A Tale of Two Chemists: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Sunday 4th - Tuesday 6th June 2023

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was one of our primary destinations for this trip. We had read in National Geographic that half of all North American ducks nest in North Dakota and for some reason we assumed that the park would be full of ponds. In this respect we couldn’t have been more wrong - the park is actually a mixture of prairie grasslands and bad land topography, with the Little Missouri River flowing through. There are two sections (north and south) that are separated by about 50 miles. There is also an area in the middle where Theodore Roosevelt had his ranch, but apparently no buildings remain. The park was created in 1947 to preserve the outstanding landscapes and in particular the prairie grasslands that are greatly under threat. We read in the park that prairie grasslands support the second highest level of biodiversity after the rainforests, but 70% of this land in the USA has been destroyed. The majority (60%) has been turned over to agriculture and some (10%) replaced with building developments of one sort or another. What is more disturbing is that the remaining 30% is in small, fragmented parcels that no longer functions in the way that the original grasslands used to. The park was dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt because of his contribution to conservation in general and the establishment of the National Park system. He also spent time in North Dakota on a ranch and viewed that experience as instrumental in shaping his life and preparing him for the challenges he faced as a leader. (If an appropriate “honor” is applied to our previous president we might in due course anticipate the renaming of the West Palm Beach sewage treatment plant … or possibly a federal penitentiary … but now I’m letting my optimism get away from me!)

The National Park campsites were full but we were able to book a campsite at Sully Creek State Park just two miles away from the southern entrance. This was a beautiful site with contrasting pit toilets and hot water showers. It was a spacious, flat and private site with good shade, picnic table, fire ring and views of the cliffs behind. The only disadvantage was that it was really hot whilst we were there (85-90oF) and bugs were quite formidable. The campground is right on the banks of the river and one particularly nice aspect is that they have an area dedicated to horse camping and we could see and hear some animals. There is a 144 mile trail called the “Maah Daah Hey” trail for hikers, bikers and horses, that runs through Sully Creek and the south unit of the national Park all the way up to the North unit. We think Tasha and Mac should do this with their horses Chinle and Kayenta once they are broken in.

After we got our tent set up, we spent a few hours exploring the south unit. Not only was it really hot, but also humid and shortly after we set out a series of thunderstorms rolled through. They didn’t cause too much of a problem and had passed by the time we returned to camp. On our first full day we hiked in the petrified forest wilderness area of the south unit and explored the scenic drive. The scenery was beautiful and started to appreciate the motivation for creating the park. We were also thrilled to see several herds of bison, up close and personal as well as herds of wild (feral) horses. On the second day we drove 70 miles up to the north unit of the park and spent several hours hiking the Caprock Coulee trail, which was really lovely. Although it was only 4.5 miles we were a little nervous setting out because it was so hot, but there was some shade on the early part of the walk and it turned out be a really delightful walk.

As we end this section of our trip my mind has switched gear to future explorations. I am very keen to return to several of the places we have visited to see what they are like in the winter. This has received a mixed reception from Gloria that has evolved from “you have to be f-ing joking” to, on the positive side: "well there wouldn’t be so many bugs” … and on the negative side: “what would we do all day?” I’ll have to keep working on that one! As for now, we are currently outside Chicago on a 4-day, 1900 mile drive back home, with three overnight stops at AirBNB. I think we will hopefully post one more blog on reflections of our trip before we sign off for the time being.

Mike

A thunderstorm passes over the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

A view of the Little Missouri river from the Wind Canyon trail

Amazing cacti flowers ... the challenge with taking these photos was that bees kept diving into the flowers for nectar!

Cactus flower close up ... yellow pollen everywhere!

Petrified wood acting as cap-stones above the bad lands cliffs

The trail through prairie grasslands ... we saw Bobolinks and grasshopper sparrows

A large herd of bison - composed mostly of cows, calves and young males. We think the mature bulls were mostly off on their own

Bison cow and calf

Bison - loosing its winter coat

Bison portrait - these animals are large, moody, unpredictable and can run 3 x faster than a human. I took these shots using a long lens, in this case from inside the car!