A Visit to the Ranch in Montana

For several years a cousin in Virginia has told us about the great summers they spend at her brother John’s ranch, where she grew up in Eastern Montana, and invited us to visit if we’re passing through on I-90.  It never worked out until Summer 2014 when we emailed that we’d be passing in a week or so and would they still be there?  A return email came quickly and invited us to join them and they even had planned a parking place and an electric plugin for our Sprinter RV at the ranch headquarters.  Definitely couldn’t say no to that! 

So, a week later we turned off I-90 and drove through Miles City, the commercial supply town for the whole area, crossed the Yellowstone River and headed past a few farms and ranches on a paved two lane road about 20 miles until we reached the landmark we’d been told in the email.  We turned onto a good gravel road, heading west about 10 miles to the ranch.   We passed through high Montana prairie, a few good-sized hills and many rocky buttes.  When we came to the top of a hill, an iron ranch sign told us we’d made it and we turned down toward the house, where we were met by a very excited dog carrying a stick in his mouth!  Shortly my cousin came out and showed us where to park and hook up to electric, then we were off to meet her brother John and his wife, Linda.  Everyone was very cordial and pleased that we’d come.  We got a quick tour of the house, the corrals and barn then were invited for dinner.

We really enjoyed getting to know this family and learn about their ranching and farming work.  They have two large family ranches with two of their adult children living on the other ranch several miles away.  My cousin has told me a lot about her childhood on the ranch and her family history here is fascinating.    John’s Irish father came to Montana in 1923 and was originally a sheepherder herding other ranchers’ sheep.   He married the schoolteacher (the daughter of an Italian-born coal miner) at the local one room schoolhouse in 1937 and in 1938, they bought their first land and he was now able to graze his own sheep on his own land!  Quite an achievement in those years of the Depression, when many farmers and ranchers in Montana and elsewhere were going broke and moving off the land!

The ranch started with the purchase of a half section homestead where John’s father had been a hired hand in 1930 and where the couple lived in a sheepherder wagon with their infant son.  They then bought a full section (640 acres or one square mile) homestead and moved into a homestead shack.  This became the original ranch where John and my cousin were raised.  On the original ranch, they had about 150 cows and 2000 ewe sheep so in summer that increased with newborns to 300 cows and 4500 ewes and lambs!   

 

Dogs are guarding the huge flocks of sheep

They also grew wheat and hay but their income mostly came from sheep and wool.  Their ranches have expanded and now comprise 60 sections--60 square miles—plus several more leased BLM and railroad sections of land!  Most of the land is above 2500’ altitude.  They now have 450 cows and 400 ewes plus bulls and buck sheep for breeding along with horses.  Today, for getting around this huge ranch, pickups, SUVs and small 4WD utility vehicles are replacing the horses.  And that dog with his stick, sure loves to jump in and ride along on a new adventure!

The Angus beef with the ranch's brand and more sheep and one of the Guard Dogs

Roughly 5000 acres are under cultivation with the rest virgin prairie and hills.  Their dry farming crops include corn, wheat, sunflowers, safflower and hay.  The grazing sheep are guarded 24/7 by several guard dogs that are wild and not interested in contact with humans.  When supplemental feed is dropped off for them, the dogs are very wary and won’t come close.  They are able to defend the herd against most predators unless the sheep become too spread out.  There are many wild animals living on the ranches.   

We saw a number of different birds including sage hens, loggerhead shrikes, hawks, golden eagles plus groups of pronghorn, whitetail deer and the bigger mule deer.  Owls are common and they see beautiful snowy owls in winter!   Rodents of all kinds are seen often including pack rats and mice.  Badgers, skunks and porcupines also occur.  Predators include a few bobcat, coyotes, hawks and golden eagles.   

Pronghorn Antelopes and a Sage Hen

Golden Eagle in flight

Wolves were around in the 1900s but those packs were eradicated.  Recently introduced wolves in western Montana have not migrated east yet.   Prairie dogs also make their home here and there is a large prairie dog town west of the ranch.  Areas with prairie dog towns become barren quickly since the “dogs” eat all the vegetation then move on to new territory.  John tries to discourage prairie dogs on the ranch since it takes decades for the land to recover after a prairie dog town is abandoned. They see some elk moving east, probably to escape wolf predation in western Montana.  There are no bears in this part of Montana.  Grasshoppers are still a problem and ranchers have crop dusters spray to control them now, but in the 1950s there were terrible grasshopper invasions that flew in huge clouds and ate every living plant devastating huge areas!

