~Exploring ND, SD, NE, KS, and OK Highest Peaks and Other Sites in The Great Plains~
~This trip is broken up into 3 parts. It was an epically long trip and therefore is an epically long blog.~
Travel log
August 30th – Day 1:
I left the house at 2 PM which is probably the latest I’ve left on a trip ever. I got into cleaning because I like to come home to a clean house and was procrastinating leaving my cat, Gingi. I was moving slow as well because I only got about three hours of sleep. The day before a trip excitement and jitters, no doubt. This trip would end up being the furthest I’ve gone on a road trip, alone. I’ve gone across the country twice, but with friends. Once from the Florida coast to the California coast (32 days) and once from Alaska to Brooklyn and then to Florida (3 weeks).
I had to stop at the gas station, a store quickly and then I got a road trip smoothie, then I was finally on the road a bit after 2:30 PM. Wow. It was a perfect Simpson’s sky day. I had my bottle of lemon water, blueberry green tea with lemon, and my smoothie with me to sip on for the long drive. Mmm…
10 hours of singing and podcasts later at 12:30 PM I pulled into Woods Edge campground in Wisconsin. It took me a couple of rounds around the campsite to find the little tent area in the RV Park. They have many sites, and I was in one of them alone.
Today I drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois (which took me through Chicago at dusk) and Wisconsin. Chicago was crap, as usual. Gang graffiti on the right and an idiot driving on the shoulder on the left because the six lanes of traffic were all full. Fun.
The moon was full and lit up the, otherwise, dark campground. When I took a solo road trip to do high-pointing around The Great Lakes a few years ago, I started the trip on a full moon that ended up being an eclipse. I had no idea it was going to be a full moon to light my way. It rose bright and beautiful just after the sunset.
I got set up and snacked on cashews until my sleeping pill kicked in.
Goodnight, moon…
August 31st – Day 2:
I was aware that I wasn’t gonna sleep at all around 7 AM. I was freezing. I woke up to 44° and a tiny pond with fog hovering over it next to me. Then I slithered out of my hammock and made my own fog by peeing in the grass by my car. Ahh…
The night before, while driving in, I barely could make out fog coming off of the lake and rolling over the road in my headlights, but it was there. Eerie full moon fog. Perfect.
In my deliriously tired state I decided not to shower even though that’s what I stayed at a campsite for instead of a rest stop. No emails or notifications checked as per my normal morning routine. I just pulled my hammock down, cranked up the heat in my car and drove right out of the park at 7:30am. Teeth chattering. Groggy and hungry. I wanted to see how far I could get before I found another place to crash.
I was so tired last night that I decided not to put my hammock under quilt on nor my sleeping bag liner inside of my bag. I didn’t even get inside of my sleeping bag because I didn’t have my hammock set up exactly the way I wanted, but I didn’t want to fuss with it. I was too tired to care about any of that and it was the perfect temperature…THEN. Bad choices, hindsight. So, I was even more tired than the previous day, and running on full moon energy only. I’m guessing that’s why I haven’t been sleeping well… Well, part of the reason. I never sleep well around a full moon typically. But let’s be honest, all it takes is a cow to sneeze 20 miles away and I’m awake.
Continuing on the drive, I went across a bridge with a sign that read, “Buffalo River”. Just when I was mockingly saying to myself, “I don’t see any damn buffalo”, I look to my right and see a whole herd of them.
OK Wisconsin, you win that one.
A couple hours on the road around 9:30 I decided to stop for Panera bread breakfast. And then by
10:30 a.m. I was already crossing over into Minnesota. After that, it was hours of farm country, rolling hills and a whole lot of nothing. It was beautiful.
Just before 3 o’clock, I stopped to fill up my gas tank and to get a snack and to run through the drive-through car wash to get a bunch of bugs off already. When I got out to pump the gas, I thought the wind was gonna rip my hair out from my scalp! Ok…that’s annoying.
I just crossed another Buffalo River or is it the same one? Am I driving in circles? I am desperately tired.
The first hour through North Dakota was fairly flat and spacious with very little trees, and then all of a sudden it started changing with a few more trees, and then all of a sudden the landscape went from flat to wavy gravy then flat and spacious again. Then hilly with a lot more trees and that’s when I found my campsite for the night. I pulled in around 5 PM. It was off of a long dirt road. Very little cell service, a lake and a bar. I was set for the night.
Right when I got there, I walked into the bar and got my site for the night as well as a grilled cheese sandwich, fries and Jack Daniels on ice. They let me take my drink to the tent camp area and I finished my it while setting up my hammock after eating out on the patio. It was relaxing.
I was given the OK to set up my hammock in the trees outside, but I saw that there weren’t any good hammock trees in the area when I got there. All really too small. So I set up my hammock in the car and watched the sunset over the lake.
I laid in my hammock listening to music I had downloaded because I had almost no cell service and drifted off to sleep.
September 1 – Day 3:
I woke up around 7 AM at the Lazy Fish at Pelican Point Campground. I was finally in North Dakota! EEE! I lounged around in my hammock until I absolutely had to drive to the bathroom. Yes, it was that far away from me and the sun was up, so I couldn’t exactly squat in the grass anymore…because people. I took a long shower. It was hot and lovely. I left the campground a little after 10 AM. Look at me all early and stuff! I finally was able to get comfortable last night and get some real sleep even though I woke up a few times. So I was feeling good! It always seems to take me a couple days to get back into the swing of traveling again, but once I do, then I don’t want to stop. I would love to stay traveling and living on the road but I would definitely need a bigger vehicle like a travel van, my cat and more time to relax in between states. I’m jealous of the travel vans I see while driving around. With a travel van, I could set up a good permanent hammock in that thing plus a bed if I wanted options! Options are good especially for insomniacs.
