Keep Moving

2018-09-04
Theodore Roosevelt (ND) and Badlands (SD) National Parks

Today my schedule consisted of two things: hike at Theodore, and drive to Badlands. For the hike at TR I opted for the Petrified Forest. It looked like a cool chance to see some of the grasslands as well as some petrified trees. The trailhead is about 7 miles down an unpaved road; pay careful attention to the signs. Once I found the parking lot I immediately decided that I hadn't dressed for the weather. Fifty degrees is fine with shorts and a tee shirt, but not when it's windy. And boy was it windy. It was like a six-year-old blowing out his birthday candles because they are stopping him from eating cake. It was a strong, steady wind with some serious gusts. Luckily when you live out of your car you have wardrobe changes available. So reconstituted, I set off across the prairie.

The first stop is the cool self-closing gate.

I decided to take the north fork. The south fork also has petrified wood, but I figured I'd rather have the wind in my face on the way out. It was a mile and a half or so to the petrified trees.

I continued down the prairie path. This leg was 2.3 miles, so the original hike was 5.1 including the half mile to get to the fork, or a stretch to 10 if I walked the connector (hypotenuse) between the north and south trails. I was almost at the junction when I came up over a rise and realized my path was blocked by a buffalo no more than 50 yards away. I hadn't seem him until I was almost right on him. Worse yet, I couldn't see where the path led beyond him so I couldn't just give him a wide berth; the terrain was such that I would have to detour a ways and search for the path. Needless to say that was the turn-around point for that hike.

A note about wildlife in the parks: I think the animals have learned to ignore us for the most part. I came over the rise on this fellow but I was downwind and he never lifted his head. However, I have seen white-tail deer, prairie dogs, sheep etc. that more or less don't care any more. Granted, with so many people visiting the parks, if they had to run every time a person moseyed by they probably wouldn't have enough energy to evade a real predator. Pronghorn antelope seem to be a bit more skittish, or maybe when you can run that fast you just like to show off.

After wrapping up my prairie hike which clocked in at 5 miles I headed off to the Badlands. It was a full change of Dakotas. The drive was through rolling farmland that was quite pretty although like everything else it got dull after a while. I've also learned a little about road construction in the west. I can't really figure out what they were doing to the road; while I was driving on it there were stretches of asphalt, sections of dirt, and people all up and down it running big cool machines. They use a pilot car to get you through the construction zone. Rather than repairing one lane at a time, they have this car that goes end-to-end, pulling along cars like ducklings following a mother duck. All the construction folks will let the parade pass, though sometimes on the left other times on the right. It's a good system for the six mile closure. It just would be nice to see what they're hoping the road will look like when they're done.

I arrived at the Badlands and watched the visitor center movie (mostly animal footage to keep the kids entertained) and then settled into my tent for the night listening to the incessant prairie wind. "Incessant" is not a word I get to use often since I don't have children, but I think this is the right place to break it out. The wind just blew steadily at maybe 15 mph or so, and gusted occasionally. I had staked the tent with three sides of the rain fly in tight; this would probably be bad for rain since it would pool closer to the tent, but I hoped it would keep the inside from being a wind tunnel. Even still, at times during the night the poles would bend and wobble with the larger gusts. It must have been hard to be an early prairie settler.

Hiking distance: 5 miles