On our second day, John took us on a tour and showed us a lot of the ranch lands, structures and stock ponds, some with his solar-powered wells. 




The history here goes back to the Native Americans when we walked to old Indian tepee circles in the Buffalo Camp area that has large high rocky outcrops which you can certainly imagine as a perfect hide for hunting or protection. 

Stones left from an Indian Tepee ring

Surface coal veins visible in the landscape

There are many surface coal veins in several areas and no doubt the Indians and later, the settlers, used this resource for fuel.   Early settlers built a rock-sided dugout cabin in one area many years back but today only overgrown partial rock walls remain.   

Remains of a rock-sided dugout cabin

Man made graffiti and natural erosion on the rocks

We also visited the one room schoolhouse that John and his sister attended with other neighboring ranch kids which is on their property.  It was still in use until about 10 years ago when they ran out of ranch children to teach!   The teachers in these country schools changed every couple years because the government felt the kids needed to be exposed to different teachers and different styles of teaching.   

The school building is still in relatively good shape with a good roof and inside, the student’s desks, blackboards, an American flag, the teacher’s desk and award ribbons from Rosebud Treasure County Fair competitions are all still in place.  The cover of the January 1, 2001 Newsweek magazine with a full page photograph of newly elected President George W. Bush is pinned to the school bulletin board!   We studied a colorful NASA poster of space shuttle mission shoulder patches through Atlantis in 1997!       A time capsule, for sure!   

Blazing Star wildflowers

High school for the ranch kids was in Miles City and if college was in the cards, it meant a move to Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman or even Colorado.  Church was either in Miles City or Jordan when ranch work and weather allowed.  Winters are tough here but not as bad as in the 1970s.  Eastern Montana is still in a long term drought—very cold but less snowfall than in the past.  One local story is that an ice jam in the Yellowstone River running through Miles City was flooding the town so badly in wartime 1943,that the Army Air Corps bombed the river to break up the ice!  Ranch family life, according to my cousin, was being together as the norm in ranch families, normally eating all 3 meals together and socializing in the evening with family talk, radio and TV.  More people lived in the nearby communities in years past than now and neighbors visited more often.  There were 4H meetings, school activities, community dances, Homemaker Club and just friends dropping in for a visit.  The nearest store and gas station was about 15 miles away and the owner was also a mechanic and TV repairman.  The community hall was across from the store with hardwood floors for dancing, a stage, upright piano, benches and pot belly stove.  Dances, parties, community plays, meetings and elections were all held here. Unfortunately, that facility was torn down in the 70s.

My cousin told us a little about her childhood on the ranch and I was curious about her duties.  She was the only daughter with two brothers.  Many girls of her age were encouraged to ride horseback and work on the family ranch.  Her father was “old school” and didn’t want women to work alongside men in the fields or work with livestock so her duties were purely domestic.  Even though her parents admired other female ranchers, they didn’t want it for her.   When she wasn’t in school, she helped her mother with all the work around the house.  That included house cleaning, cooking, laundry and yard work including the vegetable garden.  She churned cream for butter, made lard from pork fat, butchered chickens, canned fruit, vegetables, fruit and pickles and sewed everything from clothes to lambing jackets that kept newborn lambs warm.  Things have changed in their lifetime since now John’s daughter does much of the ranch livestock work!  

Going into town, meaning any of the 3 nearby towns, for the children was a rare and exciting occasion usually less than 10 times a year for shopping, church, the County Fair and 4H activities.  Her dad went to Miles City more often to buy parts for ranch equipment and to sell calves and lambs.  A trip to Billings to see family was a once a year highlight and extended family came to the ranch on occasion. The big social event of the year for the ranchers here was the County Fair where the kids exhibited 4H and school projects and the family attended the rodeo, enjoyed the carnival and were reunited with old friends from around the area.  The other big activity is the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale, which originated from the sale of wild horses to the U.S. Cavalry at Fort Keogh in Miles City.  Later it became a rodeo and also a sale for rodeo stock. Unbroken horses were ridden by volunteer riders and rodeo promoters would buy these bucking horses.  Now it is primarily a big rodeo and the ranch families still look forward to it all year!

