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Today was our first major day of touring. Not much driving today. The theme for today was: when is it going to rain? All of our activities today were outside, so rain was going to make a big difference on how everything went. All of our morning and afternoon were spent at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This is a national park that I have not heard of much. It is also known as the North Dakota Badlands. I have been to the South Dakota Badlands several times. Paul had heard that the North Dakota ones are better than the South Dakota ones. Here are some highlights from our great day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Ponchos - These were on my packing list at home. Did I actually pack them? NO! So we spent some time before we left town to find some ponchos, just in case. Walmart in Dickinson was sold out of adult sizes, so we found our green ponchos (not blaze orange) at Runnings. Paul's dad was happy to see a Runnings in town. It is his favorite store. (To those who don't know what Runnings is, it is a Fleet Farm or Farm & Fleet, however you know it)
Getting into the park - When I am 62, I am getting the Senior Pass. It is a $10 parks pass for your lifetime! $10 to get into all the national parks! That is just awesome! So to all you that are reading this article, go get this pass! It will be worth it even if you only use it once, because to get into this park it was $10 a vehicle.
Hiking - We drove the 36 mile scenic loop. This is the main road in the park to drive on. It has lots of overlooks to stop at and plenty of easy to moderate trails to hike. We stopped at many of the overlooks to take in the scenery. All of the stops had some great views. Paul and I hiked a few smaller trails by ourselves, since a few of them had a ton of steps. My verdict on ND vs SD badlands? I like both for different reasons. North Dakota Badlands are green and rounded. South Dakota Badlands are red and brown and sharp edged.
Buffalo - There are a ton of buffalo in the park. Or so they say. At our first stop we saw a lone buffalo. It was really exciting to see one at our first stop. We thought we would see a ton in the park once we got into it more. But we only saw 2 more single ones. Oh well. Maybe the rain kept the other ones away. Or maybe we needed to go deeper into the park, not along the well worn roads.
Prairie Dogs - There were several prairie dog towns along the road. We could see many of these cute animals right from the car. I stopped to take some pictures at one stop. While I was walking out to the viewing bench, I almost fell into a prairie dog hole! I could hear them chattering to each other. It was very cute.
Rain - We started out at Theodore Roosevelt National Park at about 10:30am. It didn't start raining 1:30pm. So we did get several hours in without the rain. But once it did start to rain, we only needed to wear the ponchos and it was fine. The rain was more of a nuisance than a problem. The rain was going to be a problem if it continued on for our evening activities.
Ponchos - These were on my packing list at home. Did I actually pack them? NO! So we spent some time before we left town to find some ponchos, just in case. Walmart in Dickinson was sold out of adult sizes, so we found our green ponchos (not blaze orange) at Runnings. Paul's dad was happy to see a Runnings in town. It is his favorite store. (To those who don't know what Runnings is, it is a Fleet Farm or Farm & Fleet, however you know it)
Getting into the park - When I am 62, I am getting the Senior Pass. It is a $10 parks pass for your lifetime! $10 to get into all the national parks! That is just awesome! So to all you that are reading this article, go get this pass! It will be worth it even if you only use it once, because to get into this park it was $10 a vehicle.
Hiking - We drove the 36 mile scenic loop. This is the main road in the park to drive on. It has lots of overlooks to stop at and plenty of easy to moderate trails to hike. We stopped at many of the overlooks to take in the scenery. All of the stops had some great views. Paul and I hiked a few smaller trails by ourselves, since a few of them had a ton of steps. My verdict on ND vs SD badlands? I like both for different reasons. North Dakota Badlands are green and rounded. South Dakota Badlands are red and brown and sharp edged.
Buffalo - There are a ton of buffalo in the park. Or so they say. At our first stop we saw a lone buffalo. It was really exciting to see one at our first stop. We thought we would see a ton in the park once we got into it more. But we only saw 2 more single ones. Oh well. Maybe the rain kept the other ones away. Or maybe we needed to go deeper into the park, not along the well worn roads.
Prairie Dogs - There were several prairie dog towns along the road. We could see many of these cute animals right from the car. I stopped to take some pictures at one stop. While I was walking out to the viewing bench, I almost fell into a prairie dog hole! I could hear them chattering to each other. It was very cute.
Rain - We started out at Theodore Roosevelt National Park at about 10:30am. It didn't start raining 1:30pm. So we did get several hours in without the rain. But once it did start to rain, we only needed to wear the ponchos and it was fine. The rain was more of a nuisance than a problem. The rain was going to be a problem if it continued on for our evening activities.
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