Teddy Roosevelt NP (part 2)

On Thursday, we moved south and met up with our friend Brenda in Dickinson, ND. She's on her way east while we're heading south. With a little coordination on both our parts, we arraigned to meet at our crossing point. We had a great time - she's always fun. She and I even went to the movies. We were sorry to say good-bye today.

While in the area, we took a day to tour the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP. It was different than the north unit, but just as nice. After all, they don't call them national parks for nothing.

We started at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center which is at a rest area right on I94.


In the park, we drove the 36 mile scenic loop, stopping at all the overlooks. An obvious geological feature in the park is brick-red rock, locally called scoria. As far back as 9000 years ago, exposed coal periodically caught fire. The heat from these fires baked the overlying rocks and turned them red. We hiked a short trail through an area where a coal seam burned from 1951 to 1977.


We also took a short hike up the Ridgeline Trail where this guy was nice enough to pose.


But we had heard there were wild horses. Here Ron scopes out the surroundings for any movement.


But soon we ran across several horses. I was thrilled!


Then farther along, we saw more. These two look like twins (and took off a half second after I snapped this.)


The Wind Canyon Overlook is pretty special.


The Little Missouri River created a wide valley through the park.

Next post - the greatest roadside attraction you never heard of.

Teddy Roosevelt NP

We spent a couple of days touring Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit. This is North Dakota's answer to the more famous Badlands in South Dakota. We were impressed. They were repaving the road and we had to wait for the pilot car several times, but even that had its advantages. More on that later.

In the park's 2009 count, there were eight longhorn steer. We saw the whole herd, although I didn't get them all in one picture.


We decided to hike the Caprock Coulee trail because it was recommended by the ranger, it was a loop, and it was the right length - 4.3 miles. The caprocks protect the soft clay beneath them and form interesting 'rain pillars.'


The first .75 mile of the trail takes you up a coulee. A coulee is a steep, narrow valley, formed by water, but usually dry in summer. We saw interesting cliffs and geological layers along the way.


Then the trail climbs out of the coulee to the grasslands of the higher elevations in the park. This is one of the best hikes I have ever taken! It ranks up there with my very favorite Devil's Garden trail in Arches NP.


We crossed ridges where the ground drops away on both sides for 360 degree views - I always love that.


We noticed something with big feet had also used the trail recently. (This time my foot is in purposely for size.)


The trail returns to the park road at this overlook. That's the Little Missouri River down there. We started a bit higher than the valley floor and hiked up about 400 feet in elevation change.

At this point, you can cut off the 1.4 downhill return if you shuttle a car. Since we only have one car, here's where the construction crew came in handy. Although I'm sure the hike down would have been just as lovely, we also wanted to do another 2 mile hike and I figured that would be too much for me. (Ron, of course, is the Energizer Bunny.) So we asked the pilot car driver for a ride back down. He said, "Sure!" and away we went.

After picking up the car, we drove back up and to the end of the road. I told you in a previous post, or maybe it was on Facebook, that I was going back where the buffalo roam. Well, we found them.


There were even some young ones.


Oh, too close!!!!!

Have you ever noticed that buffalo seem to have a crazed look in their eye? I'm glad we were in the car.

This was taken from the overlook at the end of the park road.

I also have a recommendation for a campground if you are ever in the area. About 8/10 of a mile south of the entrance to the park (remember this is the north unit,) there is a 1 mile gravel road off US 85 that heads west to a national forest campground. The campground is named CCC and is well marked - the turn is just at the south end of the bridge over the Little Missouri. It's gorgeous with views all around, has about 40 nice large sites, and is only $6 a night! (With that magical Golden Age pass, it's an unbelievable $3!) Of course, since this is a National Forest campground, it doesn't have hookups. But then what do you want for $6?

Lewis and Clark, etc.

For Labor Day weekend, we arrived on Saturday at a Corps of Engineers campground and grabbed the very last available space. Even at that, it was right on the lake, so how bad could it be?

Since the lake was east of us, I thought it would be nice to get a sunrise shot. However, with me being me, I didn't get up in time and Ron kindly snapped this picture for me. What a guy!