 

Miles City was founded in 1876 and was a lot like Billings in the 1920s in population and industry.  But Miles City lost its feed lots and an oil refinery in the mid-1930s and a decline set in.  A state college was planned in Miles City but it was rejected by the city and the college went to Billings.  Miles City now has a community college. There is a VA Hospital in Miles City and a general hospital but Billings now has a more extensive hospital operation.  The coming of the Interstate Highway (I-90) and Walmart’s location in Miles City has diminished local shopping opportunities and moved them to the larger shopping centers of Billings.  Miles City’s population has increased considerably because of an oil boom in the last decade.  A couple of fracking companies have built large facilities in Miles City bringing in many new workers and their families.  The city is also benefitting from the huge Bakken fracking operations in nearby North Dakota and real estate in Miles City has become much more expensive.  There are several good museums in Miles—the Range Rider Museum is an Old West museum focusing on cattle ranching and the WaterWorks Art Museum contains work by many of the premiere artists of the country. We plan on visiting both in the future.


 

There are several reservoirs on the ranch and the remains of a sheepherder's wagon used as a dwelling

Birds flying over one of the reservoirs

I asked my cousin what a “Day on the Ranch” was like and the difference in work by the season of the year.  Here’s the program!

“Spring---Farming—seeding spring wheat, barley and other crops.  Livestock—lambing happens in April and requires constant watching (John is the “night man”) ewes who are ready to lamb, helping if necessary, segregating newborn lambs, castrating and docking their tails and gradually integrating them and their moms back into the herd.  Heifers give birth to their first calves in March and have to be carefully monitored.  Cows calve pretty much on their own in April.  Then the herds have to be dispersed to their summer pastures.

Summer—Farming—As weeds grow up in the summer fallow, the fields are sprayed, probably 3-4 times.  Custom combiners are hired for August wheat harvest and any other crops that are ready.  In July, hay is cut, baled and stacked for winter feed. 

Livestock--Cows and calves are gathered and calves are “worked”—branded, castrated and vaccinated.  Close monitoring of pastures for water, grazing and predators.  Herds are moved from pasture to pasture as grass is grazed.  Bulls are turned in with the cows for six weeks and then gathered back up away from the cows.  Lambs and calves are contracted to be sold usually during the summer months.  Any improvements such as well drilling, fencing, construction have to be done during good weather.  Fences have to be examined and repaired.

Fall—Farming—Seed winter wheat, final spraying for weeds, harvest corn.  Livestock—Bucks are turned in with ewes.  Calves and lambs are weaned and sold, keeping back some heifers and ewe lambs to replenish the herd.  Dry ewes are sold.  Cows are pregnancy tested and dry cows are sold.  Equipment is winterized.  Herds are brought close to home for winter.

Winter—In addition to feeding the livestock daily, equipment is tuned up and repaired in the shop.”

There are two Indian reservations south of Miles City for the Crow and Cheyenne tribes.  The tribes are the poorest people living in Montana and according to my cousin, this is not because of lack of resources, but because of their social system. They are mostly dependent on Federal Government payments and have little work.  Alcoholism and drug addiction is rampant.  My cousin’s high school played against an Indian high school in sports and Cheyenne kids were 4H members so they knew each other and she is sad that many talented Indian kids she knew in grade and high school had no goals in life and frequently became addicted.

The geology of the land here is fascinating.  There are many hills and rock outcroppings, frequently with surface coal veins. Sandstone, mudstone, siltstone are all common rock types.  The most distinctive area we saw was Buffalo Camp with relatively high rocky hillsides, an area of old pioneer names and initials carved into the sandstone hillsides and sagebrush, cactus, yucca and grassy areas.  One hillside had many examples of small 1” diameter cannonball concretions—perfect iron balls like shot, but natural-- tunneled into the sandstone similar to the ones we saw in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota, only much smaller.   Despite the large area of the ranch’s land, there are many areas that are unusable for farming because of geology, steep hills, the soil, surface water and other factors. 

