Wild Horses

We had read that there was a herd of wild horses roaming within the South Unit.  Unbelievably, early in our first trip along the scenic drive, we came across a small group of them just along the road.  Even though they looked just like regular domestic horses, they were beautiful, and seeing them in nature was so peaceful.  There’s one picture that Rainy captured (see Teddy Roosevelt gallery cover photo) of one of the horses up on a hill with its flowing mane and windblown tail that’s just breathtaking.  You have to get lucky to spot these horses and we were fortunate to find them three times over our two days.

Prarie Dogs

One of the first stops along the South Unit’s scenic drive is a prairie dog town.  We excitedly stopped, like every other traveler, to take a look at these guys.  They “bark” warnings to their community of prairie dogs as the humans get out of their cars.  You’d think that they’d figure out that the humans aren’t a big worry by now.  Still, it is kinda cute.  They’re particularly adorable when standing on their hind feet looking at you.  However, by the second or third prairie dog town, the cuteness wears off. 

Cannonballs

The park has some cool geological features too.  The badlands are fascinating (although Badlands NP is better) and the way the Little Missouri River (Little Mo) winds through the park is beautiful.  We took a good long hike out of Oxbow Bend that had some nice vistas (but no wildlife).  One of the unique elements to the North Unit are the cannonball concretions at one of the roadside stops.  These are huge round-ish chunks of hardened lava that have fallen out of the eroded landscape and really do look like cannonballs.  I’ve never seen anything like these before, so they register on the “cool” scale, but again I shouldn’t get too excited by round rocks.

Close

Encounter

We expected to find bison in Teddy Roosevelt and we did find several small herds along the road, including some that stopped traffic.  Rainy got some great shots of several, but we kept searching for a more natural setting than right off the asphalt.  On our last day, we saw a herd down by the Little Mo and parked at the closest trailhead about ¼ mile from where we thought they were.  As we walked down the trail, carrying our photo gear (cameras, tripods, and lenses for the expected long distance shots), we heard a loud snort just ahead to our right.  We stopped cold as a line of bison stepped through the brush and marched across the path in front of us.  We had to back away and did snap off a couple shots on our cellphones.  After they passed, we followed them from a distance and did score some nice pics.  I guess it was cool (or fortunate) that they never reacted to our presence and just went about their business.  This wouldn’t be the first time we ended up within 30 feet of these giant beasts.

Theodore Roosevelt NP is an out of the way, uncrowded, wonderful park.  If you’re so inclined, nearby Medora even has a famous musical.  I wish we could have camped inside the park, but you can’t complain about free camping.  If you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth 2 days to drive the South and North Unit’s scenic drives in search of bison and wild horses.