the Bison herd. Tough day out here.
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