We got an early start for today's short drive to Medora, ND. It was only 134.2 miles (89,425.1 total) directly west along I-94. It was amazing to see the distinct and rapid change from flat grassland plains...
...to the stark and barren looking badlands that comprise the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The closer we traveled to Madora, the more the landscape changed.
Unlike the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, this area had quite a bit of vegetation. It was a beautiful drive that had Joani flitting from one window to the next trying to take it all in.
We were in and settled at the Medora Campground so early and the National Park was so close (campground entrance to National Park entrance - 1500 feet) that we decided to get right to it. After a frustrating delay due to road construction in the park, we were treated to our first close-up views of the North Dakota badlands.
Erosion has exposed some wild and wonderful geologic oddities. Layers of relatively hard sandstone shields the underlying clay creating the "Hoodoos" that reminded us of our visit to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah.
We thought this drive would be all about scenery, but it quickly became all about wildlife!
I left these first few uncropped and no zoom was used. At first, no problem. But they were headed our way and we had no option but to turn off our engine and watch.
We felt somewhat safe, snug in our car. Holding the camera out the window and the waning light of day (8:18 pm) resulted in lackluster photos, but I think they captured the enormity of these magnificent creatures.
They were passing us in droves, seldom showing any curiosity.
David managed a few shots with the "good camera." How he managed to manually focus on these rapidly moving targets, I'll never know.
Awww!
This bad boy was huge! The top of his head was as tall as the female in front of him. I swear he was taller than our car and in a battle between him and the car, I'm sure he would win.
After the young lady (on the right) relieved herself, this pushy bad boy decided to examine the results (it went on for a whole minute.)
And then he turned his attention toward our car. At this point, I asked David to roll up my window (not wanting to stop snapping pictures). He informed me he would need to start the engine and this may not be a good time to do that. Fair point.
The last of the herd (we thought) was trying to stare us down. We didn't blink, so he eventually moved on.
Well, it turned out there were about a dozen stragglers trying to catch up. It was amazing to see these creatures at full speed.
There were at least four prairie dogs peeking out, wondering what was going on.
He was braying at the group (or was he warning us) with a bellow that said "you young whippersnappers better listen and get in line" or was it "Hey, wait for me!"
The sun was starting to show its colors.
A few wild horses caught our attention and were a portent of things to come.
We finally found a high point turnout that allowed us to stop and watch the sunset.
But watching the sun go down meant we would traverse more than half the park at dusk and then dark.
It was a good thing we still had two more days to explore the park.
It was a good thing we still had two more days to explore the park.
As we rounded a corner, David noticed a seemingly endless trail of wild horses of every color and size.
We tried to count, but they were moving and we were moving, so we had to roughly estimate and came up with at least 30 maybe more.
The combination of low light, the moving horses and a moving car made for bad pictures, so...
...I asked my chauffeur to stop and give me a chance at a picture, but the horse was still on the move and it was still dusk. Oh, well.
David had to say, "I hope we don't meet another herd of Bison in the dark." So of course, that's just what did happen. Impossible to say how many since we could barely see them.
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