Montana is a HUGE state.
Coming down out of the mountains was like running into a wall of flatness. When the mountains end, they end. All done. All that’s left is flat. Hours and hours and hours and hours of just FLAT. Going over a railroad overpass was exciting.
It is oddly compelling countryside. There’s a stark beauty in the freshly cut wheatfields that speaks to my Kansan roots of a couple generations ago.
It was also hot, in the upper 90’s, but that tired saying about how it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity? Well, I think it’s true. Though it was 98 degrees out, it almost felt comfortable, since the humidity was around 10%. When the temperature was 98 degrees in every other place I’ve ever lived (Connecticut, Maine, North Carolina, Washington State), the humidity was also so high that it was like trying to breathe through a sponge.
A funny sighting in Cutbank, MT were these signs:
Apparently the incredibly straight roads and flat countryside mean that minimal directions are all that’s necessary!
Near Hingham, MT, we saw some Pronghorn next to the highway- the first time I’ve ever seen this species. Hopefully we’ll see some more (and get a better look) as we go through Colorado/Utah/Idaho on the way home, because they are very cool-looking animals. Did you know they are the second-fastest land animal, only the cheetah being faster?
So we finally made it across the state, and into North Dakota. Toward the end of Montana, we had been seeing something that looked Suspiciously Not Flat.
This is looking south across the Missouri River to the beginnings of the Badlands. After we got into North Dakota, we turned south and crossed the Missouri River.
We camped that night (Tuesday) at the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is in the Badlands. Again, what a gorgeous place. Are you tired of hearing that yet? The USA really is a varied and beautiful country.
I had never even heard of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but I’m so glad we went. I have a feeling that this is one of the underappreciated parks in the system, but which definitely deserves a visit if you’re in the area. The campground was clean and quiet and practically empty, and only $10 a night. (By the way, the National Parks Pass is a great investment if you're going to be visiting more than one Park in a year. At only $50, it pays for itself after about two visits to parks requiring an entrance fee.)
In the morning (Wednesday 8/30/06) I got up early again and went for a walk on the nature trail that left from the campground. It was an easy walking trail that went through the cottonwoods and junipers and grasslands along the Little Missouri River. It was nice and cool, the birds were out, and I saw white tailed deer with fawns. The river was very pretty in its canyon.
I was a little freaked out by all the signs that warned people not to go into the underbrush because of the prairie rattlesnakes, but other than that, it was a great walk. (An aside: despite being freaked out about being potentially surrounded by poisonous snakes, I was disappointed that I didn’t see one.) On the way back to the campsite, I came across some very large mammals that inhabit the park:
Bison are immense. Not just tall, but bulky and solid and intimidating, with very sharp horns. I would not want to annoy one. As I was heading back after my walk, there was a herd of about 10 bison in the campground between me and our campsite. I certainly didn’t want to get too close, but at the same time I wanted to get to the tent and warn Shaun and Emma, who were still asleep, so they could see them too. So I circled around through the campground, risking the rattlesnakes in the tall grass and giving the herd a wide berth, and woke Shaun and Emma up in time to see the bison. Emma was not sure she wanted to be anywhere near animals that big and kept hiding behind my legs, but was talking about the “puffalos” for the rest of the day.
After we packed up the camp, we drove up the park road a bit, in search of the prairie dog town that the map showed. Turns out that you have to hike up a trail a ways to see them, so we didn’t go see them after all. Instead, we drove to the end of the park road, about 14 miles. We needed to be moving along, and I don’t think Emma would have been up to an hour long hike into the hills. We did, however, see some sharp-tailed grouse, another new bird for my Life List.
The park road goes up along the canyon on the prairie uplands, and had some magnificent overlooks. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but after seeing the canyons along the Little Missouri, I totally get why people flock there in droves. The Little Mo canyon isn’t at all deep or wide or extensive in comparison, but it is impressive and the colors of the rock strata and the way the light plays off the cliffs and muted gray-green vegetation is amazing.
I can’t even imagine what the early settlers through this area must have thought when they were driving their wagons across the prairie and came across something like this. We take travel so much for granted now, with cars and roads (never mind airplanes and high speed trains), that we don’t fully appreciate the effort it used to take.
After we did the park road we headed back onto the highway, with one more sighting of a bison herd right by the park entrance.
They were quite close to the road, and as we watched from the car, they were moseying along in our direction. Very intimidating, and I told Shaun it was time to go when the big bull appeared to be heading directly toward the car. He called me a fraidy-cat, but I noticed he did drive on!
We headed east across the width of North Dakota, which is a very pretty state, and southeast diagonally across Minnesota, also a very pretty state, with lots of little ponds and lakes. We saw a largish flock of white pelicans in western Minnesota, which was fun because you rarely see them on the east coast, and when you do, it’s usually one stray at a time. They are gigantic birds- wingspan of 108 inches!
We spent the night in Hudson,Wisconson, after a long day of driving. We opted for a hotel this night, because we were all pretty desperate for a shower by this point and it was very late.
Next installment: on to Ohio and the new tent trailer….
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