Theodore Roosevelt National Park

These looked like camel humps to me - just had to use it for hump day.

Picture this question in the voice of the camel in the current ads "Guess what day it is?"   That's right, it's Hump Day and time to explore the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Behind the center is the cabin Theodore Roosevelt lived in when he came to visit this area that he loved.  We weren't able to get inside, but perhaps I'll return for one of the tours later, since we're only six blocks away.

Our campground is near the South Unit of the park, which covers 70,416 acres of North Dakota, so we set out on the 36 mile scenic drive.

The first park denizens spotted were the prairie dogs.  These little creatures never fail to amuse me as they scamper and play, ducking in and out of their holes.

Stop it...I want to lead for a while.  I get tired of dancing backwards all day long.

This looked like an exhausted mother as the two little ones on either side of her argue about the other sibling.

The scenery was stunning with the multitude of rock formations and coloration of the rocks.

We kept searching for any signs of wildlife ....well, those larger than a prairie dog anyway.  The literature claims this is home to feral horses, bison, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and deer.  We did see lots of evidence that they exist as there is bison poop everywhere on the sidewalks and roads.  

Perhaps this is just bison humor and they come out at night to decorate the road and then sit back up on the buttes watching us with their binoculars and laughing their butts off.

We saw this hoodoo on our walk through Wind Canyon

Meanwhile the scenery continued to be lovely and we took advantage of the trails marked to explore more closely.

The terrain is very reminiscent of the Badlands in South Dakota.

Aha!  There!  High up on the hill are some buffalo.

I wish we could get closer to them.  There are signs everywhere warning people not to approach them as they can be very dangerous, but come on...I want to be closer than this.

Be careful what you ask for!  Right around the next corner there was a bison blockade, and the big guy at the toll gate looked ornery.

Perhaps this was his wife and new young one.  You know how it is when a new baby in the house...you don't get a lot of sleep at night.  It was very nice of them to pose near the car so I felt safe when shooting.

Maybe it's because we are parked next to this RV that made me think of Roger Miller and his silly songs.  

It did get me thinking about the truth in the song "You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd".  

The terrain is just all wrong for skating.


Long Live the Queen of the Bison