Traveling Team Fischer

All this time, we were under the impression that the national park to visit if you wanted to see buffalo was Yellowstone.  While they do have a significant number of these magnificent creatures, their numbers pale in comparison to what we saw at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Once we were in the area of the park they favored, we saw these animals are roaming in herds that seemed to go on forever.  They had more open spaces that you could easily see from your vehicle, and like their Yellowstone cousins, they seemed to tolerate our attention, as long as we kept a safe distance.  We didn’t know this was something we’d see in this park, and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to see so many healthy buffalo everywhere.  It was the highlight of the park for us.  They are so plentiful, and seemingly relaxed, that apparently some people think they are big fluffy cows or something, and try to approach and pet them.  The park has updated their signage to remind folks to keep wildlife wild.

A first for us at this park was seeing turkeys roosting in trees.  We startled a few as we were leaving our campsite one morning.  We’ve seen these birds in quite a few places across the country, but they’ve always been foraging in the tall grasses, in people’s yards, or just along the roadways.

 The park has so many different terrains, and one of the more beautiful is the badlands.  This is the kind of vista we like.  Great formations in rock and clay, no signs of civilization for miles, and plenty of wildlife just doing their thing.