Medora, ND/Theordore Roosevelt National Park

 Yesterday we arrived  Medora, ND in time to be able to go to dinner and theatre.  We had Pitchfork Steak Fondue and saw the Medora Musical.  The reason the Pitchfork Steak Fondue is significant for us is when we visited 12 years ago with the boys we had lots of fun saying it in all different accents.  However, at that time the backstage tour for four was more reasonable than the Pitchfork Steak Fondue.  So now that it is the two of us, we had to give it a try.  It was yummy and was accompanied by a buffet of sides.  They also had live music the whole time we were eating.

After dinner we went to see the Medora Musical.  It is an outdoor amphitheater that was built in 1958.  Their enduring theme for the show is Faith, Family and Freedom.  The performers are the Burning Hills Singers and Dancers consisting of 12 performers.  These are generally different people each summer.  There was also a live band of 6.  Dave and I thought it was funny that one member of the band was from Colts Neck, NJ and one was from Philadelphia.  I am always impressed by the dancing and how people can move their body so smoothly and eloquently no matter whether they are doing a slow dance or hoedown dance.  The show was narrated by “Teddy Roosevelt” , a local actor who portrays him for many things.  They have one “outside” act that performs during the show and last night it was a ventriloquist.  He was silly, but it was fun hearing the kids laugh.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable old style show that just made you smile.

Today, Wednesday, 7/10 we hiked part of the Lower Paddock Trail.  When we got out of the car, there was a herd of Bison on the hill.  First sighting on our trip.

Along the trail were lots of prairie dogs.  They are fun to watch.  You hear them sending out a warning when they see you coming and they scurry right by their holes.  Then they kind of hang there waiting til you get too close for their comfort and then they scoot down the hill.  We even saw one with a mouth full of grass.  I don’t know whether it was going to be food or bedding.  One I was watching went down in the hole and then must have been digging because all you saw were bits of dirt flying up out of the hole.  For some reason, that just cracked me up.  We heard lots of birds along the way and Dave got a quick glimpse of a snake. 

Not sure what this is a print from, but they said there were coyote in the area.  It was quite a distinct print.

So before I tell you about the most interesting part of the hike, here are a few other photos.

On the way back on the hike we discovered that the herd of  bison had moved from the parking lot area to an area along the trail.  We saw one bison rub up against the trial marker.  Notice in the second picture you can see the trail and that the bison are across it.  Needless to say we moved off the trail and waited until they decided to move on.  It was our 20 minute bison delay.  

Later in the day we went to the Ranger talk about Teddy Roosevelt and his time in North Dakota on his ranches and how it lead to his conservation efforts and to him being the president who created National Monuments.  The ranger said that there were 30-60 million bison.  However, between hunting and the attempt to run native americans out, the bison were down to 300.  Roosevelt wanted to make sure he was able to hunt one before they disappeared.  That struck me as odd since he loved animals.  The ranger told a couple stories about Roosevelt.  How he came to the area and bought land and was active in the care of the land.  His downfall in the area was one winter 70-80% of the livestock died, which cost him $750,000 in today’s dollars.  He went back to New York after that and back to politics.

Once again, hiking boots and a tilley hat make for a great day.