Back to the Badlands: Part 2

Last night the lady in the site next to me had come over and asked if I had a smartphone. I said yes and she said a weather alert had popped up on hers and she wanted to make sure I got it since I was in a tent. I hadn’t so I was grateful she was looking out for me. I didn’t have a hammer and I had just pushed my tent stakes partway in so I grabbed a tire iron and used that to pound them in a bit more firmly. I also cleared out my car in case I had to move in there. Well when I got up at midnight to use the restroom it was lightning like crazy off in the distance and the wind had started to pick up. I ducked into my car and tried to sleep but it was super uncomfortable. I could stretch out since I’d put the seats down but it was so hard. I got up at 5am and saw this.

Wind Blown Tent

Only my cot and Rubbermaid tote had prevented my tent from blowing away since it was blown off the stakes. Thank goodness it hadn’t rained since my rain fly had also blown off. I packed up and headed east again to go to Bismarck. I’d wanted to check out the capital.

Bismarck

 It’s known as the Skyscraper on the Plains and it’s Art Deco style so it’s pretty ugly. I headed North to Knife River Indian Villages.

Knife River Earthlodge 

Knife River

It has a reconstructed earth lodge that you can explore which I enjoyed. I’d never really learned about earth lodge dwelling cultures so it was neat to see. I hiked down to the Knife River where you can see the indentations in the ground. When I had started down the trail I had passed a wooden drying rack but on the way back I saw it on the ground and the lawn mower parked next to it so I think the kid who was mowing the lawn knocked it over. Oops. I looped back east and drove past the North Unit again on my way to Fort Union.

Fort Union 

It’s a unique unit because the parking lot is in Montana and is on Mountain time but the Fort itself (1/8 mile away) is in North Dakota and on Central time. It’s a reconstructed fort so there’s not a lot of rooms to explore but the visitor center is nice. Down the road is Fort Buford which is a state historic site but I figured I’d check it out.

Fort Buford

I got a tour by a very passionate guide who shared some really interesting tidbits of history. There is also a Missouri Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center that has even more exhibits about the area. A lot of this region is devoted to Lewis and Clark which I’ve never really delved into so it was fun to learn. I had originally thought of camping at Fort Buford since they had a small primitive campground but it’s next to a cemetery and there was no one else there so I decided to keep heading west. I went to Makoshika State Park in Glendive.

Makoshika Sunset

A lady I hiked with last weekend told me about it. It’s the largest state park in Montana. The campground (only 15 sites) was full so I continued on up the hill to their dispersed camping sites. The first one I stopped at was empty and it was perfect. It had a vault toilet, picnic table and fire ring so I set up camp. I quickly realized that around the corner and behind the trees was another site and it had a family with four-wheelers that were riding around. It was pretty annoying. As the sun was setting they put those away and turned on a radio. I decided to go find a quiet spot to watch the sunset. Across the street was 2 more campsites but the driveway was locked so there was no one there. I walked in and settled down to watch a gorgeous sunset.

Makoshika Sunset

I slept well but woke to cloudy skies. I packed up and decided to do a couple short hikes and leave before it started raining. I drove around but their roads are all gravel and not in the best shape so I drove back to the trail down the road from my campsite and hiked the Caprock Trail.

Caprock Trail

It went down into the badlands and out to a natural bridge.

Natural Bridge

It was cool to hike among the badlands but the trail was awful. It was really eroded and require scrambling in some places because it was so steep. I hiked another overlook trail but it literally went under a power line.

Doc Hiatt Overlook

I think the park is the highest elevation in Glendive so its summits all have communications towers and power lines. It kinda ruins the vista. I hiked the Bluebird trail by the visitor center but it was more of a mosquito trail.

View from Bluebird Trail

 I did flush out 2 pheasants though. I had seen 2 more pheasants when I was driving through Montana yesterday. They are pretty rare back east so it was neat to see. The last trail I did was the Hadrosaur trail. It goes up to a hadrosaur fossil.

Hadrosaur Trail

Again, the trail was pretty shitty. It starts by crossing a muddy creek (with no bridge). Several of the wooden erosion control steps are loose so when I stepped on them they wobbled. The ones that had been removed still had rebar in the ground so I tripped over that. Maybe I’m snobby because I really only go to National Parks but man this state park really needed a lot of maintenance.

Crappy trail

I started heading back West and sure enough the rains moved in. I had pulled over twice because the rains were so heavy I could barely see. One of my stops was at Pompey's Pillar. It was where William Clark had carved his name into this massive rock. It was raining so hard that I didn’t hike out to the pillar but the visitor center was really informative. By the time I got to Billings, I was crawling along the interstate at 40mph. I ducked into Best Buy to drop off my camera and the roof was leaking. I went into Goodwill to shop and the emergency lights were on because the power had gone out. It was like a hurricane. Goodwill had some great stuff so I emerged 2 hours later and the rains had stopped. I did some errands at WalMart and headed back to Yellowstone. It was about 1500 miles but I got to see a new state, a new National Park, badlands, and learn about some really fascinating historical figures.

Makoshika

Back to the Badlands: Part 1

When I moved to Colorado, I started an annual tradition of going on a Memorial Day road trip. My first one in 2007 was to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I haven’t been on one in a couple years due to working at the Ranch. So this year I was so excited to renew my annual tradition and hit the road (and see badlands again!). Although I live in a National Park (that I have not even scratched the surface of exploring), I wanted to see a new National Park as well as check a new state off my list. I left after lunch on Friday and headed to Medora, North Dakota, home of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. On the drive out to WY, I had listened to an audiobook about Roosevelt so I thought this was nice synergy. It was a nice drive on I-94 across eastern Montana and wasn’t as flat as I was expecting. I arrived 7pm. On the drive up to the campground, I saw 3 horses on the road. I hadn’t realized the park had wild horses. I set up my tent and enjoyed the sunset.

Cottonwood Campground

Saturday morning I headed out bright and early to drive the scenic road. My first stop was at a prairie dog town. I took my point and shoot camera out to take a picture and realized there was a spot on the lens.

Prarie Dog Town

I wasn’t too disappointed since I hated that camera. I have a warranty on it so I stopped in Billings on the way back and dropped it off for repair (hopefully they will junk it out and I can get a new one). Anyway, I had my work iPhone so I decided to use that as my camera. The prairie dogs were pretty entertaining to watch and I also saw a turkey.

Turkey

My first hike was the Ridgeline Trail.

Ridgeline Trail

One of the contradictions about Roosevelt National Park is that I-94 runs right through the park. The topography of the badlands means you can’t ever really see it but there is always the drone of traffic. It’s kind of disappointing. My next stop was a hike out to the Old East Entrance Station.

Old East Entrance Station

When I-94 was built, they had to reroute the entrance to the park. It was a unique piece of history to explore and the trail passed through another prairie dog town. The next trail was the Coal Vein Trail. Lightning ignited a fire in an underground coal vein and it burned for 30 years.

Coal Vein Trail

I didn’t realize there was so much coal in this region. The scenic drive takes you up on Buck Hill which is the second highest point in the park at 2,650 feet. It is a short trail up to the top with great vistas.

Buck Hill

The Boicourt Overlook was next up on the drive. I hiked out further to a ridge to see if I could spot any creatures. I had been driving since 6am and hadn’t spotted any big creatures which I thought was odd because I envisioned bison everywhere in Roosevelt National Park (as if I don’t get bison in my front yard). As I was on the ridge I heard horses squealing. I looked around and spotted them just a hundred yards from my car.

Horses

I raced back along the trail but by the time I got back to my car they were gone. I got in my car and crawled down the road until I spotted them. I hadn’t seen wild horses in the west so I was pretty excited. I later learned they descended from ranch horses set loose but still. The horses even stopped and rolled in the dirt. I really enjoyed observing them so close.

Bison

As I continued down the road, I ran into a bison jam. I pulled over to observe them. They seemed a lot smaller and scragglier than the ones in Yellowstone. I’d always heard that bison were very agile but never witnessed it so I was excited to see a few jumping over the guardrail to cross the road. For such huge beasts, they sure got some air. That was the end of the scenic drive so I went down to the visitor center to check that out. Behind the visitor center is the Maltese Cross Cabin, which is Roosevelt’s first ranch cabin.

Maltese Cross Cabin

I was pretty hungry so I stopped in Medora for lunch. I went to the Farmhouse Café. It’s a farm to table joint and very cute. Apparently, there is a large Ukrainian presence in North Dakota so I ordered a Ukrainian sounding dish. It was basically a hamburger patty inside a fried pocket of dough filled with a creamy mushroom sauce. It was delicious.

Painted Canyon

I headed east on I-94 and stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center. It’s basically just a rest stop on the interstate but it overlooks the badlands. I continued east and then cut north to go to the North Unit of the park. The road goes through grassland before coming back to the north side of the park. They too have a scenic drive but its 14 miles one way (not a loop like in the south).

Sperati Point

I drove out to the Oxbow Overlook and hiked out to Speranti Point. It was the hottest day of the year so far (92 degrees) and the trail was across the prairie and went to an overlook of the badlands. I found the one tree and rested under there for a bit since it was so damn hot. That sapped most of my energy so I just went to a few overlooks on the way back down the road.

CCC Overlook

I had enough in me for one more hike so I walked the Caprock Coulee Trail.

Coulee Trail

It went through a coulee so a lot of it was shaded and cooler. I stopped at the Juniper Campground to fill up on some more water. Across from the entrance to the campground is the Cannonball Concretions.

Cannonball Concretions

They are formed by the deposit of minerals around a core. It was crazy to see how perfectly round they were.

Cannonball Concretions

There weren’t as many animals up north but I did see a herd of longhorns that they maintain for historical accuracy.

Longhorns

I was tired and hungry so I headed back to Medora in search of dinner. There is a burger shack in the town square so I got a maltese cross burger and it was delicious.