I stopped at Babb’s coffee house for breakfast. It was a cute place. I was trying to keep to my very healthy diet, and this place had some healthy options, but killed them with too much sugar. I see that a lot. They try to seem healthy, but aren’t quite there when you really look and ask questions. For instance, I ordered a green tea with honey, but when I got it it was way way way way too sweet. When I told the young girl behind the counter about it, she says that it was their policy not to do remakes. What?! That’s just crazy and I’m sure the honey they add to their drinks is not actual real RAW Honey as well…which meant more sugar added. So, I didn’t like starting my day with sugar and I ended up throwing it away later. I’m not the typical American that starts their days with doughnuts and sugar in their coffee. Yuck. People just don’t realize how bad that is for them…or they just don’t give a shit because it’s so normalized. The açai bowl that I got was pretty good with Chia seeds, etc. but it was not as filling as I’d hoped it would be. It’s hard to eat healthy while traveling that’s why I had a bunch of snacks with me.
I stopped to get gas along the way to the center of the United States and the people on either side of my pump started a conversation with me because of my out of state license plates. A guy pumping gas peaked over and said, “Minnesota, huh?” I laughed and said that I came much further than that. He asked “What brings you here?“ Of course, I tell them my high pointing spiel and at this point a girl in the passenger seat is leaning over chatting as well. They recommended that I go to a show they have in the town I’m camping in for the night and the next 3 nights. His directions of how to get to the show were to just follow the whole line of cars in the small town of Medora and you will find it. Ha! The guy on the other side of me was from Canada and taking a trip on his Harley. I commented to him that the people there are super nice after the couple drove off. He said that Canadians always like to think they are nice people and then he comes down there and they are even nicer. I love the people in this area.
I made it to the geological center of North America in Rugby, ND around 1:30PM and I was already hungry again. I took a couple of photos and then ate at the Mexican restaurant Rancho Grande that hosts the monument in their parking lot.
My thoughts on North Dakota at this point? It’s the place where you can’t keep your hair looking good or your windshield clean. Too much wind and too many bugs. I was kinda starting to dislike the “Great Plains” at this point. I couldn’t wait to get to The Theodore Roosevelt National Park and see some wild animals.
About an hour away from the park, I started finally seeing what I would call real mountains instead of hills. Finally. Maybe, they would just be considered large hills, but it was better than all the mind-numbing, lonely, wide open space of flat-flat prairies. It was still better, by far, than any large city, but the emptiness was starting to wear thin and I longed to be engulfed by mountains. Roughly 1/3 of the US is The Great Plains, so I knew that I was going to see a lot more of them on the trip I had planned seeing how I was about to drive through 6 of the 10 states that encompassed them (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, part of Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico).
I obsessively stopped and got another car wash on the way to the park. Yes, this was the second one so far and I just started the trip. I vowed to not get anymore until I was home and to instead give The Black Walnut (my home on wheels) whore baths at every gas station.
About two minutes before the North Unit Scenic drive entrance of The Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the landscape exploded with mountains…aaaand my car was covered in bugs again. The changing landscape was very surprising and abrupt, but very welcome. Absolutely gorgeous. Then less than five minutes into the scenic drive and I saw bison already. Woooo!
The drive was amazing and I took my time stopping at every single scenic stop and read the information. Hell, I even stopped at places with no pull outs just to admire the views. I saw a ton of bison and beautiful scenery. I reached the end of the North Unit Scenic Trail just as the sun was starting to set. It was magical. It was everything I had hoped to see and more and I’ve heard the South Unit scenic drive has even more wildlife typically. It was my plan to spend the following entire day enjoying that area.
I was in the park until 9:30 PM and then I GPS-ed my way to my campsite at Red Trail campground. I was a little shocked to see that it was an hour and two minute drive away because on the phone they told me that they’re right outside of the entrance to the park, but I guess in such a spacious area, an hour drive is right outside for them? I then later remembered that they said they said that they were right outside of the South End. Duh…
I had a great day. I saw many bison herds, a few bighorn Sheep at sunset, gorgeous mountains, and a beautiful sunset. I got a couple of bad photos of the bighorns because it was getting dark then, but I’ll include them because they are cool. This is the reason I drove for 2 1/2 days! Ahhh!
I think I was meant to take this trip solo. Someone was planning to come with me last year, but it didn’t happen then someone else expressed an interest in coming with me on this trip this year, but he financially couldn’t go until the following spring. I was meant to experience it alone. I think being with someone else would have made me feel like I had to rush faster through the park because I’d be worried they would get bored and whatnot.
On a stop, I looked up some information on this mystery show that the nice couple told me about at the gas station. Turns out it is a variety show that has information about the important historical figures that helped make that town including Theodore Roosevelt, Native Americans, etc. Tickets are $56. On Friday the show starts at 7:30 and 5:30 and 8:30 on Saturday and Sunday. People could buy tickets at the welcome center in town and the show is right behind there, at Ticket Junction, or at the Painted Cannon Visitor Center. I was not as interested once I found out the price. Also, I thought they were talking about some local live music for some reason, so that’s what I was excited for, but I ended up being too late to go to it that night anyway. I decided I didn’t care enough to go the next day either.
Once I got to the campground, I got set up, caught up on emails, ate an apple slathered with almond butter that I brought from home and looked though my fun day of photos…
Why are there so many flies in North Dakota??
