I have never seen anything like this, the badlands of western North Dakota. I drove the loop road of the park, stopping at the various scenes and hiking some trails. Then I camped out on the grassy plains with the (annoying) prairie dogs and bufallo. Here are some pics.
The above might have been the most amazing view I've ever seen; I don't know whether the photo does it justice. The river is about 500 feet below and 500 feet away at its closest. There are deer and wild horses drinking from the top part of the river, but they are just specks in this pic. Also note the great looking guy in the foreground.
I know you're all thinking, "Awww, how cute." But they are annoying little buggers.
Bison can be dangerous when startled. I was holding my breath while this bull ambled by.
My right ankle has had two severe sprains, not including this recent (mild) one. It's still sore, but I think it normally looks like that these days. The blister on the big toe, though, shouldn't be there.
Sunrise over my campsite.
One comment: there are lots of prairie dogs and lots of rabbits. The prairie dogs are smart and the rabbits are extremely stupid. When you walk on a trail, the prairie dogs scurry out of your way and then bark at you. The rabbits hop a few steps along the trail in front of you, wait for you to get closer, and then repeat several times before finally jumping to the side. When you drive, the prairie dogs in the road scurry out of the way of your car. The rabbits run ahead of the car and then have a 50% of turning off the road and a 50% chance of running into the road right in front of the oncoming car. Idiots.
6 comments:
There are farmers in Montana that host "Prairie Dog Shoots".
Basically, they get money from people to help them clean them out of their fields. . .they multiply really fast too, so they do a 3 field rotation. Field 1 on Monday, Field 2 on Tuesday, Field 3 on Wednesday, and then back to Field 1.
One of those things my Dad wants to move to Montana for. And the speed limits, or lack thereof. Of course, he couldn't take the cold. And it may depend on how Prairie Dog tastes.
On NPR last week I heard of a company that vacuums up prairie dogs and sells them as pets in Asia
http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9612/16/sucking.dogs/
and for some reason I think PETA is upset about this.
LOL...sucking dogs. I would love to see video (You Tube?) of people vacuuming up praire dogs...for some reason the concept seems really funny, even if it's mean.
Glad to hear that your ankle sprain is only mild.
I bet you're glad you're not in Vegas right now -- they were saying it's been around 115 (no joke!) the last couple of days. I can't even imagine what that's like...
I wonder if that's how they came up with the invention in Wallace and Gromit curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Geez, Brian K, couldn't you have picked a different name to post with?! :) And if I were in Vegas, I'd be indoors...
Vacuuming up those yapping prairie dogs sounds like fun!
I'd rather be bugged by prairie dogs than be shot at in Vegas....is it 5 that got shot at in New York New York? this morning?!?!?
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