North Dakota

North Dakota's female highway workers are good-looking.

If you've been following my route or if your geographical and interstate knowledge is to par, you'd assume I went through Fargo just as I entered my 20th state this summer. Unfortunately, I can't find a "clean" clip from the movie with the same name. But I can tell you a funny story.

A few years back I worked with a fellow who was raised 30 miles outside of Brainerd (the main town in Fargo). He told me, as I suspected, the accents are greatly exaggerated for comic effect. I did stop in Fargo and heard no such accent. However, I did stop 30 miles or so into Wisconsin on my way to Minneapolis and everyone I heard had that exact accent!

Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Did you know this park existed? I didn't before I had researched the parks for my trip. Most of the other parks are named either after a feature they display or the area of the country in which they are located. I had no idea what to expect with this park, and for that reason I was pleasantly surprised.

I had left Minnesota. The thermometer in the car wasn't moving down fast enough. It was a long day of boring driving. And after having so much fun in Minneapolis, my spirit was beginning to drain. My original plan was to stop somewhere east of the South Unit of the park (the park is actually broken up into two parks, a North and South Unit), and drive through only the South Unit on my way back to Glacier NP. But as I got close I though, What the heck, I'll see if they have any camping available. Well, they did.

Some Background
Before I get into my stories too much I want to share my thoughts on the park and also bring a new book into play. My wonderful mother purchased T fhe 10 Best of Everything National Parks for me. This hasn't acted as my go-to reference, but it's been fun to look up what list each park makes. After hearing my story, you shouldn't be surprised to learn the campground I stayed at was in the top 10 campgrounds in the country. The funny thing is I had no idea - I hadn't checked prior to being in the park.

Frankly, I didn't expect to be in the park more than two hours. I hadn't heard anything about it and didn't expect much. But when I got to camp in the park, not only did I drive through the South Unit the next day, but I decided to stay two more nights! Yes, it's that cool.

I wasn't sure what I was looking for in this trip (aside from those items I mentioned in the original post). But I think Theodore Roosevelt NP embodied whatever that was. It was quiet, there was sufficient wildlife and no too many visitors.

National Parks are usually packed in the summer - why not this one? Well, first off, nobody in their right minds makes North Dakota a vacation destination. Thus is acts as a pass-through state. But it's not just a pass-through state; it's a pass-through state in the middle of nowhere. And the park isn't close to anything. So for those people on I-94, they're usually looking to get somewhere else and don't want to spend the time here (as my family did on our 1998 trip). And for that reason, the North Unit, which is 50 miles from I-94, is very secluded. Rangers have said a visitor could be the only visitor in that part of the park during the off-season.

Day 6
By the time I awoke on Day 6, I had already decided to stay two more nights. So I went to the check-in board to pay my fee. But I couldn't get there because two horses were blocking the board. There was a child nearby and I assumed he was watching the horses for his dad, but was wondering why he was letting them stand in the middle of the road. And when I drove around later, they were gone. I thought, That's weird, they don't even have saddles on and they aren't tied to anything (this is where a co-worker of mine inserts the correct equine terminology). Then I took off to explore the South Unit.

The South Unit is a 36-mile loop, and it's known for it's wildlife. Just as I began the loop, I came across a Prairie Dog Town. These things are loud! They have this really cool method of communicating to one another to warn of a predator; but they are loud! I could hear them from the campsite at night. I continued on the road and came to this guy, just chillin'.

This park honors Theodore Roosevelt because of the proximity to his ranch as well as his famous phrase, "I would have never been president if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota." He loved the rugged, bad land, ranching life. But if you don't know much about the park, it's geographical features are that of the North Dakota Bad Lands. These are lands believed (more on this later) to have been carved out from the Great Plains by the forces of water. Thus, driving west of I-94 is fascinating because, unlike the mountains, you don't see the bad lands coming. Your in the plains, then your in the bad lands. More on this later. The park also puts much emphasis on Theo's contribution to the cattle industry in the area. Here's a picture of the bad lands with some wild horses in the foreground.

I had climbed out of the car to take this nature trail. It climbed up a hill from where I took the last photo. When I saw these horses it suddenly dawned on me, The horses in the campground were wild horses! Cool! I continued driving and saw this wild horse at two different spots.

