Day 9: Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND - Lewistown, MT

This morning I woke up about 8 times before I actually got up, mostly because my toes were frozen to the point past numb where they throb and feel like they are falling off. Sub 30 degree temperature.....

I got out at 8AM for the Scenic Loop Road of TR NP, all of 30-ish miles of viewpoints and short hiking trails. The foliage in the park was nice, but there wasn't enough of that kind of growth to make it as colorful as the day before in Spearfish Canyon. I had decided that the one thing that I wanted to see in the park was wild horses, since I am a horse lover, and the idea of untouched, still all-natural horses makes me happy.

At first I was starting to get pessimistic, thinking that I hadn't seen any movement or life at all, with the exception of the millions of prairie dogs everywhere. I decided to pull off the road at a path and climb a hill to see if I could get a better look at the fields below. Lucky me. There was a herd of wild horses eating in the field about 200 yards north of me, and I found a cactus free spot on my hill and sat watching and photographing them. I sat for probably an hour or so, and heard nothing but birds, bees, and a slight breeze. It felt so peaceful and right to be a part of nature there, and not within some manmade bubble. Of course I did get back into my car when I was done.

I continued on the loop, stopping off at the viewpoints. The park reminded me a little bit of Badlands, and so I almost felt like I had seen in all before. I was finished by around 12:30, and took off for Montana at that point. The drive through eastern Montana was very similar to the drive through northern SD and southern ND: nothing but uninhabited (but for the cows) prairie as far as the eye could see. As soon as I got close to my destination town (Lewistown, MT), though, the landscape began to change again, and beautiful blue mountains rose from suddenly vividly green land (compared to the brown prairie). The Judith Mountains. Very pretty.

Tomorrow I will head in to Glacier National Park, and keep my eyes peeled for BEARS!

More photos at http://gallery.me.com/caseys_travels (select TRNP album)