Theodore Roosevelt Nat. PK.

     We left Detroit lakes and headed to our next stop in Bismarck ND.  Bismarck was just an overnight stop for us. Our next stop was Medora ND to visit the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We had visited the north unit in 2009 on our way to Alaska. We stayed at Red Trail RV park about a half mile from the entrance to the national park.
    After we got set up we went over to the national park. Went to the visitors center and got some information on hikes and the driving loop.  We did the 36 mile driving loop checking out the badlands scenery and looking for wildlife. We weren't disappointed as the badlands landscape  was all around you.

    The cute prairie dogs were our first wildlife encounter, if you can call prairie dogs wildlife. We stopped to watch the antic's of these charterer's for a short time. One stood up to give his chirp warning and flipped or fell over backwards. In all we saw 100's of prairie dogs in several different areas of the park.

     Our next encounter with wildlife was a small herd of wild horses. We saw several young colts. In all we saw five different small herds of horse. The largest had about ten horses in the herd. They were not bothered by people stopping to watch them at all. At one point the horses caused a small traffic jam by blocking the road. Soon they wondered off.

We did a few short hikes
Look at that look on Linda's face.

This hike was along a cliff

      We were still on the hunt for some buffalo. But we didn't see any. After we completed the driving loop we decided to go back to the RV. We got  something to eat and rest up a little. We decided to go back to the park to look for some buffalo. We knew early mornings and evenings would be our best chance to find wildlife.
     We did see a few single buffalo wondering through the park. Then around the next bend we hit the jackpot. We came across a herd of about a 100. There were many babies. We did see several nursing.  I let Linda take most of the photo's while I watched them through the binoculars.
This is what we saw when we came around a corner.

A few big bulls

Hey mom I'm hungry

A lot of buffalo

     After watching these magnificent beast we took off looking for some other wildlife. The sun was starting to set and we still haven't seen any elk. After a short while we did spot a large mule deer buck grazing not far off the road just as it was getting dark.

     It was getting to dark to see anything unless it was captured our headlights, so we headed back to the RV. It was a long day and time for a much needed rest.
   We did see a lot of wildflowers.

 Linda wanted to go for a horse back ride, so I fixed her up with a quarter horse.

      The town of Medora is a cute little town with about 110 full time residents. The population swells to about a 1000 in the summer according to the lady at the visitor's center. We made arrangements to see the famous Medora Musical and the Pitchfork Steak Fondue. That evening a fast moving thunderstorm moved in and put and end to both for us. We were told that the Pitchfork Steak Fondue would go on, but we opted out as we didn't think the outdoor setting would be enjoyable with the bad storm taking place. There was a covered picnic area, but we passed. This is a reason to come back to this area. We really enjoyed the area
The main streets of Medora

The top photo on the right  is a playground.

How would you like to plan a golf course with a view like this.

The newly restored Rough Riders Hotel.