Medora Campground (by Caleb)

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When we then arrived at Medora campground in North Dakota, mom was really exited that we got a tree at our campsite because the highest temperature was forecast to be 106 degrees!

It was a nice campground with close bathrooms, cheap laundry, a playground, and the national park was only thee minutes away. When we got there we put the out the slides and eventually had dinner and went to bed.

The next day we went to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitor center and learned about the park. Then later that night we went on a scenic drive in the national park and saw bison for the first time in the wild...



... prairie dogs...


 ... and a coyote.

Then we came home and went to bed. The next day we went on another scenic drive. Here are some pictures from it:





When we were on the scenic drive we really wanted to see a bison. Well it turns out they are not rare in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. In fact they are so common that we got in bison jams, which is exactly what it sounds like!






From what we've seen on this RV trip, I think bison are my favorite animal. Fun fact: the scientific name for bison is bison bison. Look it up!

The next day we had some screen time than we went to a herpetology ranger talk and learned what "herping" is. It's going out in the night and looking for night creatures. A common way to herp is going out on a road at night and seeing what you can find. So when you're on a driveway or a road and you're looking out for toads, that's herping. Reptiles come onto the road to absorb the heat from the day that the asphalt has absorbed.

The next day while mom made brownies, Asher, Jordan, and I played with two girls: a two year old and a little girl named Nora. Then the two girls invited us over for ice cream so we went over and had ice cream and peaches (they had peaches too).

After we were done we played on the playground until we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park because we were going on a trail called the lower paddock trail. We saw plenty of prairie dogs and we saw a snake. After that, mom saw a cactus! Later we realized there were a lot more cacti! Also there was a good view.




Then we came home late (going to bed at ten or eleven was getting pretty common) and we went to bed. In the morning it was cloudy and it really cooled down. We really didn't do much except screen time so I will skip to tomorrow.

The next day we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park but we went to the north unit. Confusing? Here is the north unit:

File:NPS theodore-roosevelt-north-unit-map.jpg

Here is the south unit:

File:NPS theodore-roosevelt-south-unit-map.pdf

We were close to the south unit so we had to drive a long way to get to the north unit, but we saw a lot and did a lot here. First we went to the Painted Canyon visitor center and saw some great views.



Then we continued on to the north unit and had a nice picnic. Then we went to a place called cannon ball concretions, an odd formation.


Then we did a beautiful trail. We went to an overlook and got some amazing views from the trail and the overlook.







Then after a few more trails and overlooks we went home. Here is a bunch of photos from the whole north unit.







Longhorn steer









Then we went home and went to bed late.

In the morning we left to Hidden Lake campground, but on the way we went to Mount Rushmore and had ice cream!


Then we continued to Hidden Lake campground (guess what, we went to bed late).
Location: Medora Campground, 3370 Pool Dr, Medora, ND 58645, USA

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