Day 29 – Big Sky, Badlands and Bison

Big Sky in Montana

We said goodbye to Havre, MT, and drove across the state to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park which is just across the border in North Dakota. The drive across Montana took 6 hours and was really pretty boring as the landscape was the same almost the whole way. The land was flat, basically treeless, and brown fields with occasional small towns that were spaced far apart. The one thing that was interesting was the sky. We could see why they call Montana the “Big Sky” country as you can see forever and there is really nothing to see but sky. The clouds were the big, puffy kind with flat, dark bottoms. I swear that they seemed only about a hundred feet above us but it had to be an optical illusion.

North Dakota Badlands (TR National Park)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was the last of the 7 parks we plan to visit on this trip and the newest on our list, established only in 1978. The park honors Teddy Roosevelt who owned a ranch and lived here when he was in his 20s. He also was a big supporter of National Parks when he was president. The original log cabin where he lived is now located behind the visitor center. The park is a mixture of badlands and grasslands, so it is a natural habitat for wildlife including elk, bison and deer. 

American Bison (TR National Park)

We saw several prairie dog towns in the park and also saw bison 5 or 6 times, including a herd of about 30 in the distance. We saw this big one guy sitting near the road and taking in some sun and then also came across another who was blocking the road as we were leaving. He just casually strolled by our car and joined a female bison and her calf up on the hill above the road. He could have cared less about the cars.