A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.
Men talk of forests broad and deep
Where summer-long the shadows sleep.
Though I love forests deep and wide,
The lone tree on the bare hillside,
The brave wind-bitten lonely tree
Is rooted in the heart of me —
A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.
- Wilfred Gibson
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
ND USA
March of the Mushrooms
Having spent most of my life in places surrounded by mountains, the thought of seeing vast open spaces, or in common parlance, 'big sky country' was limited to my visits to National Parks along the eastern edge of the Rockies and the long drives across in the Great Plains. I remember my first glimpse of such a sky while hiking up to a mountain vista in Glacier National Park and looking east into the vast undulating hills of Montana. I remember seeing the land and sky stretch endlessly to the blurred horizon. The great machinations of industrial agriculture, barns, silos, harvesters and tractors were but mere dots on this landscape, where even mile long grain trains seemed like tiny caterpillars crawling across the earth.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park was another place where I got to experience this big sky country. And on that fateful day, the sky was made even more dramatic by the appearance of a chain of nascent cumulonimbus clouds stretching across the badlands and the great plains beyond. I tried to capture the light falling on the precipitation from the middle of these thunderstorm cells as they resembled mushrooms marching across the parklands.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
ND USA
A National Parks Journey - Theodore Roosevelt National Park
For me, the Dakotas, especially North Dakota, was a long forgotten part of the country. I had always considered it as a flyover state, and far away from any other tourist attractions. But it did have one National Park, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, tucked away in the western corner of the state. Its distance from major metropolitan areas (over 250mi from Billings), meant that visiting it required concerted effort, and couldn't have been just a short sidetrip on a cross country journey. Nevertheless, I ventured out to this National Park, without any expectations, as the name didn't reveal what was unique about this park.
There are two parts to this park, both of which encapsulated the Little Missouri river basin . I had planned on visiting only one. However, after spending half a day in this Park wandering around hiking trails around convoluted badlands, seeing wild horses and bison, and witnessing the big sky country, it left me wanting more. Hence, even though I didn't plan on this, I ventured out to the northern unit of the National Park, separated by miles and miles of grasslands and wheat fields.
And here, I was thoroughly taken away. I hiked through trails that wound around the beautiful country, admired colorful rock formations like this one above, and explored badlands rivaling Badlands National Park, played hide and seek with wild wildlife, and achieved a sense of peace, serenity and oneness with nature. I would have been thoroughly satisfied just spending my days under the warm summer sun in this park.
When I had first driven in to the campground, I was greeted by a friendly campground host. As we continued chatting, I asked why he choose to volunteer in this park coming all the way from Texas, his home state. He responded by just waving his arms and asked me to spend a night to understand why. I quite didn't grasp it initially. But after spending just a night there, I did.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
ND USA