Thanks to a Montana Dept. of Transportation highway rest stop west of Miles City, we photographed a geologic history sign which

I have condensed here.  “65 million years ago (the late Cretaceous period), the inland sea receded as the Rocky Mountains rose, pushing the shoreline further east.  Great rivers meandered through the coastal plain in a warm and humid climate depositing sediment now known as the Hell Creek Formation.  Tan sandstones, siltstones and mudstones are common. Dinosaur fossils are also common. Triceratops, a massive Hadrosaur, Tyranosaurus Rex and several other dinosaur species fossils have been found, contributing to scientific knowledge of dinosaurs.  There is also evidence that a great meteorite or asteroid struck the earth about

65 million years ago nearby.  It may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs or it hastened their path to extinction.”  John told me that he thinks there are dinosaur fossils on the ranch but hasn’t yet found them!  

Visiting the ranch was a great experience for us!  We wish we could have stayed longer and learned more about this operation and this part of the country. As city dwellers (city slickers?), we have a lot to learn but we certainly admire the many years this family has lived on the land and with their hard work, carved out a good living and healthy lifestyle.  We’d love to return some day! 

The Rest of the Story--Homesteading!

Homesteading in Montana—Montana was the most heavily homesteaded state in the U.S.!   Most of the ranches in John’s area were originally homesteaded.  152 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the original “Homestead Act of 1862” after the Southern states seceded from the Union, allotting 160 acres of surveyed government land to heads of families over 21 years of age and a U.S. citizen or an alien who had filed for citizenship.  They also could not have borne arms against the United States Government or given aid to its enemies. Homesteaders included newly arrived immigrants, Eastern farmers without their own land, young couples, single women and former slaves!   After 5 years living on the land, digging a well, building a house of required size, putting in fences and cultivating at least 20 acres and “proving up,” you received the title.  The purpose of the act was to encourage immigrants to become permanent settlers and populate the West.  The “Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909” increased the acreage from 160 to 320 acres—a half section.   In 1912, the waiting period was decreased to only 3 years and allowed an absence from the land for up to 5 months per year.  The first homestead in Montana was filed on 1 August 1868 near Helena, MT.  The first woman to homestead in Montana, Margaret Maccumber, filed in September 1870.  Montana homesteading began in earnest in the early 1900s.  The Homestead Act was finally repealed in 1976 except in Alaska where it still existed until 1986!  270 million acres or 1/6^th of the U.S. land area was claimed and settled under the Homestead Act!

“Proving Up” your Homestead—at the end of your 5 years (later only 3 years) you had to complete a “Proving Up” form.  You needed to prove the required improvements had been made by having two neighbors swear:  that they’d known you for 5 years; that you are a U.S. citizen and head of household; that you lived on and farmed the land claimed for all 5 years and that you had built a house on the land and what kind of house it was. After getting your witnesses’ signatures, you submitted the form to the nearest Government Land Office and soon received your patent certificate signed by the President of the United States then you could record your deed with the county register of deeds.  Your monetary cost for your land would be a total $18 in filing fees!  The news of the “free land” spread quickly throughout the United States as well as Europe and many other countries, and brought many people looking for good land and a better life.

The Great Depression in Montana-- Between 1900 and 1909 a flood of new immigrants settled in Montana.  Between 1909 and 1919, 82,000 homesteaders came to Montana alone!  This boom happened across the West but more people homesteaded in Montana than anywhere else!   World War I increased demand for wheat and prices went up.  But In 1917 there was no rain and grasshoppers, cutworms and grass fires caused great damage.  Drought plus 100-110 degree temperatures and hot winds made life miserable.  Then a Depression in 1917-19 caused many homesteaders to move on.  By 1920 over 11,000 farms were abandoned.  Between 1920-26, half of Montana’s banks failed due to bad farm loans!  Montana had the highest bankruptcy rates in the U.S. during the 1930s--the years of the Great Depression.

Visiting Teddy in Medora, ND!