September 2 – Day 4:
I woke up at 6:15, but didn’t move until a long time after. As always, this insomniac was trying for more sleep. I think I slept pretty well though. I’ve been going to sleep way earlier on this trip. I finally got in the shower and got moving, but slowly.
I googled a place to get breakfast at, but by the time I got there, they were onto their lunch menu already by 11. DOH! The town of Medora is so cute and made to look like you stepped back into the old West. Antique looking wood buildings, wagon wheels, saloon doors, etc. I took some time to meander through some shops on my way to The Farmhouse restaurant from where I parked. I bought an American flag cowboy hat. I’ve been wanting one that fit me for years, but don’t typically look good on me because I have such a small head and face. When I asked the the guy behind the counter for his opinion on 2 different hats on me, he said that he could adjust it to fit. He picked the one of the 2 that he thought looked best and added something inside, placed it back on my head and voila. I was still worried that the overall size would look big on me, but I liked it well enough!
So, I got the cowboy corn bites and battered cauliflower with coffee. Mmm! I sat at the bar and ate because they were insanely busy, but one spot opened there even after a bit of a wait. I chatted briefly with the young girl next to me that works at the restaurant, but was on break. I laughed when I took a photo of my food and said it was for my blog. She laughed back and said that she just took a trip to Atlanta and showed me pictures of her food that she took a photo of. It was a humongous steak that filled the entire plate. I internally cringed at the thought of big city Atlanta and the bloody photo of the steak in my face, but I pretended to act like it looked yummy because she was so happy about it. I mean, it was a good photo. Oh, to be a weird vegetarian in meat eating country. But this place feels homey, regardless. It kind of has the same feel as some areas in Sedona, Arizona or Bullhead city, Nevada. Pretty much any place that has a tourist theme of old west cowboys and Indians. It even kind of reminds me of John‘s Pass boardwalks in Florida because of the line of touristy shops on wooden boardwalks. Obviously Florida has a beach theme, but it felt very similar. The more touristy shops I pop into on road trips, the less I have a desire to see more and to just stay in nature. Different themes, but the same nevertheless.
It was a little after one by the time I got back to the park. It felt later. I’m on cowboy time now. Ha! I don’t know what that means. To me it means that I got moving way earlier than normal, even if it’s still not early by normal people standards or actual cowboys. Hahaha!
So, once I was in the park on the southern end (literally around the corner from the restaurant), I went to check out the visitor center. I was instantly incinerated upon leaving my car. Who would’ve thought that North Dakota would be 92° in September? Not me! I discovered that there was a ranger talk at 2 PM so I waited around for that. I wandered around while waiting reading about Teddy Roosevelt in their walk-through museum. It was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. Then at 2, the ranger was a young lady giving a talk on the park with her parents right in the audience next to me. Aww. They looked so proud of her. They should be. She talked about what life was like for the early settlers and some about Teddy as well then answered questions.
About 30 minutes into the drive, I cam up to a giant buffalo chilling solo very close to the road. I stopped immediately and watched him from my car. We made eye contact several times and it was exhilarating. He was staring into my soul. He didn’t seem to mind me observing him, so I hung out with him for some time. They are so huge and awkward. They have only fur on the front half of their bodies which make it look like they are wearing shirts, but no pants, their little legs are so disproportional, and they are humpbacked. What weird creatures, but I couldn’t turn away from him. I had to eventually move on because I wanted to give others a chance to have a close encounter with him. If I were no one else around, I would have hung out for a long time with the big guy.
Once on the South Unit scenic drive, I saw a bunch of bison herds again, tons of adorable prairie dogs squeaking away at each other, and at me for getting too close (yes, I tried to touch them. No they would not let me), 7 gorgeous wild horses on top of a mountain looking majestic, and at 5:30pm, I hiked the Wind Canyon trail. It was most certainly windy! HOLY HELL! At one point, I put my hair in pigtails, but the wind still was whipping around all the little small hairs, and they were poking me in the eyes, getting in my mouth and it started to get extremely annoying. I needed my old 80’s hairspray for that hike! Beautiful views and amazing wildlife, but I was over the wind. I started to understand why women braid their hair religiously living out there.
after I gave him 6 cashews. Ha!
I had a wonderful moment of zen on the drive. Several really, but at one point, the road was closed because of erosion and what used to be a scenic loop was now an out and back, unfortunately. But, I took advantage of that. It was late in the day and no one was around at that point when I got to the very end. I was at the top of the scenic drive at a spot of high elevation. Without much thought at all, I quickly got out of my car in the middle of the road, blasted my music and danced and spun around to a gorgeous sunset by myself on the edge of the mountain. It was so wonderful. I loved having that time and space to feel free to play with no one around watching or judging me. Sometimes, traveling solo does have its advantages, for sure. Then on the way back down, a family of deer started frolicking around my car. They got very close and curious. I slowed down and watched them. They surrounded me. I loved it!
It was on the way down when I realized that it was 93° at its high and I was pretty badly dehydrated. I was getting tired and not drinking enough water did not help that, I’m sure. But I had a very chill enjoyable day with the wildlife. Yes, I chugged a bunch of water when I got back in my car after my small hikes and dancing. Overall, It just was not enough.
