|Theodore Roosevelt National Park in
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燦， 曲線分外美麗! 此情此景，自然風蝕地貌，大自然的力量斧鑿出
Painted Canyon at sunset time in South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (T. Roosevelt NP) in North
Dakota, USA. As part of our 13-day tour of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, we drove
from South Dakota to North Dakota on August 26, 2008 and toured the South Unit of T. Roosevelt NP on the
afternoon of August 26.
A mother deer and two baby deer in T. Roosevelt NP
Scenery in South Unit of T. Roosevelt NP
Scenery in T. Roosevelt NP
View from Bentonitic Clay Overlook in North Unit
Some wild (feral) horses in T. Roosevelt NP
Unforgettable experience of roaming with a big herd of bisons
Another view of the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The colorful North Dakota badlands
provides the scenic backdrop to this national park which memorializes the 26th president of USA, Theodore
Roosevelt, for his enduring contributions to the conservation of our nation's resources. He became more and
more alarmed by the damage that was being done to the land and its wildlife. He witnessed the virtual
destruction of some big game species. Overgrazing destroyed the grasslands and with them the habitats for
small mammals and songbirds. Conservation increasingly became one of Roosevelt's major concerns. When
he became President in 1901, Roosevelt pursued this interest in natural history by establishing the first 51 Bird
Reserves, 4 Game Preserves, and 150 National Forests. He also established the U.S. Forest Service, signed
into law the creation of 5 National Parks, and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act under which he proclaimed 18
national monuments. The area of the United States placed under public protection by Theodore Roosevelt
totals approximately 230 million acres . Theodore Roosevelt is considered by many to be our "Conservationist
More views of the baby deer and mother deer in T. Roosevelt NP
Views in North Unit
Sceneries in South Unit
Many bisons on huge area of wide open National Grasslands
Two of several wild turkeys near the picnic area
View from River Bend Overlook - Little Missouri River flowing through both South Unit and North Unit
One of many prairie dogs in T. Roosevelt NP
Two views of Painted Canyon during early afternoon.
Two of many antelopes (pronghorns) on the huge grasslands that we saw when we were driving in South
Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming in this 13-day trip. In such huge and wide open National Grasslands,
there is no place to hide from predators, the antelope uses speed to survive. The antelope is the fastest
running animal in western hemisphere, having been clocked at 70 mph. More and better photos of antelopes
from this 13-day trip can be seen at my Travelogue web page at:
The habit of burrowing is widespread on the grasslands. The most obvious burrowing animal is the prairie dog.
Burrows provide excellent shelter from predators and the weather extremes. Prairie dog colonies, or towns,
are great places to see wildlife since they attract a variety of other species including eagles, swift fox and
Cannonball Concretions are cannonball-shaped mass of sedimentary rock material that was cemented
together to form a structure harder than the surrounding sediments. The surrounding sediments slowly erode
away, exposing the concretion as shown in these photos.
A bird with red head
Wide open grasslands in North Dakota and South Dakota. Such view reminds us of the "cattle drive and the
open range" cattle industry of the 1880's. During that period, legendary large herd of longhorn cattle were
driven north from Texas by cowboys to fatten on the lush grasslands of the northern plains.
A small herd of the legendary "Texas longhorn cattle" is maintained in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt
Wide open grasslands and farm fields when we were driving from South Dakota to North Dakota - the sense
of openness is overwhelming. The vast open prairies are naturalist's paradise.
In driving from South Dakota to North Dakota, we drove through the little town of Belle Fourche in South
Dakota. It is known as the The Geographic Center of the 50-State USA including Hawaii and Alaska.
We also saw such oil rig along the highway from time to time while driving in North Dakota. Later on we
realize that Western North Dakota has some of the richest oil and natural gas reserves in the world — part of
the vast Bakken Formation, a geologic superfund of sorts holding billions of barrels of oil, almost all of it
reachable only through controversial fracking. The estimated total reserve of shale oil in USA is five times that
of traditional crude oil in Saudi Arabia. The Williston Basin, also known as the Bakken, is a geological
formation covering North Dakota as well as parts of South Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan (Canada).
The largest contiguous oilfield in the U.S., the Williston has the potential to be the largest oil producing field in
the world over the next 30 years.
During the height of its oil boom from 2006 to 2012, North Dakota produced over a million barrels per day,
more than any state besides Texas.
This is also a common view of wide open farm field along the highways in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Sometimes the hays are in cylindrical rolls and sometimes in rectangular blocks.
Our 13-Day driving tour is a large loop starting and ending at Rapid City in South Dakota, USA. The sequence
of Point of Interest on this large tour loop is the following:
Rapid City in South Dakota --------> Centered at Rapid City for 3 days and toured Mount Rushmore National
Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial, Badland National Park (NP), needle mountains and wildlife in Custer State
Park, Wind Cave NP, and Jewel Cave National Monument --------> Roosevelt NP South Unit in North Dakota
---------> Roosevelt NP North Unit in North Dakota --------> Drove on I-94 to go west along Yellowstone River
in Montana --------> Cody in Wyoming --------> Tour Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP in Wyoming for 4
Days ---------> Drove on Highway 14 to go East to see wild horses and touring Big Horn Mountain Range and
Devil's Tower in Wyoming ---------> Rapid City in South Dakota
How I use information age technologies to enhance my enjoyment greatly of sightseeing large driving tour
loop of thousands of miles and of one to two weeks in duration covering many Points of Interest is described
on my web page at: