August 17, 2021

Even though the wild fire smoke was pretty prevalent, I decided to drive through the South Unit again. I started with a stop at the Visitors Center, which I skipped on Sunday. I watched a 15-minute video talking about Theodore Roosevelt and the park, followed by a quick visit to Maltese Cross Cabin, which was used by Roosevelt on his first trip to North Dakota. As I set off into the park my main goal was to see some feral, or wild, horses up close. The smoke dimmed some of the views, but they were still beautiful. I drove almost 10 miles before I saw a bison close up. At about mile 18 I told myself I was probably going to be shut out on a wild horse viewing again, however, all of a sudden I came around a corner and five horses came down a hill and crossed the road in front of me. I took a couple pictures from the truck and then turned onto a road and parked so I could get out and take some more pictures. When I finished taking pictures I got back into the truck and decided to venture down the gravel road I had turned on. As I approached the trailhead parking lot I was amazed to see a huge herd of bison surrounding the parking lot. I was in photography heaven. When I finished I continued on my way to the end of the main park road, which took me past the horses I had seen earlier. On the way out of the park I saw two more groups of horses. Leaving the park I decided to drive to the Petrified Forest. The drive took me 7 miles over a washboard riddled gravel/dirt road to get to the trail head. Once there it was a 1.5-2 miles hike. I walked about 1.25 miles and came to a bluff revealing the forest below. The temperature was around 96° and knowing if I went down to the forest I’d have to climb back up, I settled with take a panoramic view and turned around. It was a great day despite the smoke.

August 19, 2021

After touring the Chateau de Mores in Medora, I decided to drive into the park just to see what I might see. It was cloudy so the vistas were a little less vivid, but still awe-inspiring. I was able to see some bison close up, and happened to catch a few pictures of some of the feral horses. On my way out of the park it started to rain, which was desparately needed.

August 24, 2021

I really wasn’t intending on driving through the park today, I only intended to stop at the visitor center since I hadn’t taken the opportunity to explore the small museum. The museum was informative, however, what I’ve discovered about Medora is you will read the same story/information in several different places. I guess reinforcing the information is a good thing. After leaving the visitors center I decided to venture further into the park, thinking I’d go 10-15 miles and then turn around. Once I got into the park I discovered it was a beautiful day and found myself snapping more pictures of scenery. I’ve decided that no matter how many times you drive the scenic route, you will always see different sites. I didn’t see many bison, but three feral horses did stop traffic about half-way into the park. I ended up driving the complete route (24.5 miles one-way) and taking several pictures, including a couple panoramas of the badlands.

Petrified Forest

Took advantage of the nice 75° temperature to hike into the Petrified Forest. As explained earlier, it takes a seven mile driver over washboard-riddled gravel/dirt roads to get to the trailhead. From there you first hike up a short steep hill, then after about a half-mile of prairie, you descend another steep hill into the forest. This was my second trip, the first on a 95+° day where I stopped at the last bluff and didn’t go all the way into the forest. The hike had my heart pumping hard, but in the end it was worth it. I am going to post pictures without much explanation, I’ll let the beauty of the area speak for itself, though the pictures really don’t do justice to the actual beauty.