8/1-4/2014   Theodore Roosevelt National Park has been high on our “to do” list for years but because of lack of time or bad weather, we never got there.  This trip, we dedicated nearly 4 days to explore the Park thoroughly.  The Park is 130 miles west of Bismarck, ND on I-94 and 24 miles east of the Montana state border. The Park has 3 separate units—the South Unit, on I-94 at Medora, ND, the Elkhorn Ranch, in the middle between the North and South Units, reached by a rough 4WD road then a hike into Roosevelt’s former home ranch area and the North Unit, 18 miles east on I-94 then 50 miles north on U.S. Route 85.  Altogether the Park includes 70,446 acres (110 square miles) of western North Dakota badlands!  When referring to the Park in this post, we’ll abbreviate it TRNP.

Little Missouri River

The Park is all Badlands country similar to Badlands National Park in South Dakota but higher with extensive juniper forests and much grassier with the Little Missouri River (which is actually pretty big!) running through the entire park.   The Theodore Roosevelt National Park color brochure on Badlands---“Though at first glance, this landscape appears inhospitable and barren, it is home to a great variety of creatures and plants.  Rainfall, scanty as it is, nourishes the grasses that cover the land.  When the wildflowers bloom in bright profusion, they add their vibrant colors to the reds, browns, and greens of earth and grass.  At home here, too, are nearly 200 species of birds, many of which are songbirds. We can thrill to their songs today as much as Roosevelt did.” 

Teddy Roosevelt—the Man and  “The Conservation President” in North Dakota---TR--“I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in South Dakota.”   Park color brochure---“Roosevelt first came to the badlands in September 1883.  Before returning home to New York, he became interested in the cattle business and joined two other men as partners in the Maltese Cross Ranch. The next year he returned and established a second open range ranch, the Elkhorn, as his own operation while continuing as a Maltese Cross partner.  The Elkhorn became his principal residence, a place where he could lead the “strenuous life” that he loved.  The prospect of big game hunting had initially brought Roosevelt to the West.  But when he arrived, the last large herds of bison were gone, having been decimated by hide hunters and disease.  By spending time in the Dakota Territory, he became alarmed by the damage that was being done to the land and its wildlife.  He witnessed the destruction of some big game species. 

Overgrazing destroyed the grasslands and with them the habitats for small mammals and songbirds.  Conservation increasingly became one of Roosevelt’s major concerns.  When he became President in 1901, Roosevelt pursued this interest in natural history by establishing the U.S. Forest Service and by signing the 1906 Antiquities Act under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments.  He also got Congressional approval for the establishment of five national parks and 51 wildlife refuges and set aside land as national forests.”   During his Presidency, Theodore Roosevelt set aside more than 230 million acres of land in National Forests, National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges!       

Park History—Theodore Roosevelt died suddenly of an embolism in January 1919.   Because of his popularity and conservation ideals, in 1935 a portion of the North Dakota Badlands was dedicated as “Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area.”  In 1946 the land became the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge.  President Truman declared the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park in 1947.  The North Unit was added in 1948. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter gave the Park its final and current name—Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The entire Park is surrounded with a 7 foot tall woven wire fence to keep the bison and feral horses inside the Park and livestock out.  The Park gets over ½ million visitors per year.  

Painted Canyon Visitor Center—heading west on I-94, you’ll see the Painted Canyon Visitor Center at Exit 32, about 8 miles east of Medora.  This Visitor Center is mostly about the terrific badland panoramic view from its adjacent overlook.  The rangers here don’t have Park brochures or Park newspapers!   The view is great and they do have restrooms as well as the ubiquitous gift shop!  No fee here. 

Medora Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau & the Town of Medora —taking exit 24 off I-94 will take you into Medora and if you need supplies, this is the place!  Medora has a Wild West motif going on with most of its buildings throughout the town, inspired by its founding in 1883. The commercial area of Medora has wooden plank boardwalks.  The first dude ranch in the United States entertaining East Coast visitors, the Custer Trail Ranch, was also founded here in 1883. It’s always been a cattle town and in 1896, it became the county seat of Billings County, ND and Medora is the only incorporated town in the County.  During the 1920s-1940s, 3 large coal mines existed in the area.  From 1934-1941, the CCC (FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps) built much of the infrastructure of the Park as well as restoring and landscaping the 128 acre Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, the former home of the town’s founder in Medora.   

