17 Aug 2022 - (Updated with videos) Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 17 Aug

Today we hopped in the big ol' brown truck with Joe and Kerry Thornell and drove most of the south unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  There is a north unit and a south unit, and a center "Elkhorn Ranch" unit.  We are camping nearest the south unit.  

When I say we drove "most of the south unit", normally this would be a 36 mile loop drive but there is a 12-mile section closed due to severe erosion, so now it is 24 miles out and 24 miles back. The section shown in red below is closed to vehicular and foot traffic.

The day started out fairly clear but overcast moved in.  Overall it was still a very nice day.  Traffic was light and we have a great drive around the south unit.  We stopped at several scenic overlooks and there were buffalo and wild horses spotted along the way. Some pictures:

Some buffalo roaming in the distance!

Prairie Dog's everywhere!!

A buffalo close!  Looks like the dude might be a bit malnourished

 We met a very nice couple from Slater Iowa which is in Story County.  We had a nice talk with them.  It is a small world.  

This whole area is considered the "Badlands" and the Badlands continues on down in to South Dakota.  We visited the South Dakota Badlands in 2017 on our way through there.  So we drove on around to the Badlands Outlook where the road was blocked and then we turned around and headed back.  

What an awesome view!

Road blocked here where we turn around.

Fence posts up to help keep the idiots from driving around the barricades!

The return trip started out not unlike the original trip but there was a surprise around every turn!  

Here are several beautiful wild horses posing for us!!

Another buffalo up close and personal!

Some amazing rock formations.

The first "herd" of buffalo we saw with approximately 100 total.

Video of the first large herd of buffalo we saw

So we were about done, getting ready to turn the corner and head towards the exit.  We had seen quite a few buffalo including the huge herd shown above and some wild horses,  when all of a sudden a massive herd of buffalo crossed the road right in front of us!  We stopped to admire them from the truck and it was almost indescribable!!  There had to be at least 200 or more there.  The park ranger pulled along side us and actually told us to turn towards them.  Yeah, not so much dude!

The second herd.  MASSIVE!  

You Tube video of this huge herd just in front of our truck!!

They were so close!

A calf in the herd

This was awesome!

So it was a great day in the park!  We returned to the campground and then had dinner with the Thornell's at their camper this evening.  It is so great to talk with them and share experiences in our careers!

Tomorrow we plan to explore the downtown Madora area and then tomorrow evening we all have tickets for the iconic "Pitchfork Steak Fondue" dinner.  More about that later!  A few more random pictured from today:

Joe and Kerry's son works for Jack Link's Jerky company and Joe gave me a few samples!  Yum!

A Conestoga Wagon that you can camp in here.

Our Alliance Paradigm on the right with some scenery in the background.