Before I remembered that it was going to be in the 90s, I wore all black and sat down with the sun beating down on me while watching the prairie dogs for a long time in the very beginning of the scenic drive. I was trying to befriend this one that was very close to me. He was really curious and kept popping his head out to check me out. So cute(photos above). So, I was there awhile and I wasn’t sweating (like nearly an hour), so I didn’t think to drink water. Bad, I know. I think that all my work in a hot building for 2 months before I took this trip made me used to the heat, but I was super dehydrated and cotton-mouthed towards the end of the day and that was my reminder to drink water. Yeah, I know…
So, I was happy that I got a chance to see another beautiful sunset in the park, but I was starving. Around 9PM I decided to wander into Boot’s Bar and Grill. They had live music playing that I could hear from the parking lot and the menu looked decent enough. I walked in to see men and women in cowboy hats and boots dancing around to a country cover band that was playing. Here and there, the older men in the band mixed it up with some non-country songs and I got into it more, but I even recognized some of the country tunes. They were not bad. The environment was exactly what I would expect from a place called Boots. It was Saturday night, so I got a tall beer and hung out, ate slowly and enjoyed people watching. I ordered the Boots salad and the Boots Pale Ale (local beer) and just took it all in.
So cute. It’s fun to experience different things while traveling!
Every trip I come home a little bit changed…
September 3 – Day 5:
I woke up around 6 the first time, but was able to get back to sleep and wake up a couple more times. That’s fun. The final time I woke up was 9. I decided to wait on the shower and try to get breakfast at The Farmhouse Café today since I missed it yesterday because apparently 11 is afternoon in these parts. It was a 40 minute wait, but it was worth the wait. I was sat at the bar again since being solo, I’m easy to squeeze in there. I had their avocado toast with eggs on cranberry rice bread. Crazy sounding, but It was amazing. The lady down the bar from me got the same thing. I overheard her asking if they sell the bread because she loved it so much. But they don’t sell it.
Again, I had really amazing conversations with both couples on either side of me while eating and sipping on coffee again. The couple to my right was riding their mountain bikes through all 50 states and they were at 35 and I told the man next to me that North Dakota I was going to be my 33rd state high peak. They told me about their mountain biking trip through the Marietta area in Ohio. How cool to sit right next to people traveling around and doing similar goals! The couple to my left was older, and after overhearing my conversation with the couple to the right, they started, asking me questions as well. I gave them my card so they can read my travel blog because they seemed very interested. I’m kicking myself for not giving a card to the mountain biking couple. So, the older couple are from Montana and I told him all about wanting to move to Montana once upon a time when I was leaving Alaska. It just didn’t work out. They told me they want to follow my blog and find out when I’m gonna be in Montana. How fun! This restaurant seems to stay very busy at all times. I love sitting at the bar because you’re almost forced to have to talk to the people next to you because they’re so close.
I overheard them ask one of the guys that worked there where they are from, at one point. He said they are from Romania. I was wondering too because I thought it was a pretty accent, but I didn’t want to be nosy. He went on to say that there’s about 50 Romanians living in that city which is funny because the population of Medora is 121 and I feel like I’ve already seen all those people. I’m starting to feel like I live here now. I’m getting very familiar with the town and how to get to everything which I guess isn’t very hard because it’s a dinky town. I recognized the park ranger walking by with her parents while waiting to be seated for breakfast and I recognized other people that I’ve seen throughout the town.
Before, I left the restaurant, the Montana couple recommend Red Lodge Montana for me to check out when I get there and the 212 Rd scenic drive. I’m adding that information here as a reminder to myself. I, then, said my goodbyes to them and left to head to Mount Butte a little over an hour away.
On the walk back to my car, I saw something that, I imagine, one would only see in North Dakota. A dude was walking his buffalo down the sidewalk with a lady on a horse behind him. Now….anyone who knows remotely anything about me knows that I’m a huge animal nut. So, here I am sharing a small sidewalk with a freakin’ huge scary animal. He literally grazed by me by mere inches!
Now, naturally, my hand started to raise on its own to pet the animal because that’s how I do. But then the rational side of my brain said, “Excuse me! Um…that’s a humongous beast. The very same animal that all the signs in the park told you to stay no less than 25 feet from…what are you doing?” As I proceeded to turn the ‘almost pet’ into a wave and say greetings to them both. “Hi! This is soooo cute!”
The irrational side:
“What?! He’s obviously friendly, because some dude is riding him and look! He’s right by me and he’s not goring me.”
The rational side: “But Look at those horns and that head! He could literally headbutt you three blocks away and act like he’s brushing away a fly. Don’t be stupid.”
The irrational side: “OK…maybe I’ll just ask the guy if I can pet him and that will be OK if he says yes…”
But during my internal struggle, the moment had passed as well as the buffalo. Dang it! Stupid brain!
I did manage to snap one quick photo, however because who would believe this.
It was close to 2 when I got close to the high point, so I decided to go past it to go to the town of Bowman to go to the dollar store. It was like 45 minutes away and that might seem like a crazy waste of time, but I was trying to waste some time. It was far too hot still. Also, I needed to pick up some much needed hair ties to tie my hair back for when the wind gets far too annoying. I also needed cheap flip-flops also to replace the ones I blew out a couple of days ago for showering at the campsites. I didn’t find either of these items in the little touristy shops.
I decided to stop at The Silver Dollar Bar and Grill for some more fuel because I didn’t know if I’d find anything after the hike in the same towns that would still be open. I got cheese balls and Battered Cauliflower. More fried shit…better than nothing, I guess.
As I was sitting there waiting on my food, the guy a chair down from me at the bar swatted a fly right on the bar with what I can only guess is his personal fly swatter that he brought with him. This mimicked what I saw from the guy that works at the campground I’ve been staying at. Every time I saw him, he had a cool looking guitar shaped fly swatter. Then, I looked over and saw that the only other guy at the bar had his own fly swatter next to him as well. Ok…seriously what’s up with the flies?! The flies are so serious that people carry around personal fly swatters? Hilarious. I have literally never seen anything like it in all of my travels.
