Escaped Doodles

Oct. 9, 2022 - Roosevelt Grasslands National Park

You were left hanging as we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit. Well, here's an update to the ongoing saga.

We camped at Juniper CG, the only CG inside the park. We stayed three nights and found the CG very nice. Clean modern bathrooms but no hookups at sites though. It wasn't busy but this is into October. We had a nice stay.

There were a good number of buffalo in the park. We were stopped several times by buffalo on the road. The picture at the top of this page was taken from our CG site.

The scenic drive into the NP was nice. The most scenic was Oxbow Overlook somewhat over halfway along. Here are views up and down the Little Missouri River. The fall colors add much to the scenery. The hut was built in the 1930s by the CCC.

One point of interests were these nodules. Very spherical. The signs suggested why they formed but it didn't sound like they really know.

One afternoon we left the park for National Forest lands and a hike. Out and back with no destination but the fall colors were nice.

We then jumped to the South Unit of the NP. The entrance is in the town of Medora. It does look like a tourist town but not large. There was a statue of Roosevelt in front of the city center.

We stayed two nights in Cottonwood CG within the park. The day we arrived they closed the second of two loops for the season. It was busy but we were able to grab a first come first serve site. The scenery is similar to the North Unit but, to us, not quite as nice. Neither seemed spectacular like most of the National Parks we've visited. Like the North, there were buffalo. We also saw a flock of wild turkeys and prairie dogs.

The final jump was home to Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, South Dakota. We have reservations for four nights giving time to renew Hughs drivers license, vehicle registrations, etc. The CG at Americas Mailbox is convenient but more a parking lot than a CG.

Safe Travels