Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Lake Itasca Notes

 Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Lake Itasca Notes 

Left Glacier National Park behind. As vertical as was Glacier, northern Montana was horizontal. Flat land. Range land. Gain in elevation, or was it a loss, west to east maybe six inches. Could see the mountains of Glacier in the rear view mirror maybe 50 miles. The land, though, has its own, simply empty aesthetic. We saw pronghorns and longhorns. What’s left is bighorns. We hope to add them to our “large animal bucket list” at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We hear that they haunt the badlands there. But first we have to travel through these Montana plains, and the busy oil fields of northwest North Dakota. 

After all that driving, the park was an oasis of peace and rugged beauty. Dedicated to Teddy Roosevelt who had a ranch in these parts, the Park is a tribute to the man who preserved many naturally beautiful places as national parks and monuments. We set up camp, hearing from folks that bison had been our campsite’s residents the day before. Took a hike along the Little Missouri River and saw a herd of longhorn cattle, as well as a small herd of bison, and a solitary mule deer. Smelled sage and sweet clover along the trail, which was intersected by bison trails. Spoke with a ranger who pointed out locations on the map where he had last seen bighorn sheep. Spoke with a life-long resident of the area who said that all the clamor of the oil boom has caused her Mayberry of a town, unfortunately, to never again be the same. 

We met Aaron and Amy who had driven from Wisconsin to meet us here. We took an auto tour of the park, and, upon our return to the campsite, a bison came out of the thicket across the road from our camp, and passed close by. Aaron had first spotted the mountainous mammal and I fired off some pictures. We had a burrito meal - mmm- cooked by Amy, and spent the hot afternoon catching up with them while moving with the shade from our lone cottonwood. We took a second auto tour in the evening light, and saw a motherlode of wildlife: 2 deer, 23 bighorns, 25 bison, a rattlesnake, all with coyotes howling in the distance. The sure-footed bighorns disappeared like phantoms in the waning light down a steep draw.

Celebrated Aaron and Amy’s third anniversary, said good bye to the bison and prairie dogs, and hit the trail again for Minnesota’s Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Aaron and Amy, traveling faster than our rig, arrived at the lake campgrounds just in time to secure the last available campsite. Not only that, they cooked supper for us as well. (Remind me to travel with them again!) We took something called a “shower” where you stand under warm water for awhile and remove accumulated western dust. What a nice idea! Enjoyed a campfire, and listened to loon calls on the lake. Spent a couple days at this northwoods lake. It was interesting to think that the lake water we waded in would eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico. Those guys kayaked the lake, and we mellowed out. Then fish were grilled by Aaron, burritos by Patti, and appetites by Tom and Amy.