On Sunday, we went into the little town of Garrison for breakfast and came across the town mascot. That's a really big fish.


We were near Lake Sakakawea, named after the Shoshone girl who traveled with Lewis and Clark as part of their Corps of Discovery. I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime I wasn't paying attention, this girl, who I learned in school was named Sacagawea, became Sakakawea. I'm sure she never anticipated the confusion her name would cause me.

Since Lake Sakakawea was formed by damming up the Missouri River, this area is rich in Lewis and Clark history. We hit a few of the related sites.

First we stopped at the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn. They had lots of information and even some hands-on exhibits, but my favorite was this 30 foot keelboat made (mostly) the old-fashioned way. It seems the residents of Washburn figured that if Lewis and Clark could make a keelboat out of a cottonwood tree, so could they. I thought they did an impressive job.




The accompanying pictures did make me laugh. They had to locate a cottonwood tree with a straight trunk, at least 30 feet long and 3 feet in diameter. I loved this picture showing the heavy equipment requited to move the 22,300 pound log. You have to wonder how the Corps of Discovery did it.


Then we moved on to the nearby recreated Fort Mandan where the Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1804/1805. It actually looked pretty comfortable.


Oh look! There's Captain Lewis himself.


Finally we visited the Knife River Indian Villages, a National Historic Site, home of the Hidatsa. This is where Lewis and Clark hired Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trader, as an interpreter for the trip. Charbonneau had been living with the Hidatsa where he had taken as his wives Sakakawea and Otter Woman, both Shoshone who had been captured by the Hidatsa years earlier. Lewis and Clark knew a Shoshone interpreter would be valuable at the headwaters of the Missouri and told Charbonneau to bring one of his wives. Charbonneau and Sakakawea moved into the fort where she had her first child two months before the expedition left the fort and headed up the Missouri. It is thought that she was 16 at the time.

I digress, but Sakakawea's story is amazing. Although her feats have been exaggerated in some accounts, just imagining this young girl managing a young baby and her part in the project is just mind boggling.

The Hidatsa lived in round earthlodges in close communities. This recreation was at the visitor center.


They were excellent gardeners - actually the women were. I liked this rake and hoe. (Just ignore my foot in the picture.)


When the earthlodges collapsed, they left circular mounds of earth around hardened, saucer-like floors. Since I didn't have a plane, I'm glad they provided an aerial view.


At ground level, the circles are harder to see.


But we clearly saw the results of archeologist gophers at work. Here are a couple of bones and pottery shards brought up by the enterprising little critters.

International Peace Garden

Since we are taking the northern route (US 2) on our trip back west, I wanted to revisit the International Peace Garden. I had been there in June of 2001 and thought I was a bit early for the best show of flowers. This time I felt I was a bit late going in September. However there was still plenty to see.

The garden sits on the US/Canada border in North Dakota and Manitoba. Dedicated in 1932, it stands as a lovely reminder of the peaceful coexistence between the two nations.

This would be more obvious in a plane, but the countries' border extends from where I'm standing and splits the two sections of the peace tower at the other end of the main garden.


The 18 ft. floral clock was donated by the Bulova Watch company in 1966.


There was lots of color . . .


Including these striking dahlias.


Here we're getting closer to that elusive Peace Tower.


Ah, we made it. The tower is 120 feet or 37 meters tall - you can barely see Ron at the base. The tower was erected in 1982, 50 years after it was planned by an early garden board.


On our walk back, I couldn't resist another picture of the pretty flowers.


I think this two-toned day lily was my favorite.


The Peace Garden is 46 miles north of Rugby where we left the RV during our side trip in the car. Many of the small towns in North Dakota offer free overnight RV parking, sometimes even with hookups. We accepted their hospitality and stayed at the county fairgrounds in Rugby. Then we realized how clever these North Dakotans are. We filled the RV with gas, shopped in the local Pamida (I love those stores,) and had dinner in a local restaurant. It was anything, but free! Just kidding, we appreciate savings anytime.

Rugby is also the geographical center of North America!

