Have you ever heard of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (NRA)? Nor had I, but Barry had read about it at some point and added it to our travel bucket list. Boy, am I glad he did. This turned out to be one of the most special and beautiful places we've had the pleasure of visiting during our travels. After leaving Garryowen, Montana, we headed south to Lovell, Wyoming, the closest town to the south unit of Bighorn Canyon NRA, about 10 miles away. We stopped in town briefly at the visitor's center, then made our way up the road to the entrance, then just a bit farther to the Horseshoe Bend Campground. The drive into the canyon was beautiful and got more awe-inspiring the closer we got. When we turned on the road to the campground, I think we both said "Wow!" at the same time. Horseshoe Bend is a first-come first-serve (no reservations) campground with a mix of sites with electric and water hookups and primitive sites. When we arrived on a Thursday afternoon around 2 pm, we first drove into the A loop, where all the sites with hookups were taken. Uh-oh. We started getting a little nervous about getting a good site. Fortunately, we were rewarded in the B loop, where at least six sites with hookups were still available.. In fact, we liked the B loop better than the A loop, simply because there were fewer campers and rigs. The site we ultimately chose had great separation from other sites, a view of the lake, and vistas. We felt very fortunate! Even better, we paid only $10 per night (half price) with Barry's senior park pass, since this is a National Recreation area and part of the National Park Service (NPS). Our site doesn't look all that exciting from this angle... But how about from this one? I couldn't stop taking photos of our gorgeous site and experimented with some different camera settings to get some interesting effects! Here's an overall view of the campground showing Pearl on the far left. You can see just how far we were from other sites even though the campground was mostly full. There was a short hiking trail from the campground that led over to the Bighorn RIver. It was so windy the first time we hiked it that it was almost hard to walk as we got near the edge of the canyon. Fortunately the winds calmed down the next day. Here are a few other shots taken from around the campground at various times of day. We had beautiful sunsets as well as lovely sunny days. And we took an epic bike ride on the canyon road, which I'll cover in the next post.
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We had been wanting to return to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota since visiting the park for the first time in the fall of 2013. At that time, we were only able to take day trips over from Dickinson, 37 miles to the east, where we were staying in a hotel. This time, we were looking forward to camping in the park and being able to experience it more fully. The Cottonwood Campground in the South Unit of the park was where we stayed. We did not book a reservation as by the time we knew our exact arrival date, all the reservable sites were already reserved. Half of the sites are first-come, first-serve, however. Arriving before noon on a Sunday worked like a charm. We got a very nice pull-through site in the north loop and had a choice of several. Our site was quite private; perfect for us. There are two loops in the campground, but the south loop is tight with some lower-hanging trees, and the site size would not work for any motorhome longer than maybe 25'. This side attracts tenters, pop-up campers, and smaller RVs. The north loop consists of mostly pull-through and some back-in sites. The pull-through sites could accommodate most sizes of RVs, and some sites were massive. Some days, especially Friday, the north loop fills up before noon, and on Friday, the entire campground, even the walk-in tent sites, was full by noon. We saw many rigs driving round and round looking for a site mid-week. We felt very lucky to have nabbed a choice site, since we planned on staying for a week. There are no hookups here, so we were boondocking once again, but there are quite a few water spigots, flush toilets (no showers), and generator hours from 8am-8pm if needed. And the cost was only $7/night with Barry’s Senior Pass, an incredible deal for such a lovely place. We had bison coming right through our site at times, and two beautiful turkeys led us into it originally. We found the Cottonwood Campground to be a pleasant, peaceful, and usually quiet place to stay. We did have folks beside us for one night who ran their generator all night long, in violation of campground rules, but that is the exception, not the norm. I would have turned 'em in if they'd stayed another day, you betcha! The campground even had an old-timey payphone booth. No idea if the phone worked! Stay tuned for much more from this gorgeous national park!
We made online reservations a couple of weeks ahead of time for two nights at General Sibley Park on the south side of Bismarck, North Dakota. We don't like having to lock ourselves into specific dates with reservations, but we needed to stay in Bismarck on a weekend to time our arrival at Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a Sunday, and we figured this park would fill up on the weekend/ We chose a site not too far from the park entrance, with plenty of space between other sites, a few nice shade trees, and grassy surround. We were happy with this site as farther into the park, many of the sites were closer together or for smaller rigs. As it turned out, the campground was indeed full on the weekend, so we were very glad we'd gotten reservations. The campground has 215 sites, 115 electric-only and the rest without hookups. The sites nearer the entry are larger and spaced farther apart. The sites in the middle of the campground tend to be closer together, so the area has a busier feel and is noisier (at least on weekends). Good for the social crowd but not as good for we introverts! At the very far back of the campground, there is a more rustic vibe, with more trees, little grass, and small but private sites. This part of the campground is for smaller RVs, pop-ups, and tents only as the road is very tight and trees have overhanging branches. This campground is massive, with some of the most expansive grassy areas and long roads to walk on of anywhere we've stayed. There is also a large disc golf course that got a fair amount of use while we were there. After our walks, Paisley enjoyed taking a quick dip and chasing a stick in this offshoot of the Missouri River, accessible from the day use area. Next up: We tour take a tour of Bismarck by bicycle (of course)!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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