Our first visit to western North Dakota. There is a very nice tourist town called Medora and this is the Theodore Roosevelt National Grassland area. I like it immediately. It is a very under visited park to begin with and there is more wildlife here than I have ever seen in any other park. There is a 100 mile trail here called Maah Daah Hey.
Giant Elk on the side of the road
We start the hike next to a HUGE Jurassic Park type fence... What kind of animals live in here that need a 20 foot tall fence?
Our first ever Bison in the wild. This is a very exciting moment, sure we have seen them from the car, but we are going to pass by this guy within a couple of yards if we keep going down the trail.
And here he is, minding his own business, but I can tell you my heart was pounding wildly with nothing between him and us.
The trail followed the little Missouri River for awhile before turning toward the plateaus.
You climb up on the plateau for great views of the plains.
This is our first encounter with the "black mud" of North Dakota. It turns out it is famous... or infamous, but a simple creek crossing turned into a big ordeal, sinking to your knees in muck! and the smell......
We literally can't get across a 15 foot wide creek, because the mud is just too deep, we do eventually find a beaver dam and are able to cross.
Our first ever Bison in the wild. This is a very exciting moment, sure we have seen them from the car, but we are going to pass by this guy within a couple of yards if we keep going down the trail.
And here he is, minding his own business, but I can tell you my heart was pounding wildly with nothing between him and us.
The trail followed the little Missouri River for awhile before turning toward the plateaus.
You climb up on the plateau for great views of the plains.
This is our first encounter with the "black mud" of North Dakota. It turns out it is famous... or infamous, but a simple creek crossing turned into a big ordeal, sinking to your knees in muck! and the smell......
We literally can't get across a 15 foot wide creek, because the mud is just too deep, we do eventually find a beaver dam and are able to cross.
The trail leads on and we did not see another person all day
This herd of Bison has actually knocked down the sign post and we go off on an adventure in another direction unknowingly.
This bison actually decided to chase us off the trail. A lone male, he moved toward us and we gave way
Wild ponies up on the plateau as well
It rained on and off and without a lot of preparation, we got very wet... I ended up wearing a plastic bag on my head!
We are definitely going to spend more time here!