I walked the Coal Vein Nature Trail. Now for a short rant. I find geology absolutely fascinating, but never do I accept it as truth, instead a profound theory. There are certain things we know to be true, and others we believe (there's that word again) to be true. One of my biggest problems with the park system is that we meld theory and fact into fact alone. For example, on this nature trail a plaque read since the hills are made of coal, lightening can strike and set the hills on fire. In fact, one of the hills in the park burned from 1951-1977! Visitors came and roasted marshmallows where the hill was burning! And you can see the line today. But it's the sentences like 50 million years ago water began carving out these lands you see today. Maybe they write to save space. I'm wordy though. I would have written it like On July 21, 49,997,89 BCE, water began carving out these bad lands you see today. It doesn't fit - the word believe is important so children understand the difference. Rant over.

Later, I walked the Jones Creek Trail for just a bit. I climbed this rock because it seemed like a good idea. I was to mile 35 when I decided I wasn't going to see a herd of buffalo (that's all I really wanted that day). Then, at the very end of the loop, I saw them; and I stayed around for a few minutes as they decided to cross the Little Missouri River.

The night before, I met two fits-the-stereotype, liberally-medicated, California hippies. One of them had a few great lines while on the cell phone. My two favorite were Buffalo are the elephants of America and No I'm not going to take a photo of a sleep-walking buffalo. But the second night, they were gone, so I provided the music. I went down to the river bank, set up my chair and finger-picked away. I got into one such tune and wasn't paying attention to what was happening around me. When I stopped, I looked up and, not 100 feet away from me, a horse was staring me in the eye. I thought,  Well this is awesome, assuming I don't get killed. He was protecting his friend who was taking a drink from the river. I walked up the hill, put the guitar down, and came back to watch. But as I sat down, the horse approached me and, well, I went back up the hill.

So wildlife makes this campground awesome. As I was talking with my father on the phone on afternoon, two horses came running again, not 100 feet behind me. Right through the campground. Unfortunately, I missed the buffalo who walked through the campground again, not 100 feet from my tent, at 3 a.m. both the first and second night.

Day 7
Yes, that all happened in one day. The second day I went up to the North Unit. This unit is a smaller, 14 mile road that dead ends into an overlook. It is not known for its wildlife but instead for its more vivid colors and deeper valleys. These were all true. I saw a herd of longhorn cattle and one buffalo.

I stopped at a few overlooks. The road dead ends into one such overlook called Oxbow Bend. I found a way to climb down a bit from the overlook, thus out of view of visitors, and played the guitar for a couple hours. Here I also saw my favorite informational sign so far. It reads:

In the spring of 1886 thieves stole Theodore Roosevelt's boat from his Elkhorn Ranch, 25 miles south of here. Roosevelt pursued the thieves past this point and captured them at the mouth of the Cherry Creek about 24 miles downstream. He then marched the thieves overland to Dickinson where they were tried and convicted.

I talked earlier about how the bad lands appear out of nowhere. I wanted to show this as best I could. So here's a photo looking one direction and another looking the other.

I wrapped up in the North Unit and headed back to the South Unit to camp. As I was getting close I decided I had time to do the south loop again, quickly. I did. I saw a pronghorn and near the end, a herd of buffalo blocked my car for about 30 minutes!

If you noticed the sky being dark in that photo, it wasn't because it was late, it was because it was going to storm. Knowing the layout of the land, I figure it was moving south of me. What I didn't realize was the storm was moving north almost as fast as it was moving east. When I got back to camp, may tent had blown away. I left all my sleeping equipment in the tent and it was, therefore, completely soaked (but only the tent was covered in mud). I sat in my car for an hour or so until the worst part of the storm let up. Then, while still raining, I went out and collected my muddy belongings and threw them in the car. The site, originally dirt, was now a mud pool (my canopy was somewhere near the bottom).

Before I left on my trip, my lovely girlfriend said to me, "Now, you may have to sleep in your car for a night or two, but don't worry about that - it's all an adventure." At the time I rolled my eyes and muttered something underneath my breath.

I slept in my car that night in Theo. When I was running around trying to gather my items, I was frustrated. But, by the time I got to my car, I couldn't help but laugh. I thought at the time (seriously), This is one of those stories I'm going to tell for a long time. I still think the highlight was me emptying the water out of my cooler in the pouring rain. I'm positive it had less water in it when I placed it back in the car.

This made me think of another song.

Day 8
That's my Theodore Roosevelt Story. Oh, you're still wondering about the highway workers? Well, on my way to the North Unit, there was much construction. And yes, there were at least 10 in-shape, non-smoking women working (not just holding the slow sign). No, it wasn't Take Your Daughter To Work Day. They were clearly in their mid-twenties and operating heavy machinery.

I was sad to leave the park, but I had to get going. I caught this photo on the way out.

The entire album

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