Teddy Roosevelt National Park is a unique park. Stunning huge landscapes and views, and lots of wildlife to spot. However what it does not have, due to location & geology, is potable water inside the park. Driving the 48 mile loop road takes between an hour and a half to two hours.
And that did factor into our decision on how to spend our final day in the park. Rather than do a longer point to point hike across parts of the park, we did all the other shorter ones. With our cooler packed with lunch, snacks, and all the filled water bottles we had stashed in the car.
Our first stop was a trail at the old Ranch inside the park. The trail was a much longer one but we planned to hike part of it, then double back to the car. Cottonwood trees, a prarie dog town, creek crossing, and into a canyon all sounded interesting to us. We took the trail through the cottonwood trees, spotted some new birds, enjoyed the cool temperatures, then emerged to the "creek" crossing:
Um.....no.
That was a bit too much like a river for us to try and wade across.
So we doubled back and went to our next stop-Wind Canyon.
Wind Canyon lived up to its name.
Super breezy, but stunning vistas.
And as we took in the views from the top of the canyon we watched a herd of bison along the river valley, then noticed a herd of wild horses move down the valley from the other side of the river.
Fantastic to watch the horses wade & splash in the river.
We took our time taking in the views, and made our way to enjoy lunch at the Boicourt Overlook and trail.
We drove up Buck Hill and hiked to the highest point in the park and enjoyed the silence and the landscape.
Next stop was the Coal Vein Trail. The trail follows an old coal vein that caught fire and burned for more than 25 years. Sounded pretty cool and one of the most popular hikes in the park. But all of us agreed that it was the most boring hike of the day. Compared to all the other views we had seen, it just didn't measure up. Which probably is why none of us took any pictures.
After a quick pit stop at the only pit toilet in the park, we climbed the Ridgeline trail.
This trail took a very quick, and steep up to the top of one butte, then across a field,
up another steep climb, to a beautiful ridgeline overlooking this:
Then our final stop of the day was a very entertaining hike through a prarie dog town to the abandoned, original entrance of the park. It was built by the CCC during the Depression and still looks fantastic.
The prarie dogs provided lots of constant chatter as we hiked back to the car.
Dinner that evening was outside wearing sweatshirts watching clouds roll in.
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