A half-hour drive on a dirt road was the first part of our trek to see the petrified “forest” here in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The final road to the parking lot has big ruts and would be a mess after rainfall. We walked through rolling hills prairie, badlands outcropping with the petrified wood, and then flat prairie at the top. It is open pasture with evidence of bison everywhere, but we didn’t see any today.

The gate was really well balanced with a big coiled spring to allow for very little sideways lifting effort. Never used one like it before!

The petrified wood was very cool—just looked like partial logs and tree stumps but were very clearly rock when you touched it. The bison must be pretty agile as we found their prints in unexpected places around the petrified wood.

It was hot, and we consumed our three water bottles on this 6 mile hike. Then we downed more when we got back to the van where the cats were sleeping in air-conditioned comfort. We used about 20% of our batteries running the air for them during the two hours we were gone. Knowing it might be hot like this, I did make sure we were in a campsite with an electrical hookup.

We waited out the heat of the day plugged in for Tony to work, then moved to the shade in the town park for supper. Our evening stroll started out hot, but the wind picked up and rain was threatening by the time we got back to the van. We walked part of a bike trail, then to the De Mores Chateau (it was closed) and then up a steep hill to the site of the Medora Musical and the Pitchfork Steak Fondue restaurant. We knew this must be a money-maker as the road was paved when most side roads in this area are dirt roads. The hill was excellent exercise:)