{"id":4558,"date":"2023-06-20T22:27:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T02:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=4558"},"modified":"2023-07-21T22:26:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T02:26:26","slug":"june-20-2023-trip-10-day-13-theodore-roosevelt-national-park-petrified-forest-and-painted-canyon-loop-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=4558","title":{"rendered":"June 20, 2023 : Trip 10, Day 13 – Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Petrified Forest and Painted Canyon Loop Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We spent last night in Watford City which is 15 miles north of the North Unit of the park. That means we had a long drive to the South Unit this morning. Because of the road closure issues yesterday, we knew we needed a different route to get to the south unit today. We were expecting to set up a route to go west and then south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently Google learned overnight that Route 85 was closed. It is hard to believe that Google changed anything because we reported it yesterday. However, when we put in the destination of the south unit, Google said we were being sent on a detour to avoid a road closure. We did not need to enter a waypoint after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

For the trip south, our travels on the western route were interesting and varied. It was eighty miles of winding country roads through wonderful hilly varying views. Sometimes the views were almost surreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was the interstate. It was ok, but not the same. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next came a small hitch. Google had us take an exit to a very small dirt road. We knew we were headed to a remote part of the park. Still it did not feel right. About six miles down the dirt road the directions told us to turn into a dirt parking lot. On the other side of the parking lot we were supposed to drive through an open gate that had a NO TRESPASSING sign on it. That was when we made the u turn. It was a little tricky to get back to the interstate when Google kept telling us to turn around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We switched over to the National Parks maps we had downloaded for the next segment of the trip. Even those directions had us on dirt roads in a hurry. At least this time we saw some National Park signs. One of them said do not leave the road. This road is on a small right of way over personal property. The road kept getting narrower and narrower. Then it started getting bumpy and wet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, it was the correct road this time. The road ended at a small parking lot inside the national park. So we hiked to the Petrified Forest inside of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was a nice hike on a nice day. While near some of the petrified trees, we saw what looked like a cave in the distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

We decided to hike in that direction. Suddenly the cave opening changed shape. It turned out that the cave opening was a dark bison standing in front of a white rock wall. We took one 80 x zoom picture of the bison that was now laying down and started our hike back to the parking lot.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There was a lot of grass and prairie area on our hike. It is easier now to believe that bison once covered this land. There is certainly enough grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere we looked we saw beautiful plants. The variety and the bounty of them is astounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we got back into the car, we were on dirt roads again. Our drive to the south unit Visitor Center was dusty, but uneventful. Our favorite part of the Visitor Center was the chance to see the cabin that Theodore Roosevelt lived in while in North Dakota. Its current location is not its original location. It was moved some time ago so that it could be part of a traveling exhibit around the country. It is still the original materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Painted Canyon Loop Trail was an adventure in several ways. The primary way was the interesting scenery. The rapid changes in elevation were breathtaking. So was hiking down the steep trails. We were happy there were switchbacks and steps to slow the descent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once we were at the bottom, we got to see the hills and view from a different perspective. We also realized the trail was not well marked when we reached a dead end on a loop trail. All was not lost. We still had our paper maps and our reference points at the top of the hills to use as a guide. We retraced our steps and found a poorly marked trail we decided to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We finally found some trail markers that lead us to the climb back up. We decided to rest about half way back up the climb. That was when we spotted a lone bison resting not far from where we had been not so long ago. We knew we had found our way back when we saw the National Park sign. Maybe we could have trailblazed across the wild west, or … maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The continuing variety of plants is unbelievable. Even the cactus plants have different centers. One is red, one is yellow, and another is light green. If you look closely at the cactus, you can see three different insects on the three different plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then there is a moth on the flowers. It is hard to believe that level of variety happened by random events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We spent last night in Watford City which is 15 miles north of the North Unit of the park. That means we had a long drive to the South Unit this morning. Because of the road closure issues yesterday, we knew we needed a different route to get to the south unit today. We were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-parks","category-trip-10"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paSJDA-1bw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4558"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5246,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558\/revisions\/5246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}