I'm Here!

After finishing finals, packing my horse trailer plum full and driving 11 hours north....I am finally here. My Dad made the drive with me and we have had a wonderful last two days. The horses are all well and officially road warriors. Our drive started Friday morning at 10am as we pulled chalks and got comfy for our trip. Eastern Wyoming was beautiful along the South Dakota border. The road was littered with cattle companies signs and BIG ranches. After traversing through a tip of the Black Hills, we finally came to the flat full of antelope, turkeys, pheasants and black cattle. Buffalo started to appear out the right side of the window, then elk and then the Bad Lands. It was amazing, like a piece of Utah got dropped in the middle of nowhere North Dakota.

You drive up on the edge and then it drops out from underneath you into this cavernous place. How fortunate we were coming in at the time we did. Animals were everywhere starting to graze and suddenly I was rejuvenated from the 10 hour haul. We pulled in Medora around 8pm ....note to self, the gas station in town closes at 8PM!! We lucked out and the kind lady turned the pump back on for us. The ranch was still 15 miles off West River Road ... 11 cattle guards later, we were there.

Ted and Kay met us outside to help unload horses and after getting them all settled in , we went in for a beer and a quick chat. They took us over to the cabin and it wasn't long before the lights were out. Next morning, all I could think about were the horses. I got up and went out side only to be yelled at by a turkey! They are everywhere on the ranch and bigger than I ever remembered a turkey to be. Pretty wild. My Dad and I unloaded all our goods into the cabin and went over to check on the ponies before heading into town. After making the relentless trip to the Dickenson Walmart (1 hours away) we came back to Medora to check out the little town where Teddy Roosevelt once ranched. Mike, the wildlife biologist I will be working under, met us at the park office to visit and gave me a few maps of the area. We ate at Boots Bar before heading to the park for a drive. Pictures below speak for themselves.

Things are just starting to green up. By June, this place will be green with new growth. Last night we made it back to the ranch around 7pm and took a drive with the Teschers to go check some cows. Ted had found a dead one earlier with a bellowing calf at her side. The four of us tried to catch the 3 week old calf but he was too quick so we let him be for the night. They then took us up to the plateau where you could see chimney bute to the north. With the 4 of us squeezed in the frount seat of their single cab, Ted told stories of ranching, growing up rodeoing, and raising kids in the country. Dusk was painting the badlands - it was a beautiful and memorable way to end our first day in North Dakota.