Our final day in Medora. This pause in our journey has been very worthwhile. The small town of Medora is a fascinating little place and has several small shops and many activities for the tourists passing through. We stayed at the local commercial campground which had all the necessities, friendly people, and even a small country band every night. The town has a public campground on the river that offers all hookups and even has wireless. This campground is right next to the Little Missouri River and has wide shady spaces. I think we’ll try that one if we come through again.

We made one final drive around the loop through the park. This time we hiked around the area where a large seam of coal burned for almost 25 years. They say that the glow from the fire lit up the night for miles and that locals would go there to roast marshmallows. Now the area is covered with trees and prairie grass and flowers and is a beautiful spot. I saw many lazuli buntings, a bird I’ve wanted to see for a long time.

A fisheye image from one of the overlooks.