After I left them to their fly swatting, I finally stopped messing around and headed again for Mount Butte. I pulled into a very empty gravel parking lot off of gravel roads in the middle of nowhere at 5 PM. I expected that. It took me a good 10 minutes to empty out my backpack to the bare minimum things that I needed for this particular hike. While I was doing this, another car pulled in. It was a solo young dude. He briefly said, “Hi” and quickly went about his business. He didn’t waste any time. He jumped out of his car and was on the trail immediately. I noticed that he had no backpack and what appeared to be no water on him whatsoever. I thought that this guy must live there and knows this hike well. Maybe he does this for exercise and knows what to expect. I have experienced that on Mount Washington and other high points. Jealous. I want a mountain in my backyard! All I have is a ghetto alleyway.
I was in the right spot. I saw photos of this in my research.
So, once my bag was ready, I took a sip of coffee (instead of water) and I left finally. That was stupid, but dammit it tasted better. I haven’t actually felt hydrated since I’ve been in North Dakota even though I’ve been drinking water. With my backpack on and my hat to cover some of the oppressive sun, I headed up the trail feeling completely cottonmouth. I instantly regretted taking that final sip of coffee instead of water before departing. The lingering taste of coffee in my mouth was sweet though. Don’t worry…I had water with me.
No cougars were spotted and no buffalo however, I did see a lot of poop evidence of their existence around there…the buffalo, not cougars. I saw a shit ton of bugs there and one little scared chipmunk running in front of my feet on the trail. I was a bit concerned about mosquitoes because the last couple of reviews on the AllTrails app had people mentioning bringing bug spray. Well, there are a ton of flies and other flying creatures out there, but I didn’t have a problem with mosquito bites whatsoever, and I typically have a problem with them. As much as the flies were annoying the hell out of me, I was very happy that I wasn’t loosing a pint of blood. I was concerned about eating bugs however, but that didn’t happen that I know of, at least. Yes, eat. If, I’m alone, I have sung on trails, I talk to critters, bugs, sometimes plants, and sometimes I’m taking video and talking on that. See? Plenty of opportunities to eat them. Blech.
It was a steady incline to the summit, and the views were amazing. It’s so crazy to see how flat it is everywhere else except for this big rock that you’re climbing up. I saw a big herd of cattle below me. On the way up, I nearly died of heat exhaustion. It was so ungodly Beastly oppressively hot that I begged for shade out loud. I checked the temperature right before venturing out and it was 92° with 24% humidity. I figured waiting till 5 PM would give me a little reprieve from the intense heat, but 2 degrees does not help much. Getting a late start meant that I was going to miss my third night of gorgeous sunsets in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, so I was a little pissed that waited at that point for nothing and missed going back to the beautiful park that is now on my top 5 national park lists. It was not the end of the world though. I had two nights of wonderful sunsets. I’m just bummed I didn’t see any foxes.
Anyway…so the heat… there’s no shade. So that 92° temperature was completely amplified by the fact that there were literally no clouds in the sky on my ascent. ALL that hot intense sun was just beating down on me kicking my ass. I kept searching for shade, but there was none. I felt very exposed. There was no escape or hiding. At one point, I passed a boulder and took a little breather on the “shady side” of it because that’s all I had. It was that hot and I lived in Florida a lot of years, so if I say it was oppressively hot…trust me on this one. I used to always think a “dry hot” was better than a wet humid hot, but after this high peak, I’m not so sure anymore. I was so happy I purchased my cowboy hat in town before this climb. I had been reading reviews from people mentioning that this rock had a no shade. So I got the hat just to try to keep some of that sun out of my face. I think it helped, but I’m not sure it helped that much honestly. The sun was reflecting off of the white sand back in my face. I couldn’t escape it or the heat. At one point before the path starts to incline, there’s a line of tiny ass trees, but they’re so small and literally don’t provide any shade. It looks like someone planted a line of trees, just to give people a reprieve when they get larger or maybe it’s totally random. I don’t know. The plains are a strange place. Either way, It did me little good at this point. It was a tease. I just laughed when I passed by them.
Before I was even at the summit, maybe even close to the halfway point, I saw the guy from the parking lot trotting down with gravity’s help. We greeted each other again, said some small talk about the weather and how close I was to the summit and then he was off again! Never to be seen again. Haha!
By the time I made it to the summit, I was completely drenched in sweat. I searched around for shade up there and again there was none. AHHHH!!! And then all of a sudden a few clouds started rolling in out of the blue. It definitely helped. Ahhh! That little bit of sun shade allowed me to hang out and take photos at the summit for longer than I wanted too when I first got up there and that was good because It took me a really long time to get a photo that appeared decent. I couldn’t see my phone. The sun was so bright that I literally couldn’t see the photos or the set up. At some points the clouds would go right over my head and I’d be able to see a tiny bit, but the struggle was real. I had my mini cell phone tripod, and I used my self timer to take a shit ton of photos in hopes that I got one good one. If I would’ve been able to see my phone, it would’ve saved me a lot of time and trouble. I went live on Facebook at the summit and then video recorded most of the way down. I thought of it once I was already descending, so I missed the first few minutes.
