Medora, ND and Theodore Roosevelt National Park

First, I would like to make two corrections to my last post. I am actually staying at Red Trail Campgrounds and Theodore Roosevelt is a National Park not a State Park. Now on to some amazing scenery!

I went for a two hour horse ride thru the Badlands of North Dakota. This is my horse, his name is Spur. I originally wanted to do the 3 hour ride but they were full, but my bum & knees thank me. They were sore enough after two hours. The landscape was incredible! I guess they have had much more rain this summer then normal so everything is not normally this green. I even saw cactus out there. Who knew?

 

 

We came to the top and there was a plateau that over looked a valley. Of course, the picture can’t do it justice AT ALL. We were on private land and I just kept thinking, if this were my land I would be up here all the time! The weather today was perfect, mid 70s and there was a breeze. I couldn’t think if anywhere else I would ever want to be besides that plateau. I hope the owner of that land knows how lucky they are and they appreciate it. We stopped for a few minutes to just look at the beauty that God created. The breeze was even blowing in the right direction, against my face. I would like to find the owner and make a new friend! LOL

 

 

My horse, Spur, definitely had a mind of his own and I think they know when they have an inexperienced rider on them. I have ridden before but not to much. He would sometimes want to go his own way and not follow the horse in front of him. He wanted to make his own path. Kinda like me I guess, how can I blame him for that. I would have to rein him back over to the right direction. (A few have tried that with me, didn’t work that well tho) ;) He also liked to start a trot if we were going up or down hills. A few times almost passing the horse in front of us. Once I thought we were going down but he kept us safe.

Our guide was Katie and the other two riders were Emma & Ethan. Ethan was riding Cash and he was a naughty horse! LOL He had gas, luckily I was only down wind of him during one of his three gas attacks. Once was definitely enough tho. The ride was worth every penny of the cost. I’ll do it again when I come out here next time. I can’t wait til next time!

 

 

After riding I went back to the campsite to have my protein shake lunch and then headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. If you’ve never been, try to make it sometime during your life. I guess I didn’t know that North Dakota had there own set of Badlands.

 

 

 

I was coming around a curve, about to stop for a photo when I saw a wild buffalo. He was about 100 feet from the road. And he picked about as scenic as a background as he could have! Thanks wild buffalo dude! :) He just kept chewing on his meal and watching me, wondering what it was that I wanted. He especially perked up when I left the truck to get a better shot. They’re not man-eaters right? He would just charge the threatening person holding whatever that black thing is that’s being pointed at him. Oh wait, don’t tell my Mom I left the car, she already worries about me more then necessary! Hey they have hiking trails so the buffalo must not bother the humans intruding on their territory.

 

Here are some more pictures of this beautiful place you need to go see! Oh, that was kinda bossy huh? There is a 36 mile scenic loop drive you do in your car in the South Unit of this park.

        

And when the sign says Wind Canyon Trail, make sure you get out of your vehicle and walk this one. It isn’t too far and the view of the river shown in the picture above can only be seen from the trail. The wind canyon itself is a beautiful sight to see too. It will be some of the best scenery you will see on this drive.

I go home bright and early tomorrow morning. Wondering how long it will take the itch to hit the road to come back again. Probably not long. I still have til August 23rd off. Not sure if there will be another trip before then or not. My first week back to work is in New Hampshire though. Not sure how much I will get to see… I will keep taking pictures tho so check back every so often.