Today, tourism is the big industry with the Park bringing in many visitors as well as the town’s full event and entertainment  schedule in the summer.  The 2012 County population was 905 people.   There’s a drugstore, many gift shops, the Convenience Store and gas station, candy stores, coffee shops, western stores, tickets for the Medora Musical (we didn’t go), tickets for Joe Wiegand’s terrific one hour reprisal performance as President Theodore Roosevelt (we went & definitely recommend this!), general stores, an old time photo store, 3 churches plus lots of hotels & motels (23 by my count!), 7 saloons and 20 places to eat!!    The Medora Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce is at the Billings County Museum with brochures on many of the town’s facilities and events. 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Medora Visitor Center --is at the northwest end of the town of Medora inside the Park gate, where you either pay $10 per vehicle for up to 7 days admission or show your Park Pass (aka Old Folks Card!)  Either way, you’ll receive the Park brochure and newspaper there.    This Visitor Center has a very good introductory movie and an excellent museum exploring the life of Teddy Roosevelt in this area with personal and ranching artifacts as well as interpreting the natural features of the Park.  The restored Maltese Cross Ranch Cabin is located behind the Visitor Center but was not open while we were there.    

Maltese Cross Ranch Cabin

Meeting Teddy!   After getting in the Park gate and finding and paying for our site at the Park’s Cottonwood campground, we went back out to Medora to buy our tickets for the 3:30 PM performance of Joe Wiegand’s “A Theodore Roosevelt Salute to Medora”. The Medora 2014 Guide comments "Theodore Roosevelt comes alive in this vivid and rousing presentation.  Learn about Theodore Roosevelt as a President, husband, father, soldier, hunter and Badlands rancher.  Joe has performed this role nationally, including a White House performance for President George W. Bush.” 

We’ve seen a number of re-enactors over the years but this performance was the best ever!  Joe Wiegand looked the part, his movement and gestures were genuine, the stage was set with believable props like a mounted deer head and a mounted sage grouse, and the stories were right out of the history books with a great deal of humor and personalization for our particular audience.   At the end of his presentation “Teddy” told the story that a company was making new children’s toys named after him called “Teddy Bears” and he picked up one off the bookshelf and walked into the audience and presented it to a young girl with Down’s Syndrome—what a wonderful moment!   Then he walked out the front door and shook hands and talked with each of us as we exited!  Since he had confided that he much preferred his military title of “Colonel” over “Mr. President” we made it a point to say “Bully, Colonel, Bully!!”  Our photographs should convey the fun and educational value of this experience!  $10 a head and worth every penny!  

We called this outcropping "the Horny Toad"

Cottonwood Campground—we drove back to the South Unit Cottonwood campground and got set up.  The campground is attractive with 64 RV/tent sites with many pullthroughs ranging from car size to a large motorhome length.    There are no hookups and no hot showers but several bathrooms.  There is no RV dump site in this campground, amazingly!  The campground can fill up in the summer season.  We attended an evening ranger program called “Biological Bad Boys” that was interesting.  The Bad Boys included rattlesnakes, black widow spiders and even prairie dogs!   Fees--- $10 night or $5 with Old Folks Card!        

South Unit 36 Mile Scenic Loop Drive—we did the scenic drive twice on different days and spent about ½ day each time, starting relatively early in the morning.  Primarily, we saw bison, deer, wild horses, prairie dogs and magpies.  Starting at the campground, you’ll see the first Prairie Dog Town, Peaceful Valley and its horse ranch (dating back to the 1880s) and riding stables, another Prairie Dog town, a hilly area where the road turns SE where we saw the wild horses twice, much more badlands  where you’ll likely see bison in several areas, then the side road up to the Coal Vein trail, a Badlands Overlook, the Scoria Point Overlook where you’ll see reddish capped hills from former coal vein fires then you’re back to Cottonwood Campground.   At least 5 trailheads branch off the road in different areas. 

Horses drinking at Pleasant Valley Ranch

Magpie

Animals in the Park—There are Elk, Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Pronghorn, White-Tailed Deer, Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, Badgers, Feral  Horses, Longhorn Steers and Birds of Prey (eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, owls and vultures) in the Park. We saw bison, both mule and white-tailed deer, lots of prairie dogs, “wild” horses, longhorns, a wild turkey, magpies, a number of sage grouse and some turkey vultures.  Prairie rattlesnakes (the only venomous snake in the Park) are certainly present but we didn’t see any. 

