Medora, ND

We decided to take a drive today on the eastern portion of the Custer Trail Auto Tour. Our first stop was the Painted Canyon Visitor Center (it was closed).  We took the trail down to the bottom of the canyon and had this view for a reward.

Between yesterday and today, we have spotted herds of feral horses, numerous bison, a herd of pronghorn antelope, a rattlesnake, rabbits, a coyote, deer and prairie dogs.

Jason likes to climb up on the rocks and there were plenty on this hike.

He climbed up to the black band and brought down some coal!

Jason even likes to jump up on the little bumps.

And some of the larger bumps…

He spotted this bison with her calf across the ravine in the distance.  I guess we will have to cut the hike a little short, we don’t want to get near a mother and baby bison.

We found a bench and sat for a few minutes enjoying the view from the bottom.

Can you spot Cathy on the bench in this photo?

After climbing back up the hill to the truck, we continued on to the first stop of the Custer Trail, the Easy Hill Overlook.  I took this panorama of the view that Custer scanned, looking for landmarks that would identify the route they would follow in 1873.  The road and oil drilling facilities were built much later.  The trail leading to this viewpoint was unidentifiable as we were probably the first of a very few that made the trek this year.

We stopped at the Easy Hill Camp site at the right side of this photo a little while later. This campsite housed hundreds of troops on foot and horseback, wagons filled with weapons, ammunition and supplies along with herds of livestock.

Next up was a two mile detour up the canyon to see the Initial Rock, where William C. Williams and Frank Neely (assigned to rear guard duty) found the time to carve their names into a sandstone bluff in 1876.  They were both assigned to the infamous 7th Cavalry.

This was an unusual rock formation that Jason found climbing behind the Initial Rock.

We hit a little traffic on the way back to Medora.  It must have been rush hour.  They were pretty stubborn, we had to get out of the truck and “help” them off the roadway.

We spotted this playground the previous day and promised Jason a little time to explore. Overall it was a pretty neat playground facility built for the local children.  Jason was by himself here as it was getting a little warm.

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This is someone who really likes wind sculptures.  These were behind a home in Medora.

Tomorrow Jason and I plan on hiking the Jones Creek Trail,  a cross-country trek inside the National Park.