Day 23 - From National Park to Boom Town

We sure are getting our money's worth from the National Park Pass we purchased before starting the trip!

This morning we left Billings and headed east for North Dakota and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

Good-bye, Montana.  Hello North Dakota!

Obligatory old building picture

All of a sudden the scenery started looking like we were in Utah or Wyoming.

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Teddy Roosevelt

Petrified tree 

Maltese Cross Cabin 

Roosevelt's Conservation Legacy

Scoria

Badlands in North Dakota

And now we know who was leaving huge poop piles in the road!

Beautiful wild horses

Coal Vein Trail - From 1951 to 1977 an underground fire burned here in a coal seam. The intense heat baked the adjacent clay and sand, greatly altering the appearance of the terrain. 

The beginning of our hike.

A beautiful tree along the way.

Evidence!

A pretty bird handing out on a hoodoo.

A clinker

Wind Canyon

Throughout the park there are several flat areas labeled "Prairie Dog Town".  Well sure enough, there are zillions of holes and mounds all over the place and these little tan prairie dogs popping up, scurrying into their holes, etc.  (I think they are so cute, but was quickly reminded they are pests.  Horses and livestock step in their holes and break their legs.)

Beef Corral

Where the buffalo roam

More prairie dogs

Buffalo/Bison 

Look like pyramids, right?

More prairie dogs!!

Painted Canyon is part of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park

A very pretty place!

 After our time through the park, we headed toward Dickinson, ND for the night.  I had no idea it was becoming a 'boom town'.  Why?  They are drilling for oil here.  (This article is from 1995.)  A few of the locals we talked to are not too happy.  Neighborhoods are being overrun with new housing developments, restaurants and hotels are price gauging.  (Here is an article from late last year.)  North Dakota is now the 4th largest oil producing state in the nation.

A few of the derricks we could see from the road.

While I am all for being self-sufficient...

...this is how I'd like to remember the beautiful landscape we've spent the past three weeks exploring.