Get Happy

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a favorite of mine. This time we explored the North Unit. You can see the Little Missouri River winding its way through the badlands in the background of the picture.

I'm wearing my buffalo t-shirt which is very appropriate because we later drove very close to a big herd of bison in the park. That was awesome and it made me very happy.

Maah Daah Hey

The Maah Daah Hey Trail winds for 144 miles through the badlands of western North Dakota. We hiked a small portion of it on this trip. Pretty cool. (Actually, it was a hot day.)

The name of the trail means "an area that has been or will be around for a long time" in the Mandan language. I'm sure it will since it's protected by the federal government. More information at: http://mdhta.com/

ND High Point

It took a few backroads to get here, but we climbed North Dakota's White Butte (3,506 ft.), the state's high point. It was a pretty easy climb with a great view of the surrounding prairie. It's the second state high point that I've bagged after Harney Peak in South Dakota which we did in 2017. Dad has slightly greater bragging rights than me because he's been to the top of Mt. Whitney in California.

(Harney Peak has since been renamed Black Elk Peak after the Oglala Lakota leader.)

Badlands

Badlands National Park in South Dakota is a most unusual place. I love the spectacularly eroded landscape and the grasslands too.

We took a hike and even saw a Bighorn sheep. We also met some people who were having fun with "geocaching", a sport that I'm not sure I fully understand.

Aesthetics

One of this country's hidden gems is the Niobrara National Scenic Riverway in Nebraska. It's officially a "wild and scenic" river with no dams and many recreational opportunities. We camped in a state park right next to the water and even though it rained a lot the day we were there it was still a beautiful place. We also saw Smith Falls, the tallest waterfall in the state.

The interesting thing about the Niobrara is that it's a prairie river. Its source is not some faraway stream high in the Rocky Mountains. Instead its waters bubble up from the ground in eastern Wyoming, fed by the Ogallala Aquifer.

Now this raises a question for me. Are the "marquee" vacation spots necessarily better? Is Smith Falls less scenic than Yosemite Falls? Does remote Picture Canyon in Colorado have to play second fiddle to the Grand Canyon? Do the Monument Rocks automatically have less grandeur than El Capitan? I'm not so sure. Maybe it's just a matter of scale.

The whole world is beautiful if you look at it right.

Monuments Men

Many of the interesting sights in the Great Plains can be found on private property (thank you Homestead Act of 1862). Fortunately, landowners in these parts are generous about granting public access. Case in point: the Monument Rocks in Gove County, Kansas. These limestone monoliths were once part of an ancient seabed that covered what is now rolling prairie. There were about a zillion swallow nests built onto the rocks high up. Somehow each bird knew exactly which one to return to to feed their young.

We did a good job of following the rules here: don't leave trash and don't harass the cattle.

Bioluminescence

That's a big word...

Western Kansas is pretty hot and humid in the summer, but we found a nice state park and camped next to a lake. You know what we saw? Fireflies! I had never seen them before. We don't have them in California so it was really cool. I think they're my second favorite small creature after the Salt Creek pupfish in Death Valley.

I noticed that some people from the Midwest call them "lightning bugs."