The second time to the park it was not over 100 degrees and was even chilly at night. The park is just off of interstate 94 in North Dakota and has two sections a North and South. I stayed in the South section both times I was in the park. You enter the park and there is a fee to go into the park but collection is at the visitor center and is on an honor basis, so basically nobody pays to go into the park. A major road construction project is happening this year so part of the main road within the park is close for repairs. The park has a very nice campground with 2 separate loops, bummer was that there was no host in the campground. The park is advertising for campground hosts but so far no luck. Wild horses, prairie dogs, pronghorn and bison is what the park is known for and I was able to see all three. The prairie dogs are in a few “villages” on the drive around the park. These animals are funny in that they are just all having fun running around and then a person comes and someone makes a squeak and they all scurry into their borrows. I just sat and watched them play for a bit as they got used to me. Seeing them run and chase each other was funny. Horses were in scarce supply for my viewing pleasure as I saw only a few groups of them, maybe 6 in total. The pronghorn, I saw a pair, were on the side of the road at night on a curve and when I approached the male ran across the road and female stayed behind. It was a close call not to hit him but going 20 MPH helped in this area. When I was stopped the female then took her time to cross and once across the road ran after the male. No doubt he was in trouble! Bison on the other hand there were plenty of them day two but day one only a few and far between. There was even one eating grass outside of the restroom in the evening and if had not gone to the bathroom before, I would have then, as he was only 10 feet from me. I gave him as wide a berth as I could and got the heck out of there. Day two while going around the park I came across a big boy just standing by the side of the road. After watching for a few minutes off I went and when I returned (the loop was closed due to construction) he was still in the same place. I watched a few more minutes and hit the road. When I went to get some photos of the sunset, it was way too cloudy for good photos, I came across a herd along the road. I stopped and viewed, took photos and admired the beauty of these large beasts. There was someone in a hurry as they just zipped around the cars coming in the other direction scattering some bison, some people. It was cool, in my humble opinion, to watch these beasts feed. The herd was a collection of newborn, yearlings, adult male and female bison. It was evident that the bison had a pecking order as well. There were times when the older bison wanted to be someplace and the younger ones would scatter making room for the older bison. The animals also were able to hurdle the guard rail to get across the street, pretty agile.
The sunset, night sky and sunrise photos I wanted to take at the park were a bit to be desired. Night one a family was at the top of the viewing area with Dad having his tripods out getting video and still shots. The rest of the family was sitting off to the side which was fine because they were not in the shot I was getting from my location. Well I had my GoPro running, and was taking shots when two bison were spotted in the river next to the location where the photos were being taken. That is when it went to hell in a hand basket. Mom got up first to look right in my path then the two kids my video has them in lieu of the sun going down. Mom also wanted to get photos with her cell phone and stood right in front of me, about 5 feet, and proceeded to take photos for ten minutes. I decided to just move further down the viewing area as this family was entitled to all of the top. I have to say that the lower spot had a good view of the river with two turns. Since the night sky was looking good, few clouds, I decided to try my hand at some Milky Way photos. I got up at 0300 and was out to take photos by 0315. Well luck was not on my side as the sun was beginning to come up and the sky was very bright. Oh well a few sunrise photos with the moon were taken then back to bed as I had another day/night to get my photos. The sunset for night two was all clouds and I did not even stick around long but called it early. I was then geared up to do the Milky Way on night two and I was just going to stay up to take photos. Well luck was again not on my side as about 2230 the rain started to come down and the wind associated with the rain was pretty good. I shut the doors and vents to Dundee and then decided to hunker down for the evening. Let’s hope the time in the Badlands is better for sunsets and night photography.
