Minot, ND

After two days in the back-country we are settled back into civilization in Minot, North Dakota. As much as I think that Coop appreciated our time camping in the park he was pretty excited about a hotel with a pool, a decent meal and a movie.

I already miss waking up in a room with a view. Our plan for two consecutive days and nights in the back country hit a small snag when we had difficulty locating the trail and I gave Coop the option of hiking back to the car and heading to Watford City for lunch. As much as I wanted to stay out and explore all day I did not want to turn this adventure into a trek. The option of a burger and fries over trail mix and carrots proved to be too much of a lure. While on our way out we had our adventure of the morning. Coop heard the rattle and yelled “rattle snake” as I turned to see the top 3rd of what appeared to be a two or three foot rattle snake. I said a dad word, the snake hissed and we both skitled away. Lack of sense got the best of me as I began to move in with my camera hoping to get a little rattle snake video until Coop counseled me that it was probably not such a good idea. He was right.

It is hard to adequately describe the Badlands. I could go into the long geological explanation but I did not pay enough attention in geology and am sure I would make numerous errors in my description. From a distance they look like those indian sand art bottles with the layers of dramatic colors. Much of the color is derived from the bluish gray bentonite clay, a red clay, a regular gray clay and sandstone. The prominent feature is called a slump. This happens when water and stream action cause the face of cliffs to be lubricated causing large sections to cut and slump away. from there wind and water erosion take over leading to dramatic, layered formations. As the erosion occurs the clays erode more quickly then the red clay and sandstone. The result is a unique combination of rounded and angular formations. Much of this area was under water for many years, millions of years ago which created the clearly defined layers of color. The red clays were baked by volcanic activity and has the appearance of red brick. The resulting scale is at the same time immense and approachable. Walking up little valleys in the formations allows you an up close look at the result. Meandering streams of erosion end in debris fields that look like a combination of a brick factory junk yard, a science experiment gone wrong and some odd artistic interpretation where baked and rounded sandstone seems impossibly supported by too small clay pillars. From a distance the kaleidoscope of colors is constantly changing with the changing light of day giving you the sense that this harsh place is fully alive.

While I became comfortable with the proximity of our neighbors the Bison, I’m not sure that Coop ever did. He was constantly asking is a certain bison was looking at us and pawing the ground, a sign that they are not happy with your presence. Our first day out in the north unit a herd was on the trail which caused us to take a long detour. serendipity took over, however, and that was what led us to our spot for the night. We found a grassy knoll overlooking the herd, which numbered around 30. Freeze dried sweet and sour pork and rice tastes better in a place like this in the company of bison.

One thing that has surprised me is how late the sun sets. It does not dip behind the hills until 10:15ish and is not fully dark until 11. As we were in sight of an almost full moon it never really got dark and It was nice to be able to peek out of the tent to see the moon’s light reflecting on the formations.

Our second night we headed up a different park of the Buckhorn trail to find a spot to camp above a prairie dog town. If you are a farmer these playful and curious critters are the scourge of the earth. If you are a “tree hugger”, a term that I have only heard used in a positive manner once on the trip, they are a gift to the earth and a great example of a social productive society. They build an elaborate network of burrows living individually unless it is during the spawning season where family units all live in a burrow. In a concept that Coop got a kick out of when the kids are old enough to take care of themselves the parents get kicked out of the burrow and have to build a new place to live. If forced to guess I think that there were upwards of 500 burrows. They communicate with one another with a variety of barks. Barks are warnings, greetings and sometimes just boredom. To call it a bark is a little generous. It is a high pitched birdlike song. when I think bark, I think german shepherd and these are not german shepherds.

Our second night we were also forced divert from the trail because of bison. This led us to what might be the best campsite that we had. We found an overlook about 50 feet above the stream valley and the prairie dog town. It was a flat spot on top of a slump at the base of a cliff surrounded by sage, juniper and prickly pear. On a side note... I remember hearing that prickly pear is good to eat. I would imagine that it is quite painful to eat as well as they are covered in and intricate layer of thorns and barbs. As adventurous as we felt we decided to trust what we have heard about the prickly pear and not add a tasting to our experience... Our vista afforded us a 270 degree view to the north east looking across the valley to the hills on the opposite side and partially up a couple of well developed stream beds. What we could not see was how deep the grazing are of the canyon floor went to our right. This we discovered when Coop motioned down at the bottom of the slope was a large male bison. He was less then 30 yards away and examining our work. We all stood around looking at one another. Actually I grabbed my camera, thinking that the climb up might be a bit aggressive, and Coop began slowly backing away while asking if he was pawing the ground. It appeared that he had come from nowhere, literally growing right out of the ground. He had been grazing up the canyon to our right. After setting up camp we first headed down to the prairie dog town to check out the little critters. They are sort of like a combination of a ferret and a squirrel and do not scare easily. You can get pretty close but when you get too close they scurry back in their burrows.

After the prairie dog town we explored up the canyon. Walking up the stream bed it became easy to see how a lot of this area formed. The streams cut away the loose clays and soil pretty quickly allowing the slumps to form. the harder and longer work happens over time and every rain and windstorm morphs the hills further. We saw lots of red clay debris and despite the fact that there are no advertised petrified forests we saw an abundance of petrified and crystalized wood.

I keep thinking that on this trip Coop and I are going to have some breakthrough conversation, he will ask me some big questions about things he wants to know or there will be some seminal moment when we bond a little further. That may happen, it may not. One of the best moments of the trip was the two of us sitting and looking out over the prairie dogs and bison soaking in the view and the experience. There was nothing to say and nothing that needed to be said. I do not know if he saw or experienced the same as I did. It didn’t matter. Just the two of us enjoying this place. The silence was broken by, “Dad, this is pretty cool.”

Dinner was more dehydrated food, chicken and mashed potatoes which was surprisingly good, in the company two herd of buffalo with the light show provided by a distant thunder storm and the soundtrack coming from the prairie dog village.

More of the same in the morning and for the hike out. Mule deer are pretty wary and if they smell you or hear you they move on pretty quick. The close ones in the morning were down wind and when I exited the tent and began preparing breakfast that scattered. The ones upwind were kind enough to stick around for a while, keeping me company while Coop snored and the sun rose.

That’s it for now. We’re off to the International Peace Garden up on the Canadian border after a visit to the Scandinavian Heritage park here in Minot. After the border it is on to Rugby, the geographic center of North America and then camping and fishing on Devil’s Lake.

More to come, Coop has more pictures and I will have more stories. It continues to be an amazing journey through a place that has provided too many “over the hill” moments to recount, even in the flat expanse of the prairie.

Posted by JW