Mule Deer

Sage Hen

Prairie Dog Towns—Prairie Dogs are one of our favorite animals and it is fascinating to sit in your vehicle and watch them interact with each other, whistle warning cries, eat grasses and race around between burrows.  Prairie dog “towns” refer to the hundreds of mounds of earth that are the entrances or exits of their burrows.  Black tailed prairie dogs are the species seen in TRNP.  There are 6 “towns” in the south Unit and at least 2 in the North Unit.  They are a critical part of the food chain for many other animals—coyotes, badgers, eagles and hawks.  Prairie dogs are considered “varmints” by ranchers since they fear their cattle stumbling into a prairie dog mound tunnel and breaking a leg.  Many scientists think they play a more positive role in turning over the soil with their active digging.  

Bison—there are many fewer bison in TRNP than in Badlands NP or in Yellowstone NP, despite its lush spring and summer grasses.  We saw herds of bison in several places in the South Unit but not as many in the North Unit.   We were there in the rut season when the bulls are aggressively pursuing the females following them around and sniffing and waiting impatiently for an opportunity for “coitus” as Sheldon says on the Big Bang Theory TV show!!   The other favorite activity is dusting!  Anywhere bison congregate, there is a bare area when they roll around, presumably to dislodge ticks or other pests.  One large bull presented the opportunity to take a whole series of 20 photographs of his heroic dusting!  It’s amazing to watch a large wild animal roll around happily (?) punctuated with lots of grunts!  There were quite a few calves this year too; always fun to watch!  

 Short video of Buffalo Dusting

Wild Horses—TRNP South Unit has several groups of wild horses, each led by a stallion, that are free to roam the Park.  Running up hillsides, and grazing, they appear to be in excellent condition and typify the old West.   There is one particularly majestic white stallion that leads one group!  These horses are considered feral since they are descendants of domestic stock.  Teddy Roosevelt was said to be fond of the wild horses in this area! 

The white stallion

Coal Vein Trail—This trail is only 8/10ths mile but it is very narrow walking through waist high sweet clover grass, up and down hillsides and up to one peak with several species of juniper trees.  From 1951-1977 a fire burned in a coal seam here baking the clay and sand converting them into a material called “scoria” that is a rusty brown color.  At the time of our visit, there were 3 coal vein fires burning underground in the North Unit and those areas and trails were closed to visitors.  Coal vein fires burn at temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—a temperature hot enough to melt rock!  There are many visible coal seams—black horizontal deposits of lignite coal—throughout TRNP.   

Fields of sweet clover everywhere--the bison love it!

North to the North Unit—Leaving the South Unit of TRNP and driving into Medora and then east on I-94 18 miles to U.S. Route 85 at the town of Belfield.  Then it’s 50+ miles north on Route 85 through farm and ranching country and a number of oil and gas wells to the turnoff to the North Unit of TRNP.  

North Unit Visitor Center At this time, the former Visitor Center is out of commission (foundation sinking and breaking up!) and replaced temporarily by the small old ranger station close to the campground.  It’s actually quite personal with only one ranger or sometimes an SCA (Student Conservation Association) volunteer intern.  They have a small room for a different introductory movie as well as a few exhibits and the bookstore.  We asked a few questions and picked up a bird list, since we hadn’t seen very many different species and no raptors at all.  An SCA Intern did a good job on the evening program on Bison at the campground amphitheater.   

Cannonball Concretions—just beyond the North Unit Visitor Center, there is a large hill with many concretions that typically are round and brown, like a cannonball.  There is one area that is really spectacular with perhaps 10 “cannonballs” in a deep canyon!   These are really unusual!  Careful walking around; perfect area for rattlesnakes!       

Juniper Campground—the North Unit Juniper campground has 41 RV/tent sites with bathrooms.  No hookups, no hot showers BUT this North Unit campground has an RV Dump!!  The amphitheater is an easy walk for nightly ranger programs.  The campground was very quiet at night!  

North Unit 14 Mile Scenic Drive—the North Unit scenic drive is much shorter than the South Unit scenic drive, but it winds around and gains altitude frequently.  There are overlooks that really give you the big picture of the power of the river.  One of our favorite things was the ability to get close on interesting pullouts with mushroom rocks, cannonballs and other byproducts of erosion. Some of the erosion features have amazing texture qualities and we have tried to capture this in our images.  

