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Published: July 13th 2018
We were up and at ’um at 5:30 this morning because we wanted to make a stop at the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park on our way to Minot, ND via Williston. We pulled out of camp at 8:00 heading north. Along our route we started seeing many oil pumps.
The North Unit formations seemed to be taller than the ones in the South Unit...maybe because we were driving more through the “canyon” of formations rather than along a rim. The valleys between the formations were further apart also. Note of interest: we saw a lot of buffalo poop in the road! Therefore we were not so surprised when we did see one buffalo bull lying in the grass close to the road and a herd of maybe at least 25 or 30 buffalo grazing in a field a little further into the park.
On our way to the Oxbow Overlook, and the end of the 14 mile road in, we eventually pulled out of the valley and more into high plains with overlooks along the way. We reached the end of the scenic road at the Oxbow Overlook and spent several minutes enjoying the vista there.
From there, we headed back out of the park at 11:15. We came back out by reversing our course making it a 28 mile trek.
The views today were wonderful. My most interesting point of interest for some crazy reason was the cannonball concretions. If you want to check on these weird rocks, I suggest a Google search. The large one that John is standing next to in the picture has a little of the top layer pulled off and you can see another layer just under it. A ranger the other day said to think of them like pearls—a little irritant in the middle with layers and layers of mud turned to rock making it bigger and bigger. That one would be some honking big pearl!!
When we went into the park, we once again entered Central Time. That should help keep certain ones of you (and you know who you are) a little more on time with your early morning calls. Just Saying...
Leaving the park for the last time at 1:00, we headed up US 85 towards Williston. On our way to WIlliston, and after we went through it and headed towards Minot, we
were back on the Lewis and Clark Trail. Rhonda and Larry—the sleepy little town that we stopped in on our trip along the Lewis and Clark Trail in 2001 is no more.
The signs of the HUGE boom in the oil business several years ago are still there—as are signs of at least a moderate bust. I wish I had seen it soon enough to take a picture, but along the side of the road was a VERY large PILE of motorhomes, camping trailers, 5th wheels and anything that could be towed there and lived inside of jumbled together in a big heap. There had to be over 100 of them there. From appearance as we quickly drove by, many if not most, seemed to have been scavenged as doors were hanging drunkenly open and windows were broken out. It truly was an RV Graveyard. Our understanding is that when the big boom started to fizzle, folks just basically walked off and left what they were living in and thus the junked RVs and the empty mobile housing that was there by the thousands. Amazing.
We saw the obvious signs that tons of money have been spent there.
The roads coming into and out of WIlliston for MILES in either direction were some of the best we have been on in this country. Most of the infrastructure including business buildings, restaurants, schools, etc. were all new. The section of the road we were on looked as if it had just been finished a week or so ago. Yet, vast numbers of the housing units that had been brought in there were empty with grasses growing where vehicles would have been parked. The owner at the campground we are in tonight said that when the boom was going on, there would have been no way at all for us to have found a campsite in this area. Anything that would hold an RV did just that...it had an RV on it! He seemed to feel that though the big boom was over, things were settling down and that there are many millions of gallons of oil going out of here, and the thought is that there are several layers of oil below what they are pumping out now.
We continued out of Williston towards Minot, ND by turning east on US 2. We have now been as far
west as we expect to be on this trip. Along our way towards Minot we saw gigantic fields of canola which is a brilliant yellow color. There were also fields of corn and another crop—perhaps soybean—that we could not identify. Then there would be oil pumps...I hope the farmers are able to cash in! There were also many Unit trains filled with oil.
We pulled into Roughrider Campground in Minot, ND at 5:15 CDT. We drove 271 miles.
Our plan starting tomorrow is to drive from here into Canada for a few days. John wants to possibly take a tour of Winnipeg...we know, we know Judy M...it was sad what happened to the Preds but life goes on!
Again, since we don’t know what we will be staying in as we travel into Canada and what the WiFi set up will be, don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a day or two.
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Mike
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Favorite Picture Today
Apparently, I judge photos is other’s travel blogs now.... my favorite picture from today is #18 “Look at the dark gray layer on some of the formations.” It is amazing how different the northern park looks from the southern park. Thanks for taking the time to share all of your photos each day. PS - Kim says hi.