I saw a post about RoadSchooling recently, where a mom was asking what curriculum everyone uses... I laughed out loud in understanding at one reply: "The brown signs!" If you're not familiar with her answer, next time you take a road trip, keep an eye out for the brown signs on the roadside. They can point you to some fantastic learning experiences! This was the case for us today... we arrived at a site that was (according to their website) supposed to be open, but was very much closed up for the season. No problem... there was a brown sign a few miles back that looked interesting... Sullys Hill National Game Preserve... established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1904 as a National Park, but later disbanded. One of only seven disbanded National Parks.
As soon as we turned into the preserve, there were Elk and Bison standing by! The surrounding forest is protected from drought and fires by Devils Lake, and is rare for North Dakota. We definitely didn't anticipate so much foliage here, but the drive through the preserve and around the area is beautiful hills with leaves just turning for Fall.
Gorgeous 4-mile auto tour.
185-ish steps up Sullys Hill.
This area of ND is part of the Spirit Lake Tribe Reservation.
Kate wondered where the back half of the bison is on display... ;)
Certification that we conquered the hill. We were thrilled to meet Sullys Hill's very knowledgeable Doris, in the visitors center. A retired schoolteacher, she told us that there are two 5th grade classes that do their core classes at the preserve, every day, the whole school year. How cool is that!?
We also found that Doris could tell us more about all of the dead trees standing in Devils Lake. "Tell us more about that!" is a great sentence. ;)
Apparently the area experienced incredible flooding in the 1980's, and rose 30 more feet in the 1990's... homes were abandoned, the original Sullys Hill visitors center was lost, and with no natural outlet for Devils Lake, the towns were forced to build their roads up and move further out. We explored along the causeway out to our campsite on Grahams Island, and were surprised at how salty the water smelled! A LOT of fishermen in the area though, so the claim of fantastic walleye fishing must be accurate.
~Nelina
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