Then

We love finding old photos and doing our best to locate the scene so we can duplicate the shot.  When the weather was warm enough for a picnic, we headed to the East Entrance of the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It’s a short jaunt, through a prairie dog town.  Lining up the photo we printed out from the National Park Service, we were able to recreate the shot.

There was one way into the Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit in the late 50s.  From a winding, hilly Highway 10 northeast of Medora, people could enter the park from the east. 

From about 1960, cars line up just off of old Highway 10, about 15 miles northeast of Medora. (Photo: public domain, National Park Service)

Now

April 1, 2018, East Entrance to South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Flagpole and outside monument are gone, and the hills have changed a bit, getting softer, and adding more vegetation.

The East Entrance is still there, but only as a landmark, and accessible only by a short trail, less than one-mile-long through a prairie dog town.

We discovered that when we lined up this shot, we were very nearly on the old roadbed of Highway 10 that used to wrap around the hills and valleys. 

If you want a quick hike without much effort, the East Entrance Trail will lead you through the prairie dog town to the old entrance and back to your car in about 30 minutes.  Of course, you can use the short trail as a jumping-off point to go explore the region, climb some hills and see the view. We did.

We sat on top of a hill that old Highway 10, the Old Red Trail had once wrapped around to take traffic past the park.

Do you remember the old rodeo days?  That’s the topic of this “then and now?”  The Killdeer Rodeo? 

Peaceful Valley Ranch is another “then and now” image comparison from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Here’s a “then and now,”A historic church building was moved to be preserved, otherwise it would be under water.  

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