Day Five – The North Unit

There are Badlands in both South Dakota and North Dakota. We had yet to go to the North Unit in North Dakota, so curiosity led us to check out that part of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The 54-mile drive north from I-94 took us through rolling hills dotted with grassy fields and ranches. No “Badlands” in sight for miles, or many people, for that matter. This is definitely a working farm part of the country with numerous grain silos to hold the produce from the nearby fields.

We began to wonder if there would really be any landscape sculpted and carved by erosion. However, up and over one rise, there was a glimpse of one eroded hillock. Then down and around another corner, more exposed hillsides where we could see various layers of sediment. Shortly, we came to a bridge over the Little Missouri River and we saw the North Unit of the Badlands begin to unfold.

Turning into the park we followed the twisting and winding road that led past hillsides with different colored bands. The layers here were mainly shades of gray, beige, and yellow, as opposed to the predominantly reds and browns of other Badlands we have visited.

One road travels through the park with a variety of viewpoints and vistas. One stop explained that the bluish-gray layer was predominantly a clay that “flowed” with the river. The smooth flat surfaces of this flowing clay could be seen at various locations in the park. This layer intrigued us since we hadn’t seen it in the other Badlands we have explored.


Looking out from the furthest point in the park you could see how the Little Missouri, which was the major force that carved these canyons, was curving to form an oxbow turn as it carved its way through the valley.  


Another rather unique aspect of the North Unit was a wall of beige sandstone which was imbedded with round “cannon balls”. Apparently, these concretions formed when mineral deposits were left behind. Scientists and not certain why they formed into the rounded shapes. That is still a mystery to be solved.

The unusual features of this park are good examples why we like to go to many different locations when exploring the countryside. Although there are often similarities between the places we travel, often each location offers a slightly different experience.

Comments

  1. LoriSeptember 9, 2025 at 1:40 AM

    Are you going further east into North Dakota? Wow, must've been awesome seeing herd of bison at campground!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day One – What a Difference a Month Makes

Image
Wood’s Prairie takes to the road again. Our destination this trip is to the desert southwest red rock country. Specific plans? Nope, whichever way the wind blows us. We are hopeful that we can avoid too many large crowds, but we’ll see. Day one saw us heading east on I-84 in Oregon up the Columbia Gorge. As it turns out, we travelled this same road one year and one month earlier on our jaunt down to Texas to see the total eclipse of the sun. However, what a difference one month makes in the Pacific Northwest! The first thing we noticed was that there weren’t snow patches in the shady areas of the gorge’s basalt cliffs. Of course, that meant that there were far fewer waterfalls splashing down the crevices of those basalt columns. I snapped a picture of Oregon’s famed Multnomah Falls. That is a favorite spot for visitors, especially in the spring, as was indicated when the parking lot was so full that it was closed when we drove past. Our next observation was that the varying shades of...
Read more

Day Three – The Spanish River Valley and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah

Image
Today’s travel began with a trek through the Great Salt Lake valley which entailed several hours of freeway traffic through congested cities that all blur together. You can’t tell where the cities begin or end other than what the truck’s GPS indicates. This is definitely not our favorite part of traveling, however once we began to climb up the Spanish River Valley on Highway 6 we encountered scenery that was much more to our liking. The muddy Spanish Fork River has carved through layers of sedimentary rock exposing cliffs of rock blocks along with many different layers of varying thickness and hue. As we climbed sweeping turns through the Wasatch Mountain Range up to Soldier Summit, we began to gain elevation. Before long there were patches of snow tucked into crevices. We even drove through one snow flurry, although with temperatures in the mid 40’s we didn’t have to worry about snow sticking to highway. Once through the Wasatch Mountains we crossed the Wasatch valley with vau...
Read more

Day 1 – Searching for Some Sunshine

Image
We headed south from Olympia, driving through gloomy rain showers until we were well east of Portland, Oregon. Our destination? The Total Eclipse of the sun in Texas, which will occur on April 8th. That will give us about 9 days to travel the 3,000+ miles. I always forget the interesting geology that is exposed in the Columbia River gorge. The varying shapes of the basalt columns kept my interest for miles on end. Especially this time of year, spring, there were many waterfalls spraying the cliffs, and Multnomah Falls was roaring! Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host location in Echo, Oregon. The host was Echo Ridge Cellars. They have a nice flat gravel lot for Harvest Host guests.   The wines sold are pressed from their vineyard which is about 3 miles away. The building itself is my favorite part. They have restored and updated an old grain elevator. The inside of the elevator was left exposed so visitors can see the construction. It is very solid 2x6 boards stacked flat,...
Read more