Enchanted Highway

Took a ride to the Enchanted Highway, round trip was about four hours long. I would have like to put the pic's in correct order based on the date of the sculptures but again I am in town using a free wifi and don't have a lot of time.
Geese In Flight 2001
Raised in June 2001, it is in the Guinness World Book Of Records as the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. It was built of used oil well pipe and tanks. It weighs just over 75 tons.
The sun ray is 156 feet long and 110 feet tall. The largest goose has a 30 foot wing span and is 19 feet long.

The Deer Family 2002
Completed in 2001 and erected in 2002 this sculpture was constructed from old oil well tanks cut apart and welded together to form the shadow design. To fit through the streets of Regent, the buck’s front leg had to be cut off and rewelded on site. The buck is 75 feet tall and 60 feet long. The doe measures 50 feet tall by 50 feet long.

Grasshoppers In The Field 1999
The Grasshoppers In The Field was the fourth site erected and went up in the summer of 1999. They are a reminder of the hardships the farmers have overcome while making their living off the land.
The sculpture was welded from old fuel and oil well tanks. The larger grasshopper is 50 feet long and 40 feet tall.

Fisherman’s Dream 2006
This sculpture is a three dimensional sculpture that is constructed out of tin to form seven fish. In the fish swimming under the water scene, one can see a small mouth bass, walleye, catfish, northern, salmon, and blue gill which measure thirty feet long. The fish jumping out of the water is a 70 foot long rainbow trout.

Pheasants On The Prairie 1996
This sculpture took three years to complete. The rooster stands 40 feet high and 70 feet long. The Hen is 35 feet tall and 60 feet long, and the chicks are 15 feet tall and 20 feet long. The construction consists of a series of circular rings and piping to create the body frame. The frame work was then covered with heavy wire mesh.

Teddy Rides Again 1993
This sculpture is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt’s part in North Dakota’s history. The sculpture was built of used well pipe. Teddy and his favorite horse ”Mulley”, stand 51 feet tall and weigh over 9000 pounds. It stands just south of Black Butte which is 3112 feet above sea level.

The Tin Family 1991

The Tin Family was the first sight erected on the Enchanted Highway. Built from used farm equipment, the area farmers spent hours of labor and welding to complete this initial achievement.
The Tin Pa stands 45 feet and is held up by 16 telephone poles. The Tin Ma has barbwire for hair, is 44 feet tall and is held up by 12 telephone poles. Junior is a mere 23 feet tall.

Ma

Pa

Jr.

Entering the town where it all started.

Main street but don't blink or you'll miss it.

Oh yes, there is a gift shop.

Theodore Roosvelt National Park South

We are at Cottonwood Campground at the south End of Roosevelt Nation Park. There is no cell or Internet service here so I have not been able to post daily. I am sitting in town running low on battery power. So this will be a quick post. The weather has been great and North Dakota is getting prettier.

As we approached the Park exit I had to pass this guy so Joyce could get the shot of how they truck out here. That is one rig, three trailers
As we pulled into the town of Medora, we were surprised how small the town is.

Next right is the entrance to the park.

We made it, site #17

Prairie Dogs are everywhere in the park.

We took a ride along the park road to see what wildlife we could see and we came upon this view. I must say that this is one of my favorite pictures.

The two pictures below show some of the Badlands.

Then we came upon some wild horses.

There was an overlook at the top of a summit, nice view!

From the summit we saw what might have been Buffalo and I took the shot below.

Then we came up on some more wild horses.

And more!

A short video of the Badlands

A short video of an awesome storm that missed us.

Giddyup

We are staying an extra day here in Little Missouri State Park so Joyce can go horseback riding.

So at 8:00 am she signed up for the three hour ride that starts at 10:00 am.

The horse stable is only about 50 yards behind us so I walked over to get some pictures of her and give her the camera so she could take it with her. The ride will take them down to the base of the canyon.

At 10:00 there were about fourteen riders saddled up and ready to go. There was also a stable hand at the lead, a couple within the line and one at the end of the line. Everyone was given instructions on how to handle the horse and what to expect along the trail.

At this point the ride began and I sat on a fence post saying my goodbyes because I was staying behind. As the last of the riders began to past me things went horribly wrong. The last horse which was carrying one of the ranch hands began to buck really bad. Being an experienced rider, he did his best to control his horse but the horse ultimately won out and the rider was tossed from his saddle.

The riders name was Steve and as Steve fell from the horse he toppled backwards landing directly on his head. It was a hard fall that pushed his head back. I ran to him along with a few other people one being his wife. Steve didn't really know what happened to him and he wanted to get up but we convinced him to stay still and relax while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.

As far as I know Steve ended up with a slight concussion and is one lucky cowboy.

The riders continued on their ride after things settled down.

Joyce took pictures as they rode along. Occasionally Joyce would fall back a little so she could trot her horse Maverick.
The terrain changed as they rode along
Then it was break time. Maverick is savoring the fresh greenery.

This really looks like horse country.
More scenery!

Another shot as taken from the horse.

Follow the leader.

Up the hill from the drivers seat.

The neighbors dog, a Siberian Husky named Copper even joined in for the journey as they headed back to the stable.

Joyce really enjoyed the three plus hours it took for the round trip ride and may do it again when we get to Cottonwood campground in Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the South entrance. We will be heading there first thing in the morning because it fills up fast.

Update: We just found out that the ranch hand that was thrown from his horse suffered from a broken collar bone, and a broken finger. Lucky it wasn't his neck.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

As we approached the Park, there was this sign posted at an overlook. At the above sign you can look down and see the North entrance of the park.
I forgot to get a shot of the park entrance. The park contains a beautiful Juniper Campground that can handle any size RV but note that there are no services. You can fill up your water tank and dump you waste tanks. There are usually Bison roaming in the campground but we didn't see any.
The sign warns of the Bison and you must be extra careful as we were told that it is mating season and the bulls are competing for the prettiest cow,.
A view of the river as it passes through the park.
Now this was really cool, there are all sorts of round and odd shaped rock sticking out like they were baked in there.

This shot only shows a small sample of some of the rocks.

Here's a closeup, neat huh!

This is the cattle trail used to drive cattle during the 1080's

The trail to the right

And the trail to the left.

I didn't get the story on this small hut overlooking the canyon. Great view!

And this is the canyon

Man and Grass, it's amazing how great man is at destroying.

The plains are beautiful and the air has a sweet odor to it.

Bentonitic Clay!

You can see the clay described above. Apparently a Glacier passed through here.

I'm amazed that they can get all that information from the two small rock sitting in the grass.

Ox Bow Bend Overlook

Ox Bow Bend looking to the right.

Ox Bow Bend looking to the left

Some information on the Texas Longhorn.

A couple of videos of the Badlands in the Park

When we drove to the park we had to take a longer route due to road work on route 85. As we were leaving the Park, I noticed on the GPS that we could save about an hours drive time if we took a gravel road through the canyon. Well needless to say we love getting off the beaten path with the Jeep. As we drove we passed these large field of sage

Wow, nice ride with beautiful scenery and a smooth hard gravel road. Practically no dust at all and the air was cool. Everything was going fine till we began running into these big trucks. We later found out that this road is the service road to the oil rigs. Every time one of those big rigs went by, we had to remove some of the dust. So much for the shortcuts.

Wow, check out the old school, this one is Oakdale #6. Could that mean the sixth grade? It's amazing what you find on the back roads.

We finally made it back to camp just in time for dinner and a shower to remove some of that road dust.