Saturday 29 September 2018

It wasn’t supposed to rain overnight, but it did anyway. At least it is a bit warmer this morning – above freezing. We wipe down Wglwof’s fly and pack up as dry as we can. It’s rather wet for cooking this morning so we drive to Medora for breakfast. Only one restaurant is open, the Cowboy Cafe. They are doing a pretty brisk business.

After breakfast we drive to the Painted Canyon Visitor Center where O and I hike a 1 mile loop into the canyon. Mid-loop we disturb two mourning doves on our way up to a lookout where we take a ten second delay “selfie.”

Now we head up route 85 to the North Unit, driving through expansive prairie. The north unit is more remote and much less populated than the south unit which wasn’t very populated at all. We check in at the visitor center and then drive up the road about 5 miles to Juniper Campground. Here we choose site 40, on the river side of the loop. Most people who camp in this part of the loop use RV’s, so tent sites are either tiny or nonexistent. O and I manage to squeeze Wglwof into a spot next to the picnic table. At the visitor center we are told the water in the campground has been turned off as of September 26. Thus, campsites with a senior pass are a “bank-breaking” $3.50 a night. We sign up for three nights.

Next we are off to the scenic drive. Immediately across from the campground road is one of the best collections of concretions in the park. Concretions are cannonball shaped, erosion resistant rocks that are slowly revealed as softer layers erode from around them. Scientists still are not sure how or why they form.

We continue up the road with broad prairie lands on one side and the broken hills and canyons of the badlands on the other. We pass several herds of bison and many mule deer. The views from River Bend Overlook with its CCC shelter and Oxbow Overlook at road’s end are absolutely stunning with layered badlands hills, the winding Little Missouri and ranks of golden cottonwoods extending to the horizon. At the Oxbow overlook we learn that the Little Missouri used to flow northward, but glaciers, extending from the north to where we stand at the overlook, forced the river to turn eastward as it carved its way down through the prairie causing the badlands to form.

I learn that the cottonwoods grow in ranks because the creation of new land resulting from river flooding provides fertile ground for a new generation of cottonwoods to grow. Somewhere among those trees is the oldest cottonwood, aged 370 years. Here also, we meet an interesting and talkative ranger-rancher. He raises cattle, but he also loves his second job as a back country ranger in the north unit. He leads O and me up onto a hilltop to see some bighorn sheep on a distant ridge. The ranger explains that the herd is greatly diminished because some local “yahoo” decided to bring in domesticated sheep which infected the wild herd of bighorn sheep with pneumonia. The wild herd has recovered a bit, but once the bug has been introduced it is near impossible to eliminate. He next takes us to see an elderly bull bison that has been making his way up to the lookout. The ranger is obviously fond of the animal and saddened that the elderly animals die prolonged painful deaths, usually from thirst, as they become too arthritic and weak to make it to water. He strongly believes that parks that protect bison and elk must have predator species such as wolves and grizzlies to prevent this suffering from happening.

The ranger has many strongly held opinions:

• Raising bison for meat: he strongly opposes domestication of wild animals. The herd is culled of more aggressive beasts. Not good for the species.
• Our current president: The worst thing that ever happened.
• Park visitors: he loves them but we all drive him nuts!
• Men in general: we need a woman to lead us! No raging testosterone to get us in trouble.

The ranger asks what we plan to do here. I mention the hikes we are considering for Monday. (No hiking tomorrow, based on the weather forecast.) He advises against those trails if there is indeed rain on Sunday. The clay will become slick and dangerous. Instead he suggests a trail which he calls the Prairie Sheep trail. It is not on the park map, in fact it doesn’t even exist yet, but he draws it in for us and explains where it begins. Because it is on a ridge line it will not be muddy and slippery. O and I thank him for all the information and head back to Juniper Camp for a slightly late dinner before the rain and/or snow begins.