As I was nearly back to my car, I noticed a truck coming down the road, dragging a big trailer that was empty. A single man got out and we greeted each other. Two people in the middle of nowhere doing the same thing solo. Turns out this guy lives 20 minutes away and this is the first time he’s doing this hike!!!! That’s freaking crazy! However, he asked me if I did South Dakota’s highest peak yet and said that he did that one and gave me a trail suggestion. He didn’t know the name of the trail and I’m pretty sure it’s the one I was already planning on taking. So strange how we often miss the beauty right in front of our faces, and seek it out elsewhere. I told him that if I lived that close to White Butte, I would be doing that hike all the time and in all seasons….except for maybe not when it’s in the 90’s! I imagined it would be really gorgeous to do that hike in the winter when everything is covered with glittering white snow. I think that’s one of the first times if not, the ONLY time that I actually thought a winter climb would be nice. I typically avoid winter hikes and climbs like the plague. There’s just so much more that can go wrong in the winter. But I can just imagine White Butte being gorgeous in the winter. Unfortunately, I’ll probably never find myself back there. I explored North Dakota well and I was ready to move on. Tomorrow I go to South Dakota…
As I got back to my campsite, I thought, “I’m going to miss living in my new home of Medora, North Dakota. It was starting to feel homey and people were recognizing me and vice versa. Ahhh…small towns are fun.
I’m sitting in my car writing this as I watch a beautiful fire at the camp in front of me and hear people singing popular songs as a group and partying behind me. What a fun extremely busy campground, but it’s also very quiet when it should be quiet. I like that. People seem very respectful and nice here.
Yawn…
September 4th – Day 6:
I woke up at 6am again, but didn’t fall asleep till almost 1:30! It was just a bit too hot even with the window cracked and my bug window screen on. Meh. I tried to go back to sleep, but I mostly just looked up upcoming trip stuff while I listened to everyone around me. They were all breaking down their stuff after the weekend of Labor Day partying. It’s so crazy how they do it so early in the morning. Check out is noon, yo! I guess it takes time to break down these camping habitats. Ugh I’m all about quick. I got things to do and animals to try and pet.
Once, I was showered and moving, I, sadly, said goodbye to my home of 3 nights, Red Trail Campground. Then, I went to a different scenic look out in Theodore Roosevelt national park, on my way, that I hadn’t seen before. It was not as cool as what I’d seen previously, but I just wanted to spend a little more time there before I left North Dakota completely. I was bummed that I did not see any more wildlife. Even though, it was very hard to pull myself away from spending another entire day in that park. I just adore it so much!
Once I said my goodbyes to one of my new favorite parks, I decided to find breakfast on the way to my first stop, The Center of the Nation, but instead I found Montana…um…what?! I kept waiting to see the ‘Welcome to South Dakota’ sign, so you can imagine how alarming it was alarming to see ‘Welcome to Montana’ instead. I was supposed to take 85 south towards South Dakota , but somehow, in my tired state, I got on highway 12 and headed straight to Montana. Hahahaha! I took a photo at the sign and promptly turned around. Starving. Tired. Upset that I wasted an hour. I love Montana, but that was not the plan for this trip…
I finally crossed over into South Dakota around 2 PM. Finally. At that point, South Dakota looked very similar to North Dakota with the exception of a few more hills. Still beautiful but I was kind of over the great plains already. It’s just too spacious. I like the look and feel of being surrounded and engulfed by mountains and feeling small, but I don’t like feeling small by the wide open spaces. I feel like I’m gonna get blown away. I don’t know. It just feels lonely. I can’t describe it anymore than that. Originally I thought it was really pretty. The vast wide openness, but after hundreds of miles of it…and the wind, I know now that I could never live there. Funny, I thought I would love it so much that I’d want to stay, but so far North Dakota is out as a place I would ever want to live, but there was still hope for South Dakota.
So while I was heading to The Center of the Nation, the sky had started turning black. I knew there was a chance of rain, but I didn’t know there was a chance of the hell that happened next. Right before the sky turned to night, I saw others stopped on the side of the road where it was still bright and sunny. There was even a Harley there. Smart. I thought for a split-second about stopping, but ultimately went into the dark clouds of death. I thought, “Well I’ll just speed up, follow the fast white car in front of me and go past the storm clouds before it actually starts to downpour”. Uh huh… but in reality what I did was drive faster into an epic rain and lightning storm. Now I have to say the intense lightning strikes in that huge sky was pretty epic. I could see lightning completely around me. I was engulfed! It was truly amazing however, I did not want to be on the road driving through it. There were times when I wished that I would have stopped like the others, but there I was…in the middle of it…inside of black clouds and lightning strikes…and that damn violent wind. I thought it was going to blow my car over! I started having flashbacks to Wizard of Oz. I quickly checked my phone to see if there was any tornado warnings. There weren’t, but I kept checking obsessively and hoped it would stay that way. The way the wind was swirling those dark clouds was ominous to say the least. The guy ahead of me in the white car never slowed down. He just plowed right through. Maybe he lives there and is used to that. Having come out of that experience alive with my car not blown into tomorrow, I can say that I’m glad I experienced it, but it was surreal and alarming and I don’t want to do it again.
Right after the storm, I drove into sun again and was very happy to see it! Speaking of everything feeling like the middle of nowhere out there, I headed further into the middle of nowhere following a friends directions on how to get to The Center of the Nation. There is a long, a gravel road that looks like it leads to absolutely nothing. You drive eight miles down it until You see a small sign marking the spot and a cairn. The moment I stepped out of my car I had 2 pounds of dirt stuck to my sandals like glue. It was so heavy. The mud was crazy sticky and dense… and probably partly poop. It just attached to my feet and didn’t let go. I even tried to knock it off on rocks and rub it off on different plant material, but it was not budging. Even later back at my car, I tried to pour some water on it…still nothing. It just stayed there like cement. So weird. It added so much weight to my feet while walking that I thought my sandals were going to break. They didn’t, thankfully.
