June 28

Again, sorry for the one-day delay. Some hotels do not have enough voltage behind their WiFi to make it work. So, today is the 29th, but I will add my comments for the 28th at this point.

I lost track of the number of oil well pumping rigs as I drove west on ND 200. A couple decades ago this place became the next “Gold Rush”, but as Jed Clampett said, in Texas Tea, not Au. At least the oil companies cannot put their rigs in Theodore Roosevelt NP. I arrived at the north unit’s VC at 9:15 AM. The park website said the VC is open every day, at 9 AM. Some other folks were already standing around. We all seemed to have the same idea; get into the park and check back on the way out. There is a small campground area, but about the only thing to do in the north unit is to drive the 14-mile park road. The first section goes through what I like to call elephant feet ground. The slopes from the mesa tops to the road level look like the feet on gigantic elephants. Different geological eras are easily seen in the rock, with different colors of sediment, broken by dark demarcation lines. The bottom layers go back 50 million years, or after the dinosaurs. A sign said there could be dinosaur bones buried farther beneath these visible layers, but no one is going to go digging. There are plenty of dinosaur remains down in South Dakota, near Badlands NP, to keep scientists busy.

The main attraction on this road is the chance to see a large Bison herd. Yes, they were out and about. A few loners were here and there, but the main group was at the tail end of the road. Since it is not wise to approach these animals, us humans were hoping our cameras had sufficient telescoping power. Some turnouts on the road allowed people to view the Little Missouri River. I did see a couple hikers starting on the two available trails.

A short drive along some of North Dakota’s finest farmland had me at Fort Union Trading Post. From 1828 to 1867 this was the place to be in the upper Missouri corridor. All of the Nothern Plains tribes came here to trade with the Northwest Company. Beaver furs, bison hides, and the furs of other animals were sent back east, while the Indians received guns, metal devices, and other European goods. There were no hostilities, everyone keeping the peace. Lewis and Clark had rowed by this area back in 1804. The joining of two great rivers, the Missouri and the Yellowstone, made for a logical location for a trading hub to be developed. Eventually, the creation of Montana as a state required the boundary with North Dakota to split the land where the fort was built. Today, the park’s parking lot and western ground is in Montana, while the recreated fort sits in North Dakota. I first visited this park in 1989. At that time the NPS had just started digging the trenches in which the fort’s wall pillars would be set. Great to see the end result.

With the fort being only a few yards from the Missouri River, the resident mosquito population felt it appropriate to introduce itself. A group of eight youngsters were having the worse time, complaining to the three women who were leading them. A brisk walk around the interior and exterior of the fort was sufficient to minimize the impact.