at
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
in North Dakota (page 1 of 2)
June 7, 2012
at
Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
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After viewing The Painted Canyon, The Two
RV Gypsies, Lee and Karen Duquette, continued their journey to the South
Unit Entrance of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora. After
checking in at the gate, they came across the Medora Visitor Center, which
houses a gift shop and a museum. The restored Maltese Cross cabin, which
was Roosevelt's first ranch house in the badlands, is behind the visitor
center, but Lee and Karen Duquette did not quite get there. |
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| Below:
The Medora Overlook |
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From
The Medora Overlook, Lee and Karen Duquette saw how Highway I-94 cuts
right through the National Park. |
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Below:
Karen Duquette looked over the edge to see the erosion. It is said that
eventually this land will be flat. What a crime that will be, but this
generation will not be around to see it. |
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| Below: Looking back towards the park road from the Medora Overlook, the truck of Lee and Karen Duquette looked quite lovely, yet lonely. | |
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Below: More beauty at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. |
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Below: Badlands Overlook at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. |
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Below: Scoria Point Overlook at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. |
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.jpg) |
 Scoria Point:
True scoria is volcanic in origin. Locally, however, wherever a seam of
coal has caught fire and baked the surrounding sand and clay into a kind
of natural brick, it has been given the name scoria. Over the years erosion
has removed the softer earth and left the bluffs capped with this harder,
more resistant material. |
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Below: Just past the Scoria Point Overlook by the roadside, the protrusion on this rock formation looked like it might be petrified wood. |
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Below: Lee and
Karen Duquette hiked Ridgeline Nature Trail, an easy one-half mile 20
minute, to learn information about the Badlands scenery, ecology and the
role of fire, wind, and water in this area. |
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Below:
This land was termed "the land
of no good" because the terrain was too rough to travel. |
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| Below: The one-half of a mile Ridgeline Trail is a loop that provides a brief and educational view of the park. Plants from arid regions like yucca, prickly pear cactus, and sage, mingle with skunkbush, lichens and junipers. The charred remains of gnarled junipers stand as silent witnesses to a wildfire that swept the area in 1974. | |
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Below: Karen
Duquette on the Ridgeline Hiking Trail in Theodore Roosevelt National
Park, North Dakota - June 7, 2010 |
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