Dual prairie dogs check out the intruder
This pretty little plant is the bane of all farmers and ranchers in North Dakota. Leafy spurge is a nasty noxious weed that spreads rapidly, has roots up to 15 feet deep, crowds out desirable species, and is not palatable to livestock. A milky latex exits in all parts of the plant that can produce blisters and dermatitis in humans, cattle, and horses. If rubbed in the eye, it can cause permanent blindness. Leafy spurge reproduces readily from seed dispersed by explosive ejection from the seed capsule. The plant can expel its seeds to distances of 15 feet, and has a high germination rate. Sounds like a plant I saw on an old Star Trek episode--nasty!
From the TRNP web site: "Over 65 million years ago during the Paleocene Epoch, dinosaurs had just become extinct. The western half of North America was buckling and folding to create the Rocky Mountains. Large amounts of sediments were forming as water, wind, and freezing worked to break down the mountains. These sediments, mostly sand, silt, and mud, were carried off the eastern slopes by ancient rivers and deposited here in layers. Volcanoes in South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and across the west were also erupting during this time, spitting out huge amounts of ash. Some of this volcanic ash was blown or carried by rivers into North Dakota and accumulated in standing water. Over time, the sediments turned into the sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone layers now exposed in the park, while the ash layers became bentonite clay."
An unusual roadblock. "Horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park do not come under the auspices of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, but are managed by existing park regulations. For many years the National Park Service attempted to remove all the horses from the park. This policy was reversed in 1970 when the horse was recognized as part of the historical setting. The park now retains a herd of 50-90 animals so that visitors may experience the badlands scene as it appeared during the open range ranching era of Theodore Roosevelt. In order to maintain this population level, the horses are rounded up every few years, and surplus animals are sold at public auction. Today, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is one of the few areas in the West where free-roaming horses may be readily observed."
I wouldn't say these horses were exactly wild.
A view from Scoria Point
Perhaps the best part of the whole day was singing some tunes with Jack on the banks of the Little Mo. The river was higher than I ever remember seeing it and, unlike most rivers, flows north. Eons ago, it emptied into the Hudson Bay but now joins the Missouri near Williston.