Teddy’s South – This park is in Western North Dakota and is in honor of the President who came to the area first in 1883 to hunt bison, It is a 5.5 hour drive from my previous campground in Montana but the drive was 75 miles an hour for me, limit was 80, and it was nice and peaceful. The highway was good and few cars/trucks along the way. I had to hump it as the campground this year is first come first served and I did need a place to sleep for the night of June 2. As luck would have it I made it and even had a choice of three spots. I selected one for four nights and now it will be time for some exploration of the park in the AM.
Cottonwood Campground – It is a smallish campground with 75 spots and two loops. The north loop has 39 spots and the south has the remaining. The south has tent only spots and some of those are walk in sights. The north loop has a vault toilet house and two new houses with flush toilets. Issue is one of the two new ones is not open so I have to hike it about 100 yards to a flush or 35 to the vault. The site itself is a pull through that is fairly small but there is a large tent area and picnic table with grill. No fire pit at this campground and fires but you can have a fire in the charcoal area or if you bring a fire pit that is small you can also have a fire in it. The sites are well spaced out and there is a cut grass walk way from each site to the main drag to the bathrooms. You also see many leftovers from bison who are in the area. Well these bison are still in the area as when I was done making breakfast I had a visitor to my campsite, good thing he was not wanting breakfast from me. I was eating at my table and I looked out the door and there was a 700 – 1,000 pound bison just looking at me. He just walked on by when he saw me looking at him. Walking by I went for my camera as I was sure that I was not going to die from an attach, he seemed to be very calm around me. When I got the camera he was at my picnic table with a partner in crime and they were rubbing their bodies against the table. Now if I had put up my tent and was eating outside these visitors would be in my lap, glad Dundee has a place to eat. It was a close encounter of the animal kind and after my fear of being killed was over and I look back it was cool. Note to self have the camera ready for the next few days as I think he will be back. Remember not to feed animals as they will become aggressive for campers and these animals are wild. The campground brochure says, “Bison often enter the campground. Do not approach, feed, frighten or harass bison or other wildlife. Keep at least 25 yards distance. If animals approach, back away. Move to a safe place if possible.” I am not sure in Dundee was a safe place if my friend wanted to come have some of my breakfast but thankfully he just wanted to have a scratch itched at the table outside. NO I DID NOT take a photo was too scared.
Animals
What is a butte? Well it is not a mountain as they are caused by land pushing up. A butte is caused from erosion of the soil. In Teddy’s place, there is Little Muddy that is washing away the dirt that used to be a single plain and is not a butte.
Jones Creek Trail – you can get the trailhead at a parking area just past Peaceful Valley Ranch. The trail is hard packed dirt and is well marked and I had no issues following the many branches of the trail. It seems that the trail gets wet and others like to create their own way and at points there are 2-3 trails going the same way just feet apart. You do cross streams and I only went to the first crossing that was 1.3 miles out. When I got to the crossing I noticed something in the water and as I got closer I could smell it, a dead and decaying bison. It was my turning around point so I did turn around and head back to Dundee. I am breaking in new hiking boots so did not want to go too far in case I had issues as I want to go see the Petrified Forest of Teddy’s place and that is 11 miles.
Wind Canyon Trail – The trail is short only 0.4 miles long and is a loop trail. There is a bit of elevation gain/loss but it maybe 100 feet or so. The trail starts at a lookout and goes up to a plateau that allows you to have a 360 degree view of the area. You can see a creek/river that flows through the area and also some prairie dog homes.
