North Unit and Elkhorn Parks of TRNP

 May 27, 2021 - Thursday

Yesterday, we only drove 58 miles.  Today we drove 255.  It rained most of the night and was still raining when I got up.  We have large puddles in front of the RV.  It was 38 degrees, and we have a freeze warning for tonight.  I'm worried about my lilacs.  They are really just starting to bud out in many yards here, and I'm not sure they will survive a freeze.  The dog walkers in the campground are really bundled up this morning.  The weather is not cooperating with us here in North Dakota, but we decided today to drive to the Elkhorn Unit and the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The heater in the Jeep works very well.  

We went to the Cowboy Cafe in town for breakfast.  They don't take credit cards -- just cash or checks.  The hostess said they had checks from all 50 states last year, and none of them bounced.  She said the only ones that bounce are local checks, from her relatives.  Then she laughed, but she added a guy, Tom (maybe a relative), did give her a check that bounced.  The next time he came into the restaurant, she said to him, "Tom, I see your paycheck laying on the dash of your truck.  You go put that in the bank so I can cash this check."  And he did.

From there, we gassed up, then stopped at the Visitor Center.  Saw a short film, got more maps, and were ready to hit the road.  It was 10:15 now, and 41 degrees.  All this driving (restaurant, visitor center, fuel stop) took 1.9 miles.  Small town.  Driving the Interstate to our road to the Elkhorn Ranch, Joe spotted a dirt road off to the side.  He could hardly keep going on the highway.  He said, "things are looking up."  We went past Camel Hump Lake.  I thought it was because of the "coast line" of it, but Joe saw that the hill beside it was two-humped.  

Our exit was 10 miles from the Wyoming state line.  It quickly became a dirt road -- a muddy, dirt road.  He said, "now we got a good road.  Little slick, like driving on snow."  But our road turned, it wasn't the straight one.

This road was full of puddles and muddy tracks.  The Jeep tires are not quite as wide as a regular pick-up, and he couldn't stay in the tracks on the road, so we really did a lot of sliding.  Joe was enjoying this ride much more than I was.  It looked like the road had recently been graded, the dirt was fluffy, which now became mud.  There are a lot of oil wells in this area, and some of those trucks have been through here already, leaving tracks we can't stay in.  We passed on of those squiggly road signs, and Joe said we are making a crooked road out of the straight ones.

We started out with rain drops on the windshield.  Now we have mud drops.  He said there is so much mud on the tires, they won't even bite.  It's like running slicks.  Yeah.

We saw some what looked like logs embedded in some of the sandstone mounds.  We thought it might be petrified wood (which they have in this area), so we checked it out.  I picked up a couple pieces (we are not in the Park yet). 

Here is another grouping we found.  Could be petrified wood???  And another find, a tool of some sort.

Here is a picture of my arthritic, crooked finger that Joe complained about.

Joe picked us out a homestead site, said might as well have an oil well to go with it. 

About 12:00 we reached the Elkhorn trailhead, campground, and the historic ranch area, which has no buildings left.  We drove around here for a long time, though deep mud holes, all the way to the River.  Saving grace here, we did see some interesting rocks.  Even Joe picked up a couple to look at. At this point, I am not sure if today qualifies as an "excellent adventure," but Joe certainly thinks so.  He's having a great day!

It is beautiful, and very peaceful back here.  Hard to imagine how Teddy Roosevelt found this spot, but we could see how it would be a great place to relax, with the river, and the grassy slopes on the mountains.

Joe was determined to drive down to the river (he wanted to cross it, but I said no to that).  The muddy dirt roads weren't thrilling enough, now we are on two-tracks.  Still slipping and sliding.  

Finally, finally, we found our way out of this mess (took a couple turn-arounds on the two-track) and we are headed back to the highway.  He spotted a better site for our new homestead on the way out.  We will have to keep this in mind.  It has now warmed up to 46 degrees (1:20 p.m.) and we are headed back to Hwy 16.

Back on the highway, we are in and out of the National Grasslands.  But there is a lot of farm/ranch ground here, and the fields, and the equipment, are huge.  

