Northern Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

20090903—Northern Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I Headed North on US85 this morning after an eventually successful search for a propane refill. Although frustrating at first, I came to see that the difficulty in finding this made it all the more important to do so, since I need it for both refrigeration and cooking and I expect to be another week or so in Southwestern North Dakota and Southeastern Montana where availability might continue to be a problem.

The ~ 50 mile route North passes near and in a few places through designated USFS National Grasslands. These are parcels, sometimes contiguous with another, of a section of land, or sometimes half sections. I pulled into a picnic site on one of these for lunch and saw that they do not require fees to use them. That site had a restroom and several resident tent campers--six males in hunting garb. Several appeared to be carrying concealed sidearms (bulges in the right places under their T shirts). I don't remember what the regs on that are here, and also do not know what hunting seasons might be open, although it seems early for hunting season just now.

After lunch I arrived at TRNP and got a site for overnight and a nap. The camp ground is 5 miles in along the park access road. Starting up the road later, it was, as I had been warned at the entrance, under construction. I waited 20 minutes for a guide car, then followed that for ~4 miles. During that stretch I could not pull off anywhere to take in the fabulous sights. After that stretch there were ~eight beautiful miles of road, with some nice overlooks and a lot (~100) of bison. One other car had come in with me, and that couple left (turned back) after reaching the end of the road. For the next three hours I had the upper half of TRNP to myself as far as I could tell. I hung out, and as sunset neared I tried to capture some panoramas with the camera. Then heated a can of soup for supper and headed slowly out. Traveling as dusk showed me some wildlife that had not been visible on the way in—a couple of wild turkeys, 6 deer, some rabbits.

I'm finishing this to a nice night insect sound chorus in a way underused campground. Perhaps the warnings about road construction are prompting potential visitors to go elsewhere.