
I got up this morning and had a coffee and some breakfast after an OK night sleep. I was still a little frustrated with the campsite situation but I had another night in a different spot that was actually a campsite for tonight.
The last few days I’ve been having some dripping water coming out of the water tank side of the trailer. I was a bit concerned since the water tank inside sits on the floor so if there was a leak in the tank it was really be hard on all of the flooring.
When I stuck my head underneath there to have a better look I could hear the water tapping on metal which led me to believe that it was the inlet that was leaking and dripping water on the metal fender inside.
This morning I investigated further and much to my relief that’s what it was – just the hose clamp was not tight on the filler tube. I guess when I replaced the collar for the fill tube on the outside of the trailer I had forgotten to tighten the hose clamp all the way. I had never had any problems with leaks until now. So I dug out my tool kit and tightened the screw on the clamp so it is no longer leaking. It was a real relief to find out that was what the problem was and nothing bigger.
I decided to head to the northern unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and see if there was a site open there. That “campsite” last night was just such a letdown I decided to go explore.
It’s about an hour away so it’s close enough I could go back to the other site if I wanted or needed to. Yeah, it would be some backtracking but that’s OK.
However, as I drove up north on US 85, I decided that I won’t backtrack. Basically that would be three wasted hours of travel plus I will spend more in gas driving back-and-forth and back then I would just staying north and forgoing the camping fee. I really hope to find a spot when I get there. They are all first come first serve sites there so you can’t make a reservation. If there’s nothing available there I will just go on which would not be a bad thing since it would shorten tomorrow’s drive.
What a major score! I actually had several sites to choose from here in the north part of the park so I snagged one right next to the Missouri river!
Much better than the previous night Looking north… Looking south…
I remember really liking the South Unit when I was there nine years ago but I like this part of the park even more. There’s a lot to see here and it’s absolutely, incredibly beautiful. The trees are changing so that adds even more to the scenery.
Luckily I got here in the middle of the day and I have time to explore. My reservation for tomorrow night is too late to cancel so I can’t stay an extra day. But that’s OK as I wasn’t expecting to get to this part of the park so early in the day or even have a place to stay. Tomorrow I have about an eight hour drive so I won’t be able to sleep too late.
The road goes 14 miles back into the park. I did the entire drive and there were some stunning views.
At the end is a viewpoint for Oxbow Overlook.
I decided to go for a hike down the hillside there. Once I got got the bottom and reflected on my choice, I decided to go back up the hill. I ended up going down a pretty steep hill that I had to ascend to get back. I mean it was steep – probably a 30% grade, which means every 100 feet in distance it drops 30 feet. At one point I had to stop when I realized my heart rate was, shall we say, on the “elevated” side. I felt fine but I really don’t need to be doing that nonsense. It felt great to come back up that hill and not feel too horrible.
Trail going down… …and headed back up Petrified Log
I didn’t think about it until I was two beverages in, but next visit I’ll catch the sunset there. I get it’s amazing. It was getting overcast like it was going to rain plus it would have not been worth the trip if had thought about it anyway. But, as I got back from a 45-minute walk, I looked west and saw this:

Anyway I turned around and got back to the truck. It’s really nice to have the trailer unhitched for a while. It is not difficult to tow but it’s nice to not have to worry about tight spots. Sometimes parking can be hard enough for a car let alone a truck and trailer.


It’s kinda funny. I think the campground is in two different time zones. On my walk it showed Mountain Time time, and just now I looked and I’m in Central Time.
I think it’s about time for a shower. Until we meet again tomorrow!