Friday,
August 4th – Wednesday, August 9th
Cottonwood
Campground in TRNP, Medora, North Dakota
We drove east on I-94, crossed over the North Dakota state
line and arrived at the town of Medora. Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP)
entrance was right in town. We were not able to get a campsite in the National
Park, so we headed to Sully Creek State Park, just a few miles south of town.
We were able to stay there one night, so the next morning we could get in line
at Cottonwood Campground in TRNP. A great site opened up just as we entered the
campground, so we grabbed the site and setup our RV. The sites were very
spacious and we were very lucky to get the site. We soon found out that almost
all campsites in the area were taken due to an endurance mountain bike race on
the next day, Saturday. The race followed the Maah Daah Hey trail, which is a
single track trail, dating over 200 years. The Native Americans used this trail
for a trade route between other tribes.
We drove back into Medora the next morning and explored the
area. What a nice small, western town, host to the National Park. “Medora was founded in 1883 along the transcontinental
rail line of the Northern Pacific Railway by French nobleman Marquis de Mores,
who named the city after his wife Medora von Hoffman. Marquis de Mores wanted
to ship refrigerated meat to Chicago via the railroad. He built a meat packing
plant for this purpose and a house named the Chateau de Mores, which is now a
museum.” The rest of the story surrounds Theodore Roosevelt, who was
instrumental in the development of the National Park. In his mid-20’s, he traveled
to the N. Dakota Badlands and Dakota Territory to relax and hunt buffalo. He
fell in love with the area and built a cabin. He later became a cattle rancher.
Years later he returned to New York and began his political career. After years
in the East, he became a conservationist. This and his wealth allowed him to
donate the land that would become the National Park.
The landscape of
the Park is so different. The Badlands are a result of water and wind that
moved and reshaped the rock formations. The layers of so many ancient times
display the history of this land. It’s quite amazing to imagine that this land
began 65 million years ago, and now has become incredible rock formations
mostly consisting of sandstone, mudstone and bentonite clay. There are portions
of the Park where petrified wood remain from the Badlands swampy history. The
Painted Canyon, at another south entrance, displays the layers all across the
valley, quite stunning.
Kurt researched
the Maah Daay Hey Trail for mountain biking. He would have loved to compete in
the 100 mile endurance race; probably in one of several shorter miles races. We
did get our bikes on the trail at the connection trail from Medora. After
finding the correct path, we headed off on the amazing desert trail. Kurt rode
out and back around 26 miles. I rode about 5 miles, enough for a good workout.
He decided on our last day that he would ride 25 miles from a trailhead further
north on the trail, where I could drop him off. We later met in Medora at the
Picnic Park, where his ride ended. The boys and I hung out at the park and they
got to run off leash and have some fun until Kurt arrived.
On one night, we
went on ranger-led moon rise hike. We hiked at Wind Canyon as the young ranger
told mythical stories about moon. He was so young, he didn’t really understand
the moon missions, as he mentioned they were shuttled up to the moon, he kept
mentioning the shuttle. Otherwise, he told some interesting stories and is a
nice young man. We watched the sunset to the east and then the moon rise over
the mountains to the west. It was a very beautiful evening. Truly enjoyed a new
perspective on hiking.
The Park had many
hiking trails, but we mostly hiked the short loops or trails at turnouts and
overlooks. We hiked a couple of longer ones, so we were able to experience
almost all landscapes in the Park. The Little Missouri River flows through the
park, but at this time there is very little water in the river due to the
terrible drought that this region has been in. This is a very different Park
than most we have visited. We did see a lot of wildlife; wild horse herds,
bison herds, pronghorn and many prairie dog towns. Our last morning in the
campground, we woke up to fog and a herd of bison roaming through the
campground. We were amazed at the close proximity that they came near us; we
backed away as they rushed between our RV and one in behind us. WOW, it was so
exciting, the alpha bull suddenly bolted and took the whole herd with him off
into the fog. What a sendoff for our time spent there.
We enjoyed our
time here; again, we had no idea what to expect and stayed a few more days than
we had planned. Next, heading to Bismarck, N. Dakota.
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