Glacier National Park 2020

We spent several days in Columbia Falls, Montana, as a base to visit nearby Glacier National Park.  All the park entrances on the east side were closed to protect the Blackfoot Reservation during Covid-19.  Due to the closures, the Going-To-The-Sun Road was only open to the Rising Sun area near the middle of Saint Mary Lake.  Despite the closure we found the Going-To-The-Sun Road packed with visitors, with lots of traffic and extremely limited parking available.

On our first drive we noticed a minor haze, likely resulting from the western wildfires, but the scenery was still spectacular.

We couldn't see what water source was feeding this waterfall.

We thought this park information sign was a bit different from the usual signs.

On our next drive over the Going-To-The-Sun Road, the smoky haze was noticeably heavier.

While there were many wildflowers visible along the road, there usually was no safe place to stop and take pictures.  One area had dense patches of Fireweed that was nearing the end of its blooming season.

McDonald Creek

McDonald Falls

Theodore Roosevelt National Park - Ranch Unit

The most remote unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the Ranch Unit, where Roosevelt had owned and operated a cattle ranch as a young man.  The road is many miles of dirt road which turned out be in great shape the day we visited.

Views from the site where the ranch house once stood.

The only thing to mark where the house had been were a few large, flat foundation stones.

After leaving the Ranch Unit, we stopped along the road to have some lunch.

At our lunch spot, we had a closeup view of a round hay bale ...

.. and some roadside wildflowers.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

The entrance to the South Unit was only a couple of miles from our RV park, but the entrance to the North Unit was about a 70 mile drive north, so we only visited it once.

Much of the North Unit encompasses a valley of the Little Missouri River and its floodplain.

The river valley is bounded by colorful eroded bluffs.

A petrified log eroding out of a cliff

The CCC built the stone building at the Riverbend Overlook in the 1930s.

There were lots of Cottonwood trees on the river's floodplain.

One of the more unique spots in this unit was the Cannonball Concretions, where groundwater had formed large, spheroid mineral concretions underground which were now being exposed by erosion.

The bluff where the concretions are found

Some of the exposed concretions

A few colorful insects on blossoms

And more bison claiming the roadway

Theodore Roosevelt National Park - South Unit

We spent a few days camped near Medora, North Dakota, in order to explore the three units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park  These images are from our visits to the South Unit.

Early morning view from Boots RV Park

The park has many bison and they seem to feel entitled to use the roads as they please.

One day we found some hanging out in this open corral.

Another group near the river

The South Unit also has many wild horses.  This is the first group we spotted.

As we drove through the unit, we saw different bands of horses.

The south unit has a lot of semi-badlands terrain.

Devil's Tower 2020

After leaving the Black hills, we spent one night at the KOA next to Devil's Tower.  Since this campground has a good view of Devil's Tower, I made myself get up early and catch the dawn light.

Pre-dawn view of Devil's Tower

Imminent sunrise

First light on the Tower

Full morning light