By the way, if you go to the International Peace Garden, although the turn into the parking lot is before the Canadian customs booth, you do have to go through US customs when you leave. Of course that would be the opposite coming in from Canada.

Leaving Minnesota

Yesterday we stopped in Crookston, MN, where we saw the World's Largest Ox Cart. These ox carts carried furs and supplies between Pembina and St. Paul from 1842 until the railroad arrived in 1871. Those must have been some big oxen.


In Crookston, we stayed in Central Park where we noticed all the trees had been damaged. At first we thought there were a lot of really bad drivers who had visited the park.

Then we talked to the park attendant who explained the river had flooded last spring and huge trees and ice floes were responsible for the damage. Actually it wasn't the first time, there were older scars too.

Scary to find out you're camping in the area purposely created for flood control. I'm glad we weren't there in the spring!


We moved on to East Grand Forks, MN/Grand Forks, ND, and learned more about flood control. We found this marker that shows several high water marks. The marker itself was about 15-20 feet about the river dividing the two towns.


After the flood of 1997, they finally said enough is enough. Until then, the river had been lined with homes, but after the devastation was cleaned up, the Corps of Engineers came in and built dikes and walls. When the water level reaches a threatening height, the road is closed and removable walls are installed on each side of the bridge. The area between the walls and the river is now all park with a bike path that looked tempting, but we had to move on.


Bear? What bear? I don't see any bear.

Where does a river begin?

What do you think?
1 - the farthest point upstream where the first drop of water flows
2 - the farthest point upstream where the flow and volume first constitute a river
3 - the highest point on the river's watershed

Recently Ron and I went on a quest to find the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The generally accepted beginning is the output of Lake Itasca near Bemidji, Minnesota.

Just outside of Lake Itasca State Park, we saw this tiny stream that is actually the mighty Mississippi - far out!


But we wanted to see the actual headwaters, so we paid the day use fee and entered the park. And here it is! This is the point where water leaves Lake Itasca, becomes the Mississippi River, and begins its 2552 mile trip to the Gulf of Mexico. Surprisingly it's about the width of a two lane road. I guess there's a lot more water flowing through the cattails in the previous picture.

The rocks I'm precariously balanced on are part of a dam constructed in the 1930s by the CCC. A 44 foot long and 7 foot wide concrete piling/rock dam was built to direct the water into a river channel. We were sorry we didn't think to bring our kayaking gear.

Referring back to the question above which was posed in the visitor center, answer #2 seems to be the correct answer.

However that wasn't good enough for us since we thought the answer should be #3 - the highest point in the watershed. Or even #1 - the first trickle of water. So we went looking for another choice.

This is farther upstream where the water flows out of Mary Lake on its way to Lake Itasca. We're calling it our Mississippi headwaters. Of course this is only one of the lakes that flow into Lake Itasca, but we don't worry about details.


I thought this sculpture was striking. It's called Heartwaters-Caretaker Woman. The title refers to the Mississippi Headwaters as the beginning of the Heartwaters of our nation. In Anishinabe (Ojibwe) belief it is the women who are the caretakers of the water. The sculpture is a woman releasing a clutch of turtles. Her flowing hair is like flowing water and the turtles, strong water symbols, also symbolize the cycles of life in Anishinabe belief.


Yikes! There's a bear in the visitor center (panic ensues.)


On our way home, we stopped to say 'hi' to Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe. It looks like Babe has fallen in love with Ron.


We're staying at a forest service campground on Cass Lake and today we took advantage of their beautifully paved bike trail. I know, I know, I said I was never doing it again, but Ron raised my seat and we rode 18 miles and I was FINE! (My apologies to everyone who previously told me I should do that. It took hearing it from a complete stranger for it to sink in. You know how that is.)

The bike path left right from the campground, went across US 2, circled Pike Bay (not sure why that's not a lake), through the town of Cass Lake, and back home. It took us 4 1/2 hours. In our defense, we did stop for lunch at a nice little cafe.

Even with all these lovely lakes, I'm having trouble getting any worthwhile water pictures. However, I was amazed to see this alligator in the river.

You might have to click on it to get a better look.