40.3 miles, 1579′ of climbing, (1749.1 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.
Today we reached out Western and Northern-most points in Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit. On the way in we stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center where Bonnie from Bellefonte saw my Penns Valley Pedals & Pints jersey and introduced herself. We got a good first look at the Badlands and headed on to Medora.
We set up camp in the Red Trail Campground, showered, and got ready to attend the Medora Musical — something everyone we met said was a must see.
It wasn’t. More a revue than a musical, it offered a lot of classic songs with the lyrics changed and a little history — very little. We expected to hear about Medora’s history and the Roosevelt park and got a smattering of that but most of the “history” presented was about the founders of the musical and the musical itself. Campy and velveeta-y would be the best definition of what we saw. The amphitheater itself is quite an operation replete with an elevator tower and escalator down to the seating. The stage was a reconstruction of the town on rails and it would open and close depending on the scene. The most exciting part for us was the climb up the 15% grade hill on our bikes with people in cars yelling out encouragement, and the speedy descent in the dark. After the musical, it was back to the camp for a rest before hiking the badlands in the morning
Hi, again, Paul and Dana! I am now all caught up on your blog, but it looks like you are about a week in arrears. Get to work! As I said before, I am so envious of your adventures. Please continue having fun, but please, please, please be safe. Hugh
Just got caught up on all your posts! Love to see your smiles, and read about all the interesting things you are doing. What was Bonnie’s last name? (From Bellefonte?). Dana you looked stunning in your dress! Praying for tailwinds and good weather for you guys every day.