North Unit...Long drive

Our plans are written in Jello and it was a hot summer day. We decided not to go to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP with the motorhome. We opted for a long drive in the car. It took 12 hours and 280 miles but we saw a lot.

After consulting with the park ranger we drove dirt roads to Elkhorn Ranch.

Along the way we caught sight of this farmer carrying a bale of hay. He has a sense of humor.

The ranch was one of TR's ranches. There is nothing left but a few foundation stones and incredible views. Bob is entering the site of the house. No wonder he fell in love with this place.

We continued on thru lots of badlands and prairies.
We think ND has it all over SD's badlands but it is spread out over thousands of square miles.

We entered into MT briefly for fuel for the car and us. We ate at Cattle-ac Saloon. Loved the name and it was a very good lunch.

We were geocaching along the way and decided to leave Ft. Union for another time.

Continuing on we came to the North Unit. It took us a couple of hours to drive the 14 miles in and back out. There were so many beautiful vista's and lots of animals.

We counted 14 big horns on this point.

6 years ago Donna was charged by a big bull buffalo at this point. This time Bob got up close & personal with a rattle snake.

On our way out we spotted this bull with his 2 ladies. Saw they were coming toward the road so waited until they got closer. Bob used his telephoto lens to get this head shot but they were really just across the road from us. Donna kept the engine running in case she was charged again.

We continued south back toward home and after hitting the construction area on 85 we sure are glad we opted to see the northern part of the state this way. Back at Medora we got a quick dinner of buffalo burger (guess it was seeing all those buffalo) then did a short drive on the loop again before it got too dark.