Medora Town Square

They asked for my name for the order and told me I got a free refill with my drink so when I went back to the window after my meal the lady said “ready for that refill Kelly?” Good ol’ North Dakota hospitality! I drove up to the Chateau du Mores which was a mansion from a Frenchman who had set up a ranch. It was after 6pm so it was closed.

Chateau du Mores

I walked around his old meat packing plant that still had a chimney and some foundation walls standing.

Packing Plant

 I drove back into the park but went past the campground on the way out to Wind Canyon trail for the sunset.

Wind Canyon

Wind Canyon

It was a gorgeous night and the overlook was above the river so it was a peaceful way to end a beautiful day. On the way back to my campsite I passed a few bull buffalo and man were they huge.

Bull Bison

I don’t think I’ve seen any that big back in Yellowstone. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there was a ranger program at the amphitheater. A very energetic young man gave a talk on the history of the National Parks and it was a great way to end the day.

Welcome to Wyoming!

Dad and I decided to tour around on Saturday instead of unpacking. The only road that's open year round is the road to Cooke City so we headed out that direction.

We of course got stuck in a bison jam on the road. There was no one else out though so it was nice to have the road to ourselves (besides the bison). We drove until the road got snowier and turned around to head back. There was a garage sale going on at the community center down the road so we swung by there. There wasn't anything too interesting but they did have hot dogs and chips for lunch so we took advantage of that. 

In the afternoon we stopped by Mammoth Hot Springs. Dad has video of Mammoth from when he went to Yellowstone as a kid but he didn't really remember the area. Of course it was windy, rainy, and the boardwalk was covered in snow so I can understand how that wouldn't trigger a memory. It's such a different experience to see the thermal features in the snow. I can see the terraces from my apartment so it's cool to walk around my new "backyard".

Later in the day we headed into town again to get some groceries. When Dad moved me out to Colorado we had eaten hot pockets since all I had was a microwave so we bought some hot pockets in celebration. We also stopped by Roosevelt Arch and the YNP sign to get some pictures of me in my new workplace. It's nice to be here before all the crowds and tourists.

The northern entrance to Yellowstone is always filled with wildlife. You are pretty much guaranteed to see bison, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn all mingling about. We settled in for the night and around 7:00pm the power went out. We didn't think too much of it and then an hour went by and it still wasn't back on. As the daylight faded, I could see dark clouds moving in and the wind kicked up so strong that it was rocking the Uhaul in the driveway. Then it started snowing icy pellets. My neighbor came over with candles and matches and a headlamp and let me know that a microburst had gone through Emigrant (about 30 miles north) and knocked out 8 power lines. I was so appreciative of her stopping in to check on me and give me supplies. We bundled up to go to bed and the power finally was restored around 10:30.  

Dad headed out on Sunday afternoon to return the Uhaul to Bozeman and I finally started unpacking and organizing since I had to start work the next day. It was a wild trip across the country and then a snowstorm and power outage welcomed us to Wyoming so I can already tell this is going to be one hell of an adventure!

Moving West: Day 3 and 4

Minuteman Missile

Our first stop in South Dakota was Minuteman Missile. It is a National Park site right off the interstate. It tells the story of the Cold War and the missile defense system. It was really interesting and even more so to hear Dad tell me of growing up during the Cold War and all his memories of it. It had started snowing while we were touring. We continued on down I-90 and stopped at Wall Drug.

South Dakota

I had been there once before. It's not really that interesting so we just did a quick lap and left. We turned the elevation on in the GPS. It was crazy to watch it keep going up while we were driving across the plains. We finally crossed over into Montana.

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn Battlefield is another National Park site right off the interstate. We got there late in the day so we just watched the film and took in the exhibits. There is a tour road but it was snowy and we didn't want to drive around in the Uhaul.

Little Bighorn

We decided to stop in Billings for the night. I hadn't realized that Billings was such an industrial town. It is dominated by 2 refineries. We got there early enough that we decided to actually go out to eat. We had been just grabbing stuff along the way so it was nice to sit down and eat a real meal. Another snow storm moved in overnight and it was still snowing when we got up to leave. The interstate was covered in snow so it was really slow going. We got off in Livingston, MT and headed south! The sun finally came out as we got closer to Gardiner.

I met my coworker Sarah in Gardiner and we unloaded my car from the trailer and unhooked the trailer to leave it at the Yellowstone service center so it would be out of the way. Then we all caravaned to my new home! I had been sent pictures of it so it was nice to finally see it in person. Sarah kindly brought cardboard to lay down on the newly cleaned carpet so we wouldn't track snow and mud everywhere. Rick, my other coworker, stopped by and between the four of us we got that Uhaul unloaded in about a half hour (after we threw hot water on the lock since it had frozen solid). We basically just dumped stuff on the floor without any organization just to get it done. We were pretty hungry at that point but didn't feel like driving into town so Sarah took us to the employee dining room for lunch. Then I went to get my parking pass for the car and she took us on a quick tour of the neighborhood. Finally, I was back in the apartment and I had to start unpacking.

My front yard

Since I had no food, we headed into town to get some elk burgers for dinner and it was delicious. The sun had come out so it was a really pretty evening. We both celebrated not having to be in that Uhaul anymore!