Theodore
Roosevelt National Park’s Painted Canyon Trail in its South Unit is an in
betweener, too long for most visitors in a hurry, but not long enough to fill
the day for regular hikers. So, it was the perfect fit for our last half day of
hiking. For most visitors driving on I-94 it is their introduction to the park,
but it would serve as our temporary goodbye.
Park sign at Painted Canyon.
The
visitor center and overlooks at Painted Canyon are the perfect place to capture
the deep, rich light of magic hour, though at first they don’t look the part.
The visitor center doubles as a rest area for I-94, with semis and campers littering
the parking lot, and often spending the night there. We arrived early for
photos of the Badlands in the canyon below us, and then headed east on the rim
of the canyon.
Morning light, Painted Canyon.
Before
dropping into the canyon, we spotted four horse grazing in the lush grass. The
start of the trail into the canyon is steep, but the trails had fully dried
from the most recent rain, and the steep grade doesn’t last long. Once in the
canyon we spotted a large fossil stump right alongside the trail. Jean was more
observant than I and spotted some stumps on clay pillars off to the side of the
trail that we would explore on the way back. We’d been down this trail several
times before and I wasn’t expecting much from these fossils, though Jean’s
pictures painted another picture. 
Petrified wood on the Painted Canyon Trail.
The
trail next wound around some buttes before crossing deeply incised Paddock
Creek. In the past we’d had problems here with bison crowding the trail looking
for good wallows at the edge of the grasslands. This time we managed to cross
without making any long detours. But there was a lone bull on the near side.
Bull bison along Paddock Creek.
The
Painted Canyon Trail ends at the junction with the Upper Paddock Creek Trail,
which we had hiked the day before (Paddock Creek Hike). We turned around and
decided to explore off trail on our way back. Our first diversion was west into
a grove of junipers to look for signs of the elk that the rangers had told us
about. It had been several trips since we’d last seen the park elk, and all we
found this time was some scat piles.
Descending to cross Paddock Creek.
Our
big surprise of the hike was seeing another hiker, we had been averaging less
than another party a day so far on the trip. This hiker was a truck driver from
Arkansas who had discovered the trail after spending a night in the rest area,
and now made it a regular stop on his cross country journeys. We had a full
conversation with him before noticing that he was barefoot! We could see how he
might handle the cold and the rough footing, but barefoot through the prickly
pear would have been another matter. 
A barefoot truck driving man.
Next
we diverted again to check out Jean’s fossil location. We made a beeline for a
large stump perched precariously on a tall pillar of clay. 
Petrified stump capping a tall hoodoo.
These
are a type of hoodoo, where a hard cap rock protects a pillar of softer rock by
acting as a natural umbrella.
The "Hoodoo Forest."
Jean’s
site proved to be much larger than it appears from the trail, with several
dozen large, petrified stumps, many of which were standing in place, and most
of which formed hoodoos.
Some of the larger fossil-capped hoodoos.
It
appeared the site covered much of the west side of the large butte adjacent to
the trail. We spent a full hour exploring and taking pictures, though the light
had grown much harsher. While the official fossil forest on the South Unit’s
namesake trail is much more extensive, the “presentation” of these fossils as
hoodoos allows this site to rival its far better known companion. 
The largest of the fossil hoodoos.
It
took some effort to tear away from such a magic spot. We took some route
reminder photos and marked our GPS for a return visit. It was a marvel that we
had not noticed this site previously. After some brisk climbing back up to the
canyon rim, it was time to rejoin the rest of the world back on the busy
interstate.
A final look down into Painted Canyon.
