Teddy Roosevelt National Park - 2010
It’s spring in the Dakotas, time to check out the wildlife in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Jack Kline and I trekked back to the North Unit where, you will recall, we became intimate with a bull snake back in 2007. No snakes this go 'round, but we did see plenty of four-legged critters.
Note the pre-antlers. From wikipedia: "While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone; once the antler has achieved its full size, the velvet is lost and the antler's bone dies. This dead bone structure is the mature antler, which is itself shed after each mating season."
As we drove back and forth on the 18-mile-long highway inside the park, we often had to slow or stop for buffalo who rarely seemed to be in a hurry to leave the blacktop. The highway radiates heat, welcome on these spring days when temps fall into the 40s at night.
There are a few long-horned steers in the park.
Yes, Jack, I see you. This was taken at the "Scenic Overlook." For a more expansive view, click here.
This old bull enjoys the protection from the wind.
A view of the Little Missouri River
Striations in the landscape are evident in this shot. Toward the top, there is often more scoria, an-orangish/red rock more resistant to erosion than the soft bentonite clay underneath.
It rained for at least three hours Thursday night. The next morning the sides of the slope here were so wet that I believe it would have been humanly impossible to get sufficient traction to climb them.
This young buck soaks up a few rays.
So does this old buck. It stays light until nearly 10 p.m. so we had time to sing a few tunes while the sun shone. Wanna see a real bull fight without a matador? Click here.