  Huge fields that go on forever, and lots of oil wells.

We finally reached the little town of Watford (towns are scare in this part of the country) and looked for a restaurant for lunch.  Hardee's was dine-in only (and we were ready to be out of the Jeep for a while), and we couldn't find anything else open, so we ended up eating at the Cenex gas station/convenience store.  But it was a store that had everything -- hardware, plumbing, clothing, automotive, food, gifts, etc.  A mini-Walmart.  I had a boxed pizza and Joe had a boxed salad and some chicken nuggets.  He asked if the gizzards were tender, but the gal couldn't speak English, so he decided against risking that.  He fueled the Jeep, and we finished our drive to the North Unit, which we reached about 4:00 (155 miles so far), 

 The scenic drive in this North Unit a 14-mile drive, but not a Loop so we have to turn around and come back the same way.  The Little Missouri River cuts through here, and there were some interesting things to see, in addition to some wildlife.  There was a fire here in April, and the damage was readily apparent.  But the green grass is coming back nicely, and there is a big difference in each side of the highway.  They must have bee able to stop it at the highway.

We spotted a hawk along here, sitting on top of the ridge.

The colors of these "badlands" are awesome, lots of streaks of different shades.

Another interesting sight here are these "cannonball concretions,"  formed when sand grains from an ancient river deposit were cemented together by minerals dissolves in groundwater.  The one Joe "crawled" up to surprised him - it was flat on the back side.

Joe decided to get in a little action here, so he gracefully climbed on top of one of the Cannonballs.  I should have taken a video.

There were little "caves" here where the water had eaten away the sandstone, I guess.  Joe said his cave was muddy inside.

Evidence of the fire damage was strong here, and we could still smell the smoke, especially since it was wet from last night's rain.  This little cactus has burn on it, but is growing back.

At this same stop, we had some rock climbers.  Hannah Croxton, I looked for you.  They were working hard at it, and they finally got to the top.

At the River Bend Overlook, there was a stone shelter built by the CCCs in the 1930s.  I really wish I had asked my dad more questions about his time in the CCCs, but I always enjoy finding any history about what they did and what they built.  We have seen many structures, bridges, and roads built by the CCCs.

We added another animal to our BOLO ("be on the lookout" list -- pheasants.  We saw a male cross the road and go into the grass beside us.  After our turn-around, we saw another male with 2 hens in this same area.  We assume the male was not the same one.

Another interesting sight was these two backpackers, horseback riders with 2 pack horses.  When we got to the turn-around,  their horse trailers were parked there.  And we saw them riding the ridge on our return trip.  I should have taken a picture, but they were pretty far off.

We finally saw our first tom turkey, with his wife and 3 children.  The chicks were about half-grown, but the weeds hid them from my picture.

We drove through the campground here, and there was some strange-looking devices hanging from trees (we saw 2).  We wondered what they were, maybe a bird feeder, or something to catch insects.  I told Joe, maybe there will be a sign.  He said it would say, "do not bother the whatchamacallits."  Ha Ha.

We finished this drive about 5:45.  We got out at several overlooks, but it was still chilly and windy, so we didn't look too long. Animal count today (in and out of the Park) were: deer - 28 (both muleys and white-tail), turkeys 6 (including the family), antelope - 28, pheasant - 4, and buffalo 28 (including 3 at the entrance to the Park when we exited it). And some geese.

We didn't see any bighorn sheep, or the long-horn steers the Park manages here.  Joe said he suspects all those animals are back on the "no unauthorized vehicle roads."  (He really hates those signs, growls about them every time he sees them.  And he forgot his hat.)

We drove out of the Park about 6:30.  We did 30 miles in this park.  We have about 80 miles to go back to camp.  So he speeded right along here.  We changed time zones at some point, but got that hour back by the time we reached the campground.  We got back to the RV just before dark, at 7:45.  It was 45 degrees (at one point it did get into the 50s but it was windy enough to make it cold).  And we put in 255 miles. A long day.  But a good day.