We left Glacier National Park and cut across Montana on back roads. There are no short cuts across this big
state and gas stations can be more than 100 miles apart. By the time we arrived at the
first-come-first-serve campground at Theodore
Roosevelt National
Park, the rain was torrential. A sign at the entrance said that the
campground had limited space and we saw cars leaving as we drove in – not a
good sign. But it was for us, as those were tenters fleeing the deluge and
flooded campsites. Since pooled water doesn’t bother a trailer, we ended up
with a nice pull-through campsite. The skies cleared by morning and we headed
for the visitor center.
On the way, we saw …
Two
buffalo, two buffalo, buffalo on the lawn
Just
rompin’ all around and stompin’ on the ground
And
all of the grass was gone.
Well the grass wasn’t really gone and there were lots of
bison, but we did end up singing all the verses of this song that Barbara’s
family heard growing up.
One
hundred and twenty eight buffalah
Man
there’s enough of the
Buffalo on the lawn
Just
rompin’ all around and stompin’ on the ground
And
all of the grass was gone. *
And we also saw prairie dogs.
There are fields filled with little prairie dog
“houses.” It’s lots of fun to watch
them. We would have liked to see some
other wildlife like elk or mule deer, but our one little attempt at a hike was
blocked by this guy in the middle of the trail.
We decided to abort our hike and give him a little space.
The terrain is interesting – Roosevelt said, "I grow very fond of this place, and it certainly has a desolate, grim
beauty of its own, that has a curious fascination for me." It resembles the Badlands with its strata
of eroded sediment, but it had some green vegetation too.
The park commemorates Theodore Roosevelt’s time here
hunting, raising cattle, mourning the death of his wife and mother, and shaping
his views on natural resources. We went
on a ranger-led tour of Theodore Roosevelt’s hunting cabin.
After our morning exploring the park, we grabbed lunch and
headed east. 2000 miles to go...
* Adapted from TWO BUFFALO by Rolf Harris, which at the time of this post could be found here.