Big Plateau Trail – The trail head is at Peaceful Valley Ranch and there is a little, 3 car, parking area but you can also park by the ranch buildings. I started at 0930 and got back to Dundee at 1315 today. The trail is mainly a game trail but there are markers on the trail and they are upright unless the bison have knocked them over rubbing on them. If you can’t see a marker I would bet that it is knocked over if you are still on the game trail. The trail requires a river crossing and the water is the color of coffee with 2 creams but it is chilly and only up to my knees. When I got to the river this AM I thought I could cross without taking off my shoes and socks and about 3 steps into the crossing I turned back and took them off. Once I got everything back on I started on my hike and ran into a couple that said don’t take the Emblem Trail at the Y due to a heard of bison with some youths just off the trail. Good thing I was headed to the Petrified Forest and taking the Big Plateau but I could look into the distance and see the heard of bison. The trail after the Y is up a steep incline but then levels out a bit before another big steep incline before you get to the top of the first plateau. The top you travel through a prairie dog city and hearing the little guys squeaking altering your coming to the rest of the town. This squeaking goes from one to another so for 30 minutes you hear the squeaking and prairie dogs racing to their holes to get away. I also ran into a few bison eating and they were just hanging with each other so I keep going. The four deer I saw were the second most concerned about me, besides the prairie dogs, but I went my way and they stayed eating. When you each the end of the plateau you go up another incline and come to another plateau where the big plateau trail meets the Maah Dash Hey Trail. You travel along this combined trail for about 1/2 mile and then you come to another intersection. I took the South Petrified Forest Trail hoping to see some petrified logs but the only thing I saw petrified was poop on the trail. The Petrified Forest Trail meets up with the Long Tree Loop after 1.2 miles of walking at the top of the second plateau. Along this walk I did see a couple of bison eating in the distance and they did not seem concerned with me so I kept walking. I got to the intersection of the South Petrified Forest Trail and Long Tree Loop and decided to turn back around and head to the car as it was in the 90’s and there was Zero shade at the top and no breeze. I also thought that the Long Tree Loop trail was not that well seen so instead of taking it down to catch the Maah Daah Hey Trail/Ekbloom Trail, I went back the way I had come. Guess learning from getting lost the other day is a good thing for me. I got back to the Maah Daah Hey and South Petrified Trail intersection and started down Maah Dash Hey and thought about that herd of bison on the trail this AM. I turned back around and headed to the prairie dogs once again. Those little fellas are cute. Once I got down to the intersection of Ekbloom and Big Plateau I looked to my right and did not see the heard and I was bummed as I should have taken Maah Daah down but hindsight is 20/20. The river came again and off the shoes and socks came, crossed and then back on. All in all it was a good hike and I just wish I had seen Petrified trees not poop.
Theodore Roosevelt North – I decided to do the north part of the park today and it is about one hour and thirty minute drive from the South side. The two sides are similar in that they are a loop drive and they have viewing areas around the drive. They both cost $30 to enter and the North’s visitor center is almost like two trailers. The newspaper for the North is much better than the South’s paper.
Juniper Campground – I did not stay in the campground but it was very nice as I drove though the main drag. They had more trees and the sites were not as small as the ones on the South. They had a new restroom which was not open as of yet but it looks nice from the outside. It appears to be a bit smaller than the South’s but still a nice cozy place for a night or two.
Caprock Coulee Nature Trail and Loop – There is a turnout for this trail and loop that hopefully will have a vault toilet opening soon as construction seemed to be completed. The trail is together for the first 0.7 miles then the nature trail is a turn around while the loop trail heads up. The loop trail is a total of 4.2 miles and not only do you go up but there are some parts of the trail that is not well marked. You have to look for the man made parts of the trails like logs as steps, or other items that would say here is the way. Both the loop and trail are kinda like a game trail that has been warn down by people walking and water running down. I will say that on the first part of the loop you are in the higher elevations of the butte and are in the trees with a hot day like today it was very nice to have some shade. You will get to the top of the butte and have a very nice 360 degree view and there is even a bench to sit on and admire the view and how far you have walked. Onward you go and you cross the road at River Bend Overlook. After looking at the overlook go back to the parking area and stay close to the road and you will see the trail start up again. This part of the trail is a bit harder then the first part as you are going over the butte and in spots the trail is hard to follow but stay the course and you will find it once again. When you start down you are on the home stretch and at a point you can see the parking area and know that the trail is almost over. All in all a nice trail but I did not see any wildlife on the trail only a bison in the distance when at River Bend Overlook.