Buffalo in the campground and a visit to the Visitor Center

 A short ride this morning, to check out an overlook that we'd skipped yesterday.  On the way, and just barely out of the campground, Martha spotted a Buffalo (technically, a Bison):

We checked out a trailhead and there were two Bison just hanging out nearby:

At the Wind Canyon Overlook, you can see good views of the Little Missouri River which spans the park.

As it was getting close to lunch time by then, we headed on back to the campground.  As we neared our loop, Martha spotted a Bison near the community bathroom building.  She went on to start lunch, and I stalked the Bison for a bit, waiting for a chance to take a picture with the 200 mm telephoto lens.

The Bison above was accompanied by a friend, he was hanging out at the other outhouse building:

After lunch it was quiet resting/napping in the lounge chairs at the campsite till about 4 PM when we rode to the visitor's center to be educated.

A short film and some perusal of photographs and displays related to Theodore Roosevelt, we ended the tour with a quick look at his cabin.  It's been relocated from the Elkhorn Unit of the park and gives one a nice idea of how the young Roosevelt lived when visiting his ranch.

As a young man in his 20's

Leaving the visitors center at 5PM, we wandered on back to camp but stopped at the overlooks for a look.  Here's a view of I-94:

View of the Badlands from same viewpoint above:

In case you've ever wondered the difference:

Two-Wheeling Across the Dakotas - Day 3: The Enchanted Highway and Camping in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 Thursday, June 2

Soon after breakfast, we broke camp and left this last look at how crowded this particular BLM dispersed camping site has become:

Yep, there's RVs as far as you can see along the edge

Enroute to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we made a slight detour to check out the scrap metal sculptures along the Enchanted Highway.  Welded/built by Gary Greff to try and get folks to visit his hometown of Regent, North Dakota.  Kind of a "Build it and they will come" approach.  He started this work in 1989 and continues to maintain the sculptures.

Kind of neat in a kitschy way, something perhaps you'd expect to see along Route 66?  More info here: www.ndtourism.com/best-places/7-ways-be-awed-enchanted-highway

It was, very windy today, and the mileage on the VRRV suffered accordingly.

Tin Family

We didn't for the Teddy Rides Again sculpture but here's a pic from Martha's phone:

Teddy Rides Again

Pheasants on the Prairie

Fisherman's Dream

Grasshoppers

Deer Crossing

Geese in Flight

We had left the Badlands of South Dakota at 7:30 AM and were camped and eating a late lunch by 3:30 PM.  We got one of the last remaining "first come first served" campsites.  Note, it appears one should try and get to a campsite like this before 2PM.

We rode out in the evening to check out the sights, but didn't do much exploring of the loop road.  We did, while stopped waiting for the pilot car at a road paving section of the loop, spot a small herd of Buffalo.

I was wishing I still had my Sony HX-80 camera with the 30X zoom but the telephoto lens I had recently acquired will do I guess:

All the greenery by the way, is atypical we were told.  They had a very wet Spring apparently.  It's usually browner in this area.

We returned to camp when things started getting chilly, a pretty good day in spite of all the driving.  We'll be here for a couple of days I think.

Two-Wheeling across the Dakotas: Day 2 The Badlands of South Dakota

 Spent about three hours making our way to the Badlands National Park using county and BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) roads.  We were trying to avoid the traffic in the normal route, which passes near Custer, SD and also the Mount Rushmore area.

We got to the visitor center, the roads near which were being paved, which added some wait times in terms of traffic.  We got the scooter and Tdub off the trailer and went exploring the Badlands Loop.

The light, it being close to noon, was terribly flattening on the rock formations....

These Bighorn Sheep caused traffic congestion as

cagers would stop on the road, blocking the lanes,

to get pictures of them

Martha Pic

The self-described "Bad Ass in the Badlands" 

eating her Charcuterie

We didn't ride the whole loop since the light was so flat, instead we returned to the VRRV, loaded up the trailer and headed to the other end of the loop to set up camp.

There were a lot more RVs and campers than the last time we were here!  Still, we found a pretty good spot:

As evening came, we once more went riding.  First we tried to sneak into the park but the ranger was still on duty and since we were on separate vehicles, my interagency pass was only good for me, not for Martha.

Instead, we went a few miles and walked around the knick-knack tourist trap that is Wall Drugstore.  We didn't really take a lot of pics, it was a bit too chintzy this second time around.  

After leaving Wall Drugstore, we tried once again and managed to sneak into the park this time.  We went to the Pinnacle Point Overlook and waited a few minutes for the meager golden hour's sunlight to do its thing:

It was getting a bit chilly at this point so we returned to the VRRV and Martha cooked dinner while I loaded up the scooter and the Tdub back onto the trailer.

As I ate dinner, Martha was motivated to go capture the sunset:

martha pic

martha pic