Lordy, what a busy day we had today.  We hiked, sweated, and saw so much!  It was a full day.  We saw intriguing scenery and so many animals.  It was a great day!

But first we started out at the Visitors Center. For the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We watched the video which was quite interesting and then headed out back to see the Maltese Cross cabin of Theodore Roosevelt's from his first ranch in the Dakota Territory.  It was tiny with just a few rooms.  It had his original traveling trunk.  He used it when he traveled to Dakota to mend his broken heart.  It also had his rocking chair.  Roosevelt was known to get so excited when talking about something that he would rock himself all around the room.

It was very interesting that a replica of his writing desk from Elkhorn Ranch was here as well.  He spent many hours recording his incredible adventures and experiences at this desk.  He also recorded the changes brought about by the waste out west.  While in Dakota, Roosevelt participated in the near extinction of the bison and the extirpation (local extinction) of many other plains animals.  He saw the damaged caused by overgrazing.  In fact that had contributed to the demise of his ranch.  He and other ranchers lost up to 90% of their herds to starvation because of overgrazing.  Outside of the house we saw the end of a log which looked like a Maltese Cross.  One piece of it had a bullet cartridge still in it.  That was kind of cool.

Right at the VC as we were fixing to leave, we saw a doe grazing in the grass.  She was a pretty thing.  She didn't seem to mind us watching her.  She gradually crossed over and out the other side of the parking lot.  She is one of the very few deer we have seen here.

I also got my daily fix of bison.  I'm not sure what I'll do when I'm back in Florida and don't have bison to see :-). I really do enjoy them.  They grumble the entire time we watch them.  It cracks me up.  Actually, today I figured out that it reminds me of our basset.  She grumbles at us the exact same way when we stop rubbing her belly :-). Maybe the bison want us to rub their bellies.  I don't think I'll try it though 🙂

As we drove through the park, we came to Pleasant Valley Ranch.  This complex spans the successive eras of the recent history of the area.  It has gone from being a ranch to being a dude ranch to CCC headquarters to park headquarters to a facility for guided horseback rides.  These days it is the location for star talks.  They even have one at mid day which seems really strange.  What stars can you see then?  Anyway, the pens are still there and bison were in them.  Bison were everywhere here.  I couldn't understand why they were in the pens when they could just wander free.  Guess I just don't understand how a bison thinks.

From here we went down to the Little Missouri River.  Frankly, it was a poor excuse for a river as most of it was dry.  There was very little water in it.  We even saw the skeleton of a fish in the mud of the river.  I did hear something about a major drought in the area so that might be one reason why it looked so dry.

There were a plethora of hikes and overlooks in the park and I think we hit them all.  We hiked  A LOT.  None of the hikes were very long but we did a bunch of them.  To be honest, they have all kind of run into each other.  Some were more scenic than others.  Some were just hot.  None of the ones we chose to do though were very strenuous.

The most disappointing trail was the Coal Vein Trail.  This trail was the site of a coal vein that caught fire in 1951 and burned until 1977.  Lightning struck and caused it.  It was a numbered path but there was no pamphlet available so we had no clue what we were looking at on the entire trail.  There was another coal vein fire that was still burning.  We could see the smoke as we drove by.  I guess there is no way to put those things out.

Boicourt was my favorite trail.  This was where we caught a distant view of the wild horses here in the Southern Unit.  I really didn't think we would see them so I was beyond happy when Doug spotted them way in the distance on this trail.  He truly has eagle eyes!  We must have seen four different groups of horses.  It was fabulous!  I had to use my monocular to see them very well at all but as least I got to see them.  What a special thing!

A fun walk was the Old East Entrance Trail.  That took us right through Prairie Dog Town to the old East Gate of the park.  These prairie dogs were use to people walking through so they didn't disappear into their burrows like the other prairie dogs had done.  The burrows were everywhere including the trail!  I really enjoyed watching these little guys.  One was a baby and it gave out a horrible shriek as we got near.  You would have thought it was being killed.  Others were fat and sassy and just watched us as we walked by.

As we drove back around Scenic Loop Drive, we passed  Peaceful Valley Ranch again.  There to the side of the road was a lone horse.  We weren't sure if it was a wild horse or somebody's horse that they were letting graze here while they did something else.  It wasn't particularly afraid of us.  And it was the only horse anywhere around.  She was a beauty, too.  She wasn't solid red but had white as well as red coloring.  Her tail was constantly swishing to keep the ubiquitous flies away.  Eventually we decided she must be wild.  Why she was here all by herself, we will never know.  I was just so grateful that we got to spend some time with her.

We also ran across a small herd of bison.  The herds here can't even begin to compare with the herds in Custer.  Still, it was bison and I was happy.  We saw several taking dirt baths.  First they paw at the earth.  Then because of their body construction, they can only roll on one side of their back at a time.  So they roll on one side, get up, then lay down and get the other side.  I have to admit, I could sit and watch a bison herd all day long.  I love listening to their constant grumbling.  It reminds me of our big basset when we stop rubbing her belly.  She grumbles the same way 🙂

In the afternoon we climbed up Buck Hill where we could look down into the river.  Several bison were in it trying to cool off.  The trail was a bit steep but none of what we hiked today could compare with Saddle Pass Trail in the Badlands of South Dakota.  We did get a good view from there but we didn't see any buck deer or bighorn sheep.

The Badlands Overlook had fascinating views.  It was rather like the Badlands in South Dakota but the rock formations were much more rounded.  The striations in the rock were so interesting.  You could see black stripes through all of the rock.  We weren't sure if that was a vein of coal or what.  Then you would have yellow, orange, gray, and white layers.  It was fascinating.  The landscape was broken up by cliffs, sinkholes, coulees, and creeks.  A coulee is a gully or a ravine that is usually dry and was cut by water action.  We've seen a lot of them here in the Dakotas.

As we were driving our last bit around Scenic Loop Drive, we had the good fortune to spot three wild horses not too far off of the road.  Trust me, I was beyond excited!  It was cool seeing them way off in the distance.  At least I could say I had seen them.  But these were up close and personal.  It appeared to be a family with the stallion, mare, and a baby.  The stallion was white while the mare and baby were dark reddish brown.  What a treat to see them.  They looked fat and sassy and healthy.  I loved seeing that.  I got all teary-eyed when it sunk in that I was actually seeing wild horses.  What a truly special moment.  We watched them for quite a while.

By then we had seen everything we had come to see in the South Unit.  It was time to head to the hotel.  On the way out of the park though, we happened to notice some turkey on the side of the road.  It was a momma turkey with a whole slew of baby turkey.  We lost the babies in the tall grass before we could get photos.  That was alright.  At least we had seen them.

We dropped off all of our stuff at the Hampton Inn and then headed out for dinner.  We decided to try JD's BBQ.  We had read good reviews about it.  The brisket was suppose to be excellent.  It was one of those joints where you eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor.  That always makes me nervous.  I'd hate to clean that mess up.  Half of us got ribs and the other half brisket.  Three of us got beer and our glasses were ginormous!  I love my Moose Drool but I wasn't sure I could drink that much of it.  Some how I did though 🙂

The brisket was very tasty although a bit dry.  I didn't notice the dryness, however, once I dunked it in BBQ sauce.  I really liked their spicy sauce.  It had a nice little kick to it plus being tasty.  I think Doug really enjoyed his ribs as well.  He saved some for lunch tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, tomorrow we leave Dickinson and head north for Williston, SD and the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  It's a bit of a drive.  The North Unit has longhorn steers so that should be fun to see.  I'll miss the wild horses though.  For a girl who grew up in Texas, wild horses are far more exciting than longhorn!