Medora rest day

We woke this morning after a night of heavy thunderstorms dry and ready for a day of sightseeing. Some of our car camping neighbors who had big family tents were wet and ready for a day of driving home.

After breakfast we biked (with just lunch/water – not full gear) into the South section of Roosevelt Nat’l Park. The road took us up and down canyons, past hundreds of anxious prairie dogs, and near some Bison. These guys were in the road; we stopped and waited a good distance away from them until a car came and got them to move along. I took this picture on the move since they were still fairly close:

We parked the bikes and switched shoes for a little hike a park ranger had recommended. The trail forded a river and then climbed steeply to another wide plateau (this one without freeways or other roads) and more bison:

The bison did prevent us from attempting a fairly ambitious hike to a petrified forest. It would have been cool to see but not worth getting trampled. Instead we consoled ourselves with views of the industrious dung beetle:

and more pretty rivers:

Our route was blocked by another bison in the road on the way out; a friendly park ranger offered to drive slowly between us and the bison which worked great but didn’t afford much of a photo op. We may not be living up to our safety third motto.

I’m feeling over my mild cold and Susan is rested up as well so we will be back on the road tomorrow to Glendive and a whole new state!