Visited: Saturday, July 16, 2016-Sunday, July 17, 2016
Hitting Roosevelt was one of the keys for me on this trip; as I came to realize the distances involved, and the trip kept getting smaller, Glacier and Roosevelt were the two constants.
Having now visited Roosevelt - well, it made sense to include it on this trip. But I'm not sure I'd go so far for a repeat visit.
The park is divided into three sections - the North Unit, and South Unit, and Elkhorn Ranch. The third of these - only accessible via unpaved, steep roads, subject to washout - is actually the only one with a true direct connection to Roosevelt, being his home for a number of years after his wife's death when he tried to make it as a rancher. We didn't attempt to get there, but did visit the other units, each of which contains an area of badlands. It's a pretty landscape, but the badlands aren't as impressive as those in South Dakota, and the wildlife not as impressive as that in Yellowstone or Glacier.
Having said that, we did conclude our animals-walking-in-front-of-our-car portion of the trip by having a bison walk out in front of us, walk ~20 yards down the road, then head off to the side. And the prairie dog colonies in the South unit are quite impressive - and rather adorable. I'm glad to have been, but there's just not the pull for me of Glacier or Acadia, on the whole.
I was happy to see that the oil industry in North Dakota - which I'd heard was coming very close to the park - is not so bad that I saw any operations while in the park. Might just have not looked in the right places, but I'm happy to report that it's not omnipresent, in any event.
I'd never really spent much time in North Dakota before, but now having spent a bit my impression is of Texas, but with more grass.
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