We were concerned at a point near the “Man and Grass Pullout” where the fence boundary of the Park is extremely close with an outside Park boundaries cattle ranch in very close proximity showing overgrazing.  And in Yellowstone and other areas, the ranchers are so concerned about brucellosis from the bison infecting the cattle; but they can get real close here!   In addition, from inside the Park bondaries here, you can easily see very visible oil and gas wells, especially with a prominent gas flare! It seems unfortunate that this activity needs to be so close to the Park.  See our Addendum at the end of this post for more photographs of massive activity just north of the North Unit associated with the Bakken oil field.  

Petrified Forest and Fossils—The Park Newspaper states: “The North Dakota Badlands contain a wealth of fossil information including bands of lignite coal and petrified trees, as well as fossils of freshwater clams, crocodiles, alligators, turtles and champsosaurs.   Each fossil is like a piece in a giant puzzle that scientists have used to reconstruct the ancient history of the Park.  These clues indicate that the Park was once on the eastern edge of a flat, swampy area covered with rivers that fanned out into a broad sea level delta.  This swampy area contained dense forests of sequoia, bald cypress, magnolia and other water-loving trees growing in or near the shallow waters.  TRNP has 

the third most important collection of petrified wood in North America.  No roads lead to this area, keeping it remote and well preserved”.  The Petrified Forest area is accessed from the South Unit driving out of the Park and north about 30 minutes on a 4WD dirt road that’s impassable gumbo when it rains, then a 3 mile hike into the Forest.  Our RV does not have the recommended high clearance so we didn’t go but we’d like to in the future.

This large piece of petrified wood is in downtown Medora

Longhorn Cattle—From the Park Newspaper--“In 1884, 4500 Longhorns were driven from Texas on the Long X Trail to what is now the North Unit of the Park.  Since 1967, the Park has maintained a small demonstration herd to commemorate the cattle operations of the 1880s.  The herd is comprised of steers, which are males that cannot reproduce.”   We saw the longhorns close to the sagebrush flats near the “Longhorn Pullout.  

River Bend Overlook—River Bend is a great overlook with a CCC-built shelter right on the edge overlooking a huge badlands vista and the Little Missouri River flowing below.   If you didn’t appreciate the power of water before, you will now!   

Oxbow Overlook—a higher viewpoint than River Bend revealing a huge oxbow the river has carved as well as more badlands area with high peaks carved out.  There is a nearby 1.5 mile trail to Sperati Point.  Here is a fascinating story from the Park color brochure—“The trail from the Oxbow Overlook… leads to the narrowest gateway in the badlands. The flow of the Little Missouri River once continued north from this point, finally draining into the Hudson Bay (in Canada.)  Blocked during the Ice Age, the river had to find a new course and finally broke through this point and the Achenbach Hills on the other side.  The Little Missouri now drains into the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri-Mississippi system.”   

We very much enjoyed our visit to TRNP and would like to further explore on a future trip.  On our last 1-1/2 days, there was sporadic heavy rain and a thunderstorm.  It was interesting to see the difference in the appearance of the badlands areas after they were wet.  In some places on the North Unit scenic drive, parts of the roadside hills gave way dumping mud and debris onto the roadway.  The heavy clouds and lack of sun also affected photography by dulling the scenery.  The bison didn’t seem to mind the rain!

The colorful wildflowers on the scenic drives

A stormy sky

Bakken Addendum--There is a tremendous amount of “fracking” oil activity north of the Park’s North Unit in an area called the “Bakken.”  After leaving the Park on 8/4, driving only 15 miles north on Rt. 85 to the Watford City area, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam for nearly 15 minutes.  Most all the large trucks in the long lines of traffic were all related to the Bakken oil boom!  We saw a lot of the workings of this new way of getting oil out of the ground—the massive rows of worker housing; large truck repair depots, fleets of water tankers, many new wells being drilled, huge storage areas for giant 3300 lb. bags of ceramic proppants used in the fracking process.  It certainly does not make the area prettier, and the traffic of the big tankers and service vehicles was very heavy, causing that county to have to widen and rebuild many of its roads, causing further congestion!