Out the door early real early this morning, 5am, off to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in our rental rocket sedan. Started at the south east visitor center and although it was closed the view was incredible. After pictures and oohs and ahs we headed further on to the west entrance where we got on the loop road. Being so early there were very few on the road with us. Besides seeing the incredible landscape we soon encountered our first bison, a large male. He was just off to the side trying to scratch his head on the rocky embankment and on some bushes. At one point a branch broke off and it and the leaves were stuck between his horn and head. A bit further we came upon large fields with hundreds of prairie dogs scurrying from burrow to burrow.
In one of these fields was a herd of bison, I’d estimate 60+. We spent a good while there watching. (A ranger told us that these animals are American bison not to be confused with the separate species of buffalo which are found in Africa.)
We later found out that there are about 400 bison in the park along with 200 wild horses and yes we saw some of them too.
