Wilderness Wandering

September 11-13, 2023

What a wonderful beginning to our National Parks trip. We began in the North Unit for 2 days. We arrived right at noon and were greeted by an unbelievably friendly, informative park ranger and a large bison who was scratching his back on the park sign.

We scooted over to Juniper Campground hoping to score a first come, first serve site for the next 2 nights. We were lucky and got a decent, level site with some shade.

After lunch, the first thing we did was take our bikes and ride the 18 mile scenic route. It was pretty hilly – almost 3200 feet of elevation gain, but so worth it. What a way to see the sights! We cycled past large groups of bison (literally 5 yards away) and several mule deer. The scenery is absolutely breath taking!

The visitor center in the North Unit is tiny. We thought Theodore Roosevelt NP was on Mountain time. We arrived as the center was closing. We learned that the North Unit is on Central time and the South Unit (70 miles away) is on Mountain time. We were still able to get our National Parks Passport stamped!

One of our favorite things was catching the sunset from The River Bend Overlook. From the overlook at sunset we heard the high pitch of elk bugling, and saw bison cross the river and bed down for the night.

Our second night, we were joined by our friends Marcy and Bob in their van – Erv. It wasn’t planned, but they were on their way to Glacier NP and it was a short detour for them. It was fun sharing our adventures over dinner at the picnic table.

Day 3 South Unit

We had a reservation for the Cottonwood Campground, but when we arrived, the site was very small and very sunny. We drove the campground and located a first come, first serve site that was much nicer, so we reserved the new site and headed out to explore the 37 mile scenic loop. This time we drove the van. We were delighted by the gigantic prairie dog towns. We also were able to see some of the wild horses the park is known for. We didn’t see as many bison here, but the South Unit is larger, so maybe they are just more spread out.

We viewed the sunset from the Wind Canyon Trail Overlook. The sun reflected in the river below was beautiful. We saw a bald eagle and heard coyotes howling.

The stars at night out here are incredible! It made walking to the outhouse in the dark much more enjoyable!

The roads were good in both parts of the park. A section of the scenic road in the South Unit is closed until late fall 2024, so the loop isn’t a loop right now. The North Unit was very sparsely traveled. We hardly saw other people on the trails. The South Unit is right off I94, so there were more people, but still not too many. If I could only do one unit, I would recommend the North Unit. The scenery was more dramatic, we saw more wildlife up close there, and fewer people.

We can definitely see why Teddy Roosevelt loved this area.