8/15/21 Theodor Roosevelt National Park, Medura South Dakota

 

7/14 Here we are again at Theodor Roosevelt National Park which is one of our favorite National parks.  Never tire of the views and especially the close up buffalo encounters.  Unlike our last visit in August 2015 when we practically had the place to ourselves, the small town of Medora was packed to the gills.  We assume it was from the rodeo in town but also probably from the massive surge in RV sales and pent up vacation demand from COVID.   

Medora

Love being back to Red Trail RV Park.   We toured Painted Canyon area where John took a hike into the canyon when it was 99 degrees!  

At 6 a.m. the next morning while it was cool and very few people in the park, we drove through to catch the wildlife.  The prairie dogs, bunnies, turkeys, wild horses were out as were 5 herds of buffalo. Like last time, they were all over the roads and the bulls grunted their disapproval as we slowly drove by.  Some nut was riding a bike through them but we noticed he seemed to wait to go through with a car and not by himself.  There are about 600 bison in the park and that is about the max the park can sustain.

Petrified Forest 

Then we took a ride on a 7 mile gravel road to hike out to the Petrified Forest.  60 million years ago these massive sequoia or cypress trees grew in a tropical shallow swamp like today’s Florida Everglades. Volcanic eruptions and flood buried the trees and the minerals inside the tree turned them to stone.   Some the trees were 8 feet in diameter. Feels so good to get into nature and not just see it from the car.  

Just outside the park entrance is the remnants of a slaughter house from the very early days when the French Marquee De Mores and Teddy Roosevelt first came to the area and started cattle ranching around 1883.  It operated successfully until it was destroyed by fire in 1907. 

De Mores Packing House Remains