Day 7 (6/26/21): Theodore Roosevelt National Park

This morning I woke up early, extra early. I woke up at 4:30 to the sound of a semi pulling in next to me at the rest stop. Then, it was difficult to fall back asleep with the sound of their generator - plus the sound of almost every other RV's generator going too. Eventually I made it back to sleep and woke up again around 5:30. Originally, I wasn't going to get up until about 7:00 because the visitor center didn't open until 8:00 and it was only 10 minutes away. I laid in bed until 6 reading the news and looking at the weather. After I got ready and ate breakfast, I had a little extra time so I decided to use my hotspot for my laptop to do some research for the trip. I had pretty much planned the first half of the trip in detail, but not the second. I had reserved a Boondockers host for each night of the first week. However, there weren't any available in the second. Therefore, I wasn't sure where I was going to stay each night. I needed to look at Wind Cave National Park, Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, and the other monuments in South Dakota. I needed to see how far they were away from each other, which one I should go to first, and the best route to get to either Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Park after that. 

I headed over to the visitor center to get there around 8 when it opened. I wanted to talk to someone because I had some questions about what to see and do in the park. I wanted to get up and out early this morning because I wanted to do a long hike in the morning and then drive the scenic route in the afternoon. It had rained last night and was supposed to thunderstorm on and off all day today, especially this afternoon. When I got to the visitor center, I got my passport stamped and then headed up to the counter to ask my questions. The lady behind the counter greeted me with "you're here early." To which I sheepishly responded "yeah, I slept nearby and wanted to get an early start." Something was definitely up; she was sweating profusely and seemed very uncomfortable. I looked around at the other two rangers in the visitor center behind the counter, as if to say "help her? Help me? Hello? What is happening?" Neither of them moved and just watched her as she sweat profusely trying to answer my questions. I felt really bad, but this was also her job and I'm not really sure what was going on. There was also like 20 other people in the visitor center, it's not like I was the only one there. Was it my mask? I thought. I decided to wear a mask in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming due to the new strains of COVID-19 and those states being highly unvaccinated. But maybe she just hadn't had her morning coffee yet...

Anyways, I asked about being able to drive the route with my truck camper because part of the road was closed; therefore, I would have to turn around. I wanted to make sure that the turnaround was large enough to accommodate my truck. Then, I asked about a longer hike to do. She didn't recommend that though because it had rain last night. The bentonite clay would be very very slippery and so she wouldn't recommend any of the longer hikes because they're down in the valley along the creeks. She recommended that I do much more of the smaller hikes because the trails are more maintained, they wouldn't be as slippery and they're higher up. Last of all, I asked her about snakes. (I am SO not a snake person.) She said that there are snakes and rattlesnakes; however, they prefer hot dry weather, so they're less likely to be out on the trails sunbathing on a day like today. So I thought to myself well, less hikes, but also less snakes. I guess it's a good compromise. 

So I headed off to hit the road. I decided to stop at every single overlook to get a good grasp for the whole park. Especially since I wasn't doing a long hike. I had the entire day to spend exploring. I sort of still wanted to do a hike though, so I'm going to do the whole scenic drive with all of the pull outs and smaller hikes and see how much time I have left at the end of the day. If I had extra time and it dried up a little, I figured I might still do a short hike. In addition, to what the weather is like because if it does end up thunderstorming later then I can play it by ear and have done the whole scenic drive and done all the little pieces. That way, I know that I've seen the majority of the park rather than spending most of my time seeing one specific area of the park doing a long in depth hike. 

I was a little bummed about not being able to do a long hike today though because the landscape is so much more rugged than I was expecting. It really shows what Theodore Roosevelt and the pioneers had to go across. I can't imagine traveling across this landscape hundreds of years ago on foot, by horse, or wagon. So I wanted to be able to experience some of that ruggedness for myself by doing a long hike. 

One reason why I'm hesitant to do a long hike though is because the trails are easy to get lost on. I'm by myself, the trails look very similar to the animal trails, and there's no signage because the bison tend to use the signs of scratching posts and knock them over. Therefore, I think this is probably the best way for me to be able to see the park with the weather, conditions, and being by myself.

Overall, doing the entire scenic route and numerous small hikes was definitely the best way to see the park. The views and landscapes were absolutely stunning! I had low expectations for this park because I'm more of a mountains and water person. Not as much a prairie and plains. But the ruggedness of the landscape captivated me. 

I got to the end of the road at about 3:00 p.m. And it never rained! Doing numerous small hikes instead of one big one was definitely the best way to experience the park. Most of the view points had animal trails that continues on along the ridges. I followed each one out to beautiful panoramic views. This also made each stop have a small hike, rather than just be a view point which was nice. By the end of the day, I had walked 9 miles and saw bison, prairie dogs, rabbits, deer, lots of birds, and wild horses. 

At this point, I was torn between going back and either doing a longer hike such as the Jones Creek trail, driving that 14 Mile Road that someone had suggested, or driving out to the fossil beds and doing the 1.5 mi hike out to the petrified forest. So I decided to drive back and mark on my odometer and time how long it would take me to drive 14 miles. As I was driving back it started to rain. I was also pretty tired and wanted some down time tonight. So instead, I decided to go back and watch the film at the visitor center and have that be the end of my tour at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

I wanted time to be able to get some groceries and gas so that I would be prepared to head out in the morning I also wanted some down time to work on my blog and relax tonight. Plus, I still have to find figure out where I was going to stay tonight. I also don't have it in me to go out to the petrified Forest and do a 1.5 mile hike. My legs are dead and I'm exhausted. In addition, if the rain keeps up, it wouldn't be a great hike. Instead, I decided to find my campsite for the night. 

Using iOverlander, I found a site on some National Grassland nearby. I got there, setup camp, and enjoyed the view with a happy hour as dinner cooked. I made a burrito bowl. After dinner, I enjoyed the sunset and headed to bed. Tomorrow, I'm headed to South Dakota.