The full moon and the yipping coyotes woke me up on and off throughout the night. I kept thinking I heard bison too, but it turned out just to be Cody a little congested with the dry air. Thankfully it cooled off during the night and I actually had to pull out the sleeping bags in the middle of the night. Site number 12 was a walk-in site, but well shaded and very nice. We had some pan fried granola and were on the Caprock Coulee Trail by 10:15.
The plan was to hike the dotted yellow trail north of the scenic drive and then turn around and come back. More on what actually happened later in the post.
Cody was working feverishly on the paleontologist badge. The ranger talk last night discussed how some erosion resistant layers of rock act as protecting layers for other more easily eroded layers.
The hike to the prairie dog town yesterday was nice, but between the temperature being twenty degrees cooler, 75 degrees not 95 degrees, and the rock clamoring, the kids were much happier with a hike with a hiking pole in the middle of rock and trying to find the trail than having a clearly labeled bison pie trail. Although I do have to say that with how hard the hike was yesterday being in the heat the bison pies provided some much needed potty humor and giggles to keep the kids’ feet moving.
Brooke was determined that these rocks looked like a dozen cats lying down next to each other with their front paws out.
On our way back to the car Scott spotted the herd of bison far below, but moving in our direction. Not even five minutes later, Brooke who was ahead of us all on the trail turned around and told us we needed to wait before we could continue on the trail. A bison had climbed up the rock and was eating lunch right next to the trail. Cody dealt with the situation as he deals with all situations: he hunted for rocks and crystals on the trail. The bison is the brown dot at the top of the picture above Cody’s hat.
The kids rested on a rock Brooke called Bread Loaf which was next to her other favorite rock, The Swiss Roll. Scott decided to try out a little bit of info he learned about the Bentonite Clay. He learned that it is not only edible, but also beneficial absorbing heavy metals and unhealthy materials in our body.
The bison was given twenty minutes to finish eating. The bison laid down to take a nap instead. Scott decided we would try to find a way around. We got as close as we were willing to go and discovered there were steep cliffs any other way we wanted to go. We all made suggestions on how to solve the problem. Scott’s included me making friends with the bison and getting the rest of the family around while the bison was distracted. Tempting…but no. I should have taken a picture of Cody’s suggestion, it had the steepest ledge yet. He thought we could slide down. In the end, even though we were only a half mile from finishing our hike, we decided to turn around and hike to the road. Our three mile hike turned into a 4.2 mile hike. I won’t name any names, but some in our party resorted to singing unkind songs about their parents on the super hot uphill road climb back to the car. The funny thing is one of those people singing songs had asked for a 5.2 mile hike.
We were nearing the bend close to our car and Scott yelled back, “We did it!” To which I had to sing the Dora song, “We did it! Lo hicimos!” Then Scott saw my favorite car-sick road sign and thought a picture would be nice.
The kids earned their Theodore Roosevelt National Park badge. The ranger who gave us the ranger talk last night worked with the kids and gave them their badges despite their silly giggles.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit – Theodore Roosevelt’s Cabin – Roosevelt’s writing desk from the Elkhorn Ranch
Brooke put on a dance performance in the Theodore Roosevelt Museum. The panels that held information also provided Brooke the feeling of being tucked just behind the curtains of our local theater where she does a dance performance every year. The t-shirt was worn by Theodore Roosevelt. On October 14, 1912 he was on the campaign trail in Milwaukee about to give a speech when he was shot in the chest. Instead of taking a break of medical care Roosevelt said, “I will make this speech or die.” Brooke got a little silly leaving the visitor’s center and wanted to pose with the manikin.
The picnic shelter provided us shelter for dinner as a thunderstorm rolled in. The ranger had told us golf-ball size hail was predicted. The hail only would up being pea sized, but the storm was rather intense. Thankfully we had a retired couple from Houston to chat with while we waited out the storm. The wife was very similar to me in her bathroom/shower judging of different campgrounds. She also happed to have the same food allergies as Brooke and she had the same junk food philosophy as Scott. She never eats junk food at home, doesn’t even keep it in the house, but on a camping vacation any and all junk food is consumed at all times, even right before dinner or in place of a meal. Which may have had part responsibility and led to Cody’s downfall this evening. Cody had a honeybun before his burger. He did not have the appetite to eat dinner. However the honeybun could not have been the only thing taking him down since he had a fever too.
Cody was wiped out. I couldn’t set the tent up fast enough for him. Brooke worked on her Nighttime Junior Ranger book while Cody settled into a restless sleep.
Brooke and Scott went down to the river to give Cody a change to get to sleep. Brooke came back to the tent while Scott went to attend the Ranger Talk Jeopardy. Scott came back just before the second thunderstorm.
