Friday, August 2, 2013

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Catching up on our travels-------

We attempted  Disc Golf in a Pierre South Dakota campground. All I know is I got the highest score. I must have won!

I seem to be a bit less stiff as I gain more skill throwing the disc. Practice makes perfect or so they say.

















 Oahe Downstream Recreation Campground in South Dakota on the Missouri River is located at the base of an earthen dam.  The intake valves for this dam are up above the dam several hundred feet from the powerhouse shown above. In order to get water through this dam and into the turbines the water  first flows  into these  huge surge tanks to prevent what is known as a "Water Hammer". Best Dam tour I have had. 





Moving on to Cow Creek where we pulled out the inflatable and paddled the Missour. 
Then up to Indian Creek in Mobridge for a couple of nights. 
A quick overnight stay at the Bismarck North Dakota  Elks parking lot (Free is a very good price) and on to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.



But First!
 Highway 94 just west of Bismarck in New Salem North Dakota. Salem Sue. The worlds largest  Holstein Cow. She sits atop a mountain visible from the highway. Check out the link for a full size photo.
She is huge.



Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitors center. The horse and Theodore are made out of small slats of wood and nails . Pretty cool.

 Theodore Roosevelt National Park

 North Dakota Badlands.

Not as Bad as the South Dakota Bad Lands.

We were quite surprised to see so much hay bailed up all over South Dakota and North Dakota. 
Acres and Acres of hay bails. We found out they bail it up and export it down South to the states suffering from drought.




I couldn't resist.

This fella was just begging to have his picture taken. 

 Scoria on the bottom left  is the result of a 26 year underground coal fire that burned from 1951-1977 here in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The red color is the result of  the baking process of the overlying rock from the burning coal below ground


 Clinkers. Small pieces of Scoria cemented together by the high heat  of the underground burning coal vein.




What are Cannon Ball Concretions??


Spherical Boulder formed within rocks by the deposition of minerals. Then exposed as erosion wears away the surrounding shale, sandstone, clay, etc.
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1 comment:

  1. Your Dakota travels sure make me want to get some maps out. Great info and pix. Thanks you two.

    ReplyDelete