Day 16 Teddy’s North Unit

There are 3 sections or “units” of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We drove an hour to the North Unit this morning. It’s the same as the South…but different. The composition was darker and the views were more dramatic. Rained last night so hiking was muddy. The ground is very clay-like so it was slippery in some areas. You didn’t want to get close to the cliffs. One of our hikes was at the fascinatingly unique Cannonball Concretions. The mineral rich waters hold the mountain sediment together and form a core, a concretion builds outward like a pearl and eventually looks like a cannonball. Erosion made the walls of the mountains look like columns on a cathedral.  Other areas of the park are very dark with bentonitic clay,  a blue-black popcorn texture soil that flows when wet and covers large sections of rock.  John’s favorite today were the forests of Cottonwood trees that sprang up near the meadows. In the middle of the park, the land flattened into prairie; home to Long Horn Cattle, Elk, Buffalo, and prairie dogs. Big Horn Sheep grace the rocky ledges but we weren’t privileged to see anything but the Buffalo. So far, thankfully, visitors to the parks have been sparse. Rain is suppose to move in again and the temperature is dropping. Luckily, so far, the rain has restricted itself to nighttime and it’s been gorgeous during the day. Tomorrow we leave the majestic Dakotas for a one night stop in Glasgow, Montana.