At the base of the cairn is an ammo box with a guestbook to sign. After I signed it, I left some of my fire dancing cards. You are not at the true center at the sign, however. You must go though a gate surrounding the grassy, but now super muddy, field towards a big American flag on a tall pole… you guessed it in the middle of nothing and that’s where the benchmark is marking the true center of the nation. There I was, super tired battling the relentless wind while hobbling the short walk back to my car dragging 2 pounds of mud… but I still got my photos, dammit! A man and women with some kids showed up just as I was heading back. I was glad I was not the only weirdo looking at a flag and benchmark in a field.
I kept watching the sky because it seemed like the storm was catching up to me, but even though I spent an hour and half there, it never found me again. I spent some of that time snacking in my car, peeing by my car, and trying to clean my shoes off, but it was futile and had to wait. I changed shoes and moved on.
I had to go through the town of Bella Fourche to get to my campsite for the night, so I thought I’d check out the monument there that marks, the closest CITY to the middle of the nation. Ha! So i thought I could get some real food finally and check that out. I knew the gift shop and museum would be closed because they close at four every day and it was 5pm already. So, if you GPS to The Center of the Nation, the Belle Fourche monument is the only one that comes up. Technically the real true center is still considered to be “Belle Fourche”.. granted the outskirts of the town is in The Great Plains. However, the true geological center takes a bit more work to find, but all the photos I took there are marked as being in Belle Fourche. Hopefully that clears it up, a bit. It’s a bit confusing. At least it was for me.
Once I got to the town and out of the mind-numbing plains, the first thing I saw was a gas station. I decided to fill up and I really wanted to clean off my windshield for the 100th time. Once back in my car, I tried to start it and… Nothing. It didn’t even attempt to start. What?! I tried again. Nothing! No, no, no, no,no,no! I’m too tired for this!!!! I just wanted to see the monument and head on to my campsite that I had booked an hour and 45 minutes away closer to the Custer area.
I immediately called my roadside service and they took a full hour and a half to get to me while I just sat there taking up space at the gas pump. Sigh… I was so hungry and super super tired and my phone was dying. While I was waiting, I made some phone calls. I called the O’Reilly Auto Parts store that was literally across the street to ask them about changing my battery, I called and canceled my campsite for the night (for a fee, of course), then called around for the closest campgrounds / hotels I could find to me. One campsite was 6 minutes away for 20 bucks a night with showers. That was my best option if I couldn’t get my battery changed that night. Whew…I was happy I found anything in that small town, but it was over 5,000 people, so I guess it was not even close to as tiny as I have stayed in.
I also looked for someplace to walk to for food, but I ended up getting a side of sweet corn, and a side of macaroni and cheese at the little eatery inside of the gas station. Everything else was meat there. I was happy they had that. I just couldn’t wait anymore and there was nothing that was not meat that was close by or even far from me for that matter. I hadn’t eaten anything, but a few car snacks up until that point.
Once the tow truck guy got there, it took him about two minutes to jump my car. I immediately drove across the street to O’Reilly’s. In my previous phone conversation, a guy told me to come over and have the battery tested once I got a jump. I was hoping they would just run over and jump me and save me the long wait, but nope that didn’t happen. But once I was there, the same guy then said that he could not test my battery with the engine running and I’d have to turn it off. Um…After waiting an hour and a half to have it jumped, I wasn’t about to turn it off right away. He then looks at said battery and proceeds to tell me that he can’t change the battery anyway if it’s bad because it is “a new kind of battery and has too many wires”. Excuse me? I was about to lose my shit. The guy told me about a couple of car repair places very close in town, but, of course, they were closed already.
So, I did some quick thinking and decided that my best option was to just keep my car running and drive straight to the campsite. I figured if it died again once I shut it off, at least I would be able to try and get some sleep where I was stuck at for the night. When I got there, I explained why I was keeping the car running while I paid the nice couple. They commiserated with me for a bit then told me that there was a big storm heading that way shortly. I just laughed and said, “I know. It’s the same hellish storm that I drove though that had been following me ever since.” I told them, I would be fine and that I was sleeping in my hammock in my car and had garbage bags to put over the ends that stick out to prevent my hammock from getting wet.
I drove to an area that the guy pointed to that was very close by. He told me I could pick any spot in that direction, so I got one in between 2 big trees that was right next to the bathrooms. Yeah baby! I was hoping the trees would protect me a bit from the storm I knew was coming. I set up quickly and finally relaxed. It was a long day of driving, craziness and stress. I started off the night laying in my hammock, but I could not get comfortable. I don’t know why my hammock is not as comfortable in his car as it was in my last one. My last one was a 2015 and this one is 2016. Also, when I got there, it was really hot and with my under quilt and all of my things on and in my hammock making it warm, I was overheating. So after an hour of trying to get comfortable and failing, I jumped up and adjusted the backseat so I could get some sleep finally.
Sure enough the forecast was right and it rained from 10 PM till after 7:30 AM. It made the temperature drop significantly. Yeah, so I started off my night too hot and then ended up being too cold. What the hell’s with the weather up here?! I just couldn’t get it right! I fumbled for my wool blanket and my other blanket in the middle of the night and then I was finally OK. I desperately needed sleep.
As I was drifting off the sleep, I thought, “Well, I guess tomorrow I can go see the store, museum and check out the cute town closest to the center of the United States.” I guess it was meant to be…
September 5th – Day 7:
I woke up a few times in the middle of the night because I was cold or uncomfortable or both. I did find some moments of bliss, however, and finally did get some sleep that I very much needed. I had pillows propped up against the door and my legs swinging in my hammock that I still had up. Not bad, actually! I ran to the bathroom in the rain when I woke up, reluctantly. It was cold and the cold rain running down my back didn’t help. It was in the low 50s, windy, and still raining by the time I needed to move. When I came back to my car, I bundled up in my wool blanket and checked all my emails and things while waiting for the rain to stop, so I could break down, get a shower and, hopefully leave. I remembered about my car and had a moment of dread hit me.
