Watch out for that spider!

Had a nice run this morning and headed out to look at the river before the kiddos got up.  Almost ran into this web/spider!  

 It was a beautiful morning!

 The kids wrapped up their Junior Ranger packets and were able to get their badges.

 We did a brief wildlife viewing tour that night.  

I'd heard the Wind Canyon Trail (easy .4 mile loop) was a great location for sunset viewing.  Turns out I'd heard correctly.

 Saw him on the way back to camp.

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: