Knowing that animals get up with the sunrise, so did we. We were on the road earlier than usual, as we don't see many sunrises.
We were rewarded for our early rise, as this fawn was eating breakfast right by the road as we approached in the dim light.
Just a mile from our campground is the beginning of a 36-mile scenic loop that circles much of the national park. We soon saw another doe and her two fawns moving quickly through the early morning light.
It is spring here in the North Dakota Badlands, as we saw lots of babies on the prairie this morning.
This bison calf is just sprouting horns,
while these adolescents have lost some of their baby cuteness in exchange for longer horns.
Even the rabbits were sitting close to the road this morning!
We've seen this road quite busy in the middle of the day, but we aren't seeing any other cars yet this morning. That means that we can just stop in the road and take pictures whenever we want.
When we spot a couple bucks coming over the hill,
we can stop and watch their progress across the grassy meadow.
With the increased traffic in the afternoon, we're guessing that the deer,
and the bison won't be traveling down the middle of the road.
A portion of the road on the 36-mile loop was washed away during flooding this year, so now motorists can only drive about 24 miles and then have to return on the same road. On our return drive we decided to stop and do the short hikes along the road.
It's still cool enough for a jacket when we spotted this big piece of clinker. This red rock is a product of the lignite (a soft coal) in the soil. When a lightning strike or brush fire ignites the seam of coal underground, it can burn for years. It literally bakes the surrounding rock to this red color known as clinker.
Just as we have the road to ourselves, we are pretty much alone on the trails. We hiked up to the second highest peak in the national park for the 360-degree views.
We keep taking pictures of animals, but the scenery around us is pretty amazing as well.
We're trying out a new camera, that allows us to take pictures like the one below with Denisa waving at the tip of the trail . . .
but can bring her in closer . . .
and even closer without the cameraman moving from the same spot.
We are using the new camera to photograph these wild horses that were standing close to the road.
But it also allowed us to photograph this band of two dozen wild horses that were so far away they were only dots to our naked eye.
Back on the road, this newborn bison calf still has its umbilical cord and very shaky legs.
He plopped down in the grass while we had the luxury to stop the car and watch the interaction between this new baby and mother bison.
We're hoping the new camera will help us to capture more of our feathered friends, like these beautiful mountain blue birds that we see around the park.
His plainer-colored mate has only a little blue on her wings. She stayed still longer, allowing us to get more focused.
Our last hike of the day takes us to a view point over the Little Missouri River that winds through the national park.
This muddy river also flows through our campsite, which we can almost see from this vantage point.
Our drive also took us beside a couple prairie dog towns. Some people think these little rodents are adorable.
But being raised on a ranch, Mark sees the amount of grassland these prairie dog towns destroy, as well as the holes that can break a horse's leg when rounding up cattle. He's not a fan, but he let Denisa take pictures anyway.
We are really enjoying the scenery and animals here at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. But driving around isn't the only way to explore this big park. So it looks like we have one more early morning wake up call tomorrow for our big hike . . .
You guys do SUCH a fantastic keeping it all interesting PLUS fantastic pictures!
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