Last Wednesday we finally toured through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park with our friend Mary. The weather was great and it was real sunny. There is a 36 mile loop through the south unit, taking you past the Scoria Point Overlook, Wind Canyon, and the Burning Coal Vein, and countless prairie dog towns. Now there are tons of hikes we want to explore out there.
The photo credit for this first one goes to Mary Egstad. Isn't it butte-iful?
We kept an animal count so we could keep track of how many awesome wild animals we spotted. Here goes:
-white tail deer: 6
-rattlesnakes: 1 (dead and smashed)
-wild horses: 7 (3 of which were colts) and 1 herd
-buffalo: 6 and 2 herds
-prairie dogs: millions.
We had gotten about halfway through the park before we saw any wild horses and Emily was doubting that they even existed. Finally we rounded a corner and on the right side of the road there were 4 horses and 3 little colts just hanging out and eating and on the left there were 3 big buffalo eating grass and rolling in the dirt. We slowly and quietly got out of the car and sneaked toward the horses but they just looked at us and kept eating (but we made sure to keep the car between us and the buffalo.) It was a total succeed.
But by the time we were on our way out of the park, it was starting to cloud over and the sky was looking a little menacing.
Bad news to end the day: The musical was supposed to open that night. It got rained out and we were drenched. The west did not kick up it's heels on Wednesday June 2.
Enjoyed your description of your drive through the park. Wish I could have been with you. It was great that you saw all the animals that you did. Especially the wild horses. You might want to look at the deer next time as mule deer are the predominant deer in the park unless it was along the Little Missouri River.
ReplyDeleteGood Job!