Bob and I planned to see as much of Theodore Roosevelt National Park as possible. Since the north unit is about seventy miles away from the camping area of the south unit, we planned to move our camp there.
That area is HUGELY into fracking. We traveled north up Highway 85 on the company of many trucks serving the fracking industry. This is going to have a huge impact on Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Already the night sky is being lighted by the many flares. And it will use up more of the limited amounts of water up there and may possibly cause even more damage to the environment.
The other big industry is agriculture. I have never seen so many hay bales per field as I did there. And the fields themselves were enormous.
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| A few of the thousands of hay bales we saw on our short trip |
We got to the north unit in time to set up our camp, have some hangout time, then eat supper before we took the auto tour. This unit seemed prettier to me, perhaps because I did hike into it more and saw it much closer up.
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| More petrified wood |
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| A long view |
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| Another view |
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| Just getting prettier |
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| Characteristic colors of the badlands here |
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| Another view |
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| Sage, grass, and cliffs |
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| Typical landscape |
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| The setting sun set off the golden colors |
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| The Little Missouri River |
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| Detail of the mountain |
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| Another view of the Little Missouri |
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| Overlook of the Little Missouri |
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| Wash up time |
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| Another badlands view |
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| Concretion |
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| These mountains almost looked like old dwellings |
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| Cannon ball concretions |
Note: A concretions is just minerals that make a kind of cement.
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| Close up of a concretion |
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| This view just before sunset |
I'm finishing this blog after five days on the Boundary Waters. We are having a wonderful time but had to come out to take one of our party to the airport in Duluth so he can get back to work next week. The rest of us will go back for three more days, then come out and camp out near Ely so we can show Natalie the Wolf Center, the museum of the Root Beer Lady, and the Bear Center.
Amazing!!! Breathtaking!!! It is like you are in another world! Simply stunning!!
ReplyDeleteBrian Head Utah
I was just asking myself what the heck a concretion was when you provided the answer! Learned something new today, thanks much.
ReplyDeleteWow, Marilyn, such spectacular, breathtaking views! Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDelete