Inyan-oka-la-ka (Montana) and camping at Devil's Tower (Wyoming)

Left Theodore Roosevelt National Park this morning and started the trip home.  We missed a couple of small campgrounds in Montana so we stopped at Medicine Rock State Park (Montana) then headed towards Devils Tower, Wyoming.  The State Park was actually pretty neat since these rocks rose up out of nowhere.  

 This was one of the campsites in the park.  Would have been neat to stay here had it been closer to home and a bit cooler.

The graffiti was neat but also sad.  Some of it was so old that I thought it'd be cool to come back now and see your family's name (when people didn't know better than to do this) but also sad since there were some more current names (when people should know better.)

This outing turned into a typical husband event.  He kept thinking we could have lunch around the next corner where there would be shade (it was 90 degrees).   Well you can tell what the terrain looked like; mile after mile of this and the sweet clover:

There were no trees, no hills, no shade, no corners (straight as an arrow)!  Matter of fact there were no cars until we had to pull over to go the bathroom!  Go figure... We finally had to settle on an improvised lunch in the car.

We pulled into the Devils Tower Campground in mid afternoon with the temperatures still soaring. We decided to put the tent up and hang out in the shade.  We saved the hiking/exploring for after dinner when it was cooler.

Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly (the heat) the campground wasn't full on the 4th of July.  

Our site (B22-had shade and decent views of the Tower):

Let me tell you nothing beats a campfire when it's ninety degrees out!  It was necessary in order to cook our dinner.

The kids were finally up late enough to catch some fireworks.  The KOA down the road put on a pretty good show that we could see right from our campsite!

The next morning the kids weren't in the mood for photographs.  

 I thought these nifty breakfast treats would put them in better spirits but the hubby and I ended up eating all but one of these!

Touring the Theodore Roosevelt Cabin and the town of Medora

The Theodore Roosevelt cabin tour in the National Park next to the visitor center was full of interesting information.  I'd recommend taking the tour.  

After viewing the cabin we went into the town of Medora to see what it had to offer.  Antoine de Vallombrosa, the Marquis de Mores, arrived in 1883.  Among his enterprises were a beef packing plant, a stagecoach line, a freighting company, refrigerated railway cars, cattle and sheep raising, land ownership, and a new town which he called Medora, in honor of his wife.There is a musical that the town is well known for based on the town, but we took a pass on it.  

Packing Plant/Chimney Park- Situated on the west edge of Medora, the site once contained the plant, a slaughterhouse, three ice houses, several outbuildings, a railroad spur track, and a corral.  The building burned in 1907, leaving the tall, native clay brick chimney standing.  A picnic area is located next to the plant.

Chateau de Mores- This 26-room, two-story frame building was built in 1883 as the summer residence of the Marquis's family.  The Chateau is now a historic house museum and contains many of the original furnishings and personal effects of the de Mores family.  

View of the Chateau de Mores:  

We went into town and found this great little park at Broadway & 5th Street.  They had a nice wooden play area for the kids to let off some steam.

On our walk through town we ran into the Harold Schafer Heritage Center.  It was like a walk back in time.  From the Mr. Bubble commercials, to his product Glass Wax, to his invention of Snowy Bleach, Harold was a busy man and apparently very generous to the town of Medora.

 Took a break for a beer and helped the kids finish up their Junior Ranger books.

Wildlife viewing at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

After settling in at camp and having dinner we did the scenic route in the car of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We headed out east passing Prairie Dog Town (one of many).  Amazingly, there weren't two many to see.  

Our first wildlife sighting:

Like the South Dakota Badlands, this park was covered in Sweet Clover (yellow flowers).

We got out for the photo-op at Scoria Point Overlook:

Then we headed to the Ridgeline Nature Trail (easy .6 mile loop):

The views weren't too bad!

If you look closely I (my shadow) even made it in the family pic!

Hike: Ridgeline Nature Trail

Trails Used: Ridgeline Nature Trail

Distance:  .6
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.2 mph
Overall Time: 27 min
Total Ascent: 196 ft.

Then we headed to the Badlands Overlook:

We saw pronghorns and deer:

We finally saw some of the wild horses before we hit the Coal Vein Trail.

Coal Vein Trail (easy .6-.8 mile loop):

Beautiful evening!

Hike: Coal Vein Trail
Trails Used: Coal Vein

Distance:  .87 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.2 mph
Overall Time: 23 min
Total Ascent: 90 ft.

We stayed in the car after that trail.  The mosquito's were crazy.  We finished up the loop with more wild horses way in the distance.

Lots of bison:

Wildlife viewing is one of the kids and my favorite activities while on a trip!

This guy had an itch that needed to be scratched!

Heading back to the campsite we saw this elk:

Camping at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Pulled in to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the afternoon.  Construction was holding up traffic going in and out of the park.  We had to wait 15-20 minutes to get to our campsite.  

We thought we were going to end up with a campsite that had no trees (hence, no shade) but I started checking the tags on the poles and realized the camp host hadn't removed old tags so this site (#17) was still available.  

We had a short walk to get to the Little Missouri River.  The banks were quite muddy however!

We heated up some leftover lasagna.  This was a camping treat that I need to remember to do again.  Sometimes, it's nice to get away from hot dogs and hamburgers.  We do need to check if campsites have fire pits or just grates.  This was the first one we've ever encountered that didn't have a fire pit.  It would have been helpful to have some charcoal along instead of just wood.

Serious marshmallow roasters:

A marshmallow catastrophe!

 Hanging out before an evening of wildlife viewing:

Run: Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Trails Used: Scenic Loop Drive to Jones Creek Trail

Distance:  7.1 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 6.4 mph
Overall Time: 1 hr, 06 min
Total Ascent: 196 ft.