I took some time to clean my mud filled sandals in the shower with me. I had to dig out much of the impacted mud with a paper towel beforehand. So. Much. Mud. It was filled with rocks and grass. You can’t imagine how many layers their were. It was not easy to clean. No wonder it got so heavy! This wasn’t like a little bit of dirt was on my sandals. This was epic.
After I got myself put together, I begged my car to start and it did but it was a rough start. I was just very ecstatic it started at all! I drove five minutes away to Lindstad Alignment & Break, but they don’t do batteries there. Oh crap! I didn’t think I could get my car to start again to go across the street to a different shop. I thought I was screwed. But it started!!!! So I went over to Randy’s Discount Tire in hopes that they could help me! I was out of options in that town, if that didn’t work out for me.
The guy behind the counter, Ryan was a super nice gentleman that said that he is no mechanic, but if I thought it was my battery then he could change that. Then when he came back from looking at it, he said that he was pretty sure that the problem was indeed the battery (which I suspected) because it was still the factory one put in back in 2016!
When I asked for a good place within walking distance that I could get breakfast, while he worked on my car, he suggested a gas station next door. He said that they sell breakfast sandwiches, but I could get free coffee from him. I imagined the sandwiches were all filled with some sort of meat, so I just went with the free coffee. He asked about what I was doing in Belle Fourche and I told him about why I was traveling and I how it was not my plan to stay the night in the town, but to just pass through. While I waited for the battery to be delivered from a store, I chatted about my desire to move to a small town such as that one. He told me people move there because they get tired of the big city crime or the big city politics. Having moved away for awhile, he knows what it’s like to live outside of the small town, but ultimately decided to come back to his hometown. I can’t imagine this man living anywhere else but this town. I imagine it was like a fish out of water experience for him. He just oozed small town man. That’s not a bad thing at all. I’m sad that I didn’t get a chance to ask him where he moved to because I’m curious. Was it a big city or just another slightly larger town?
My car was done very quickly once the battery got there. When he was ringing me up he said, “Well don’t fall in love with Belle Fourche! You might just end up staying here haha!” I said, “Ohhhhh that’s how you pronounce it!” He said that it is a French saying that means ‘beautiful forks’ meaning the forks in the rivers nearby, the Redwater river and the Belle Fourche River. The latter was used in the “Dances With Wolves” movie. Cool! Then he pointed to how I could get to the rivers to see them if I wanted to see the town’s namesake. I did.
My brief experience in South Dakota thus far made me feel like I went back in time. It’s a nice homey, old fashioned type of feel. A time when respect and manners were a thing. To further the old timey feel, Matlock was on the TV while Ryan was working on my car.
He wished me safe travels and I was out and about driving around the town around 10:30 AM already! The town is really cute and the people are friendly and open to chatting with a stranger. While driving around I found my way to the Center of the Nation Monument by accident when I was looking for the rivers. I kept driving and saw the rivers first, but then circled back around to check out the Visitor Center, museum, gift shop, and monument behind it all. It was all there together. That was nice and convenient.
and beyond. I also did my hair in ringlets often. I think I was
born in the wrong era.
The museum at the visitor center was much more extensive than I would ever have imagined. It was pretty damn amazing! I spent a good 40 minutes in the museum alone! It was a happy accident that I was forced to spend the night because I would have missed all of it due to it being closed when I rolled in. It’s worth a visit for sure and now I know how to properly say the name of the place thanks to my car dude, Ryan. You get to know a town more and get a better feel of the place by spending time talking to the residents than you ever will just by driving by and seeing sights on your own. Traveling alone as a woman makes people always want to ask me what I’m doing alone and I never tire of sharing my stories with everyone.
I headed out of adorable Belle Fourche around 12:30. I decided spontaneously to stop and check out the little town of Sturgis because I was gonna be very close to driving right through it anyway. It was about 40 minutes away.
Originally, I thought Sturgis would be a quick blow through town for me just to check it out but I ended up spending way too much time and way too much money there…2 hours to be exact and we won’t mention the dollar amount Haha! They had A LOT of shops. Many shops were biker themed, of course, but they had a lot of other great things and fun clothes in the shops as well! I wanted to buy way to many things! I ended up getting a shot glass in one store and had three shirts made at another store. I definitely saw a lot of motorcycles and people dress in motorcycle gear even when it was not the time for the actual Bike Rally. The lady that was working at the store that I bought the shot glass from told me if I wanted to get a good meal, to go to the Nugget Saloon in Deadwood and tell them Opal sent me. Sounded great, until she said that the “good meal” that she was suggesting was a big ‘ol steak and a beer. So, I’m adding that to my blog for all those meat eaters out there…enjoy! Tell them Opal sent you! 🙂
I ended up getting breakfast food finally at 2pm at Uncle Louie’s Diner. I got a huge cheese omelette, potatoes and coffee. Yum!
After Sturgis, I headed for Deadwood to check out yet another very touristy tiny city. About that time, the landscape exploded with large mountains and forest instead of the great plains which I was extremely happy about. “This is the landscape I’ve been waiting to see!” I thought to myself with a huge smile on my face! I even passed several Bighorn sheep crossing signs! You don’t see that back in Ohio!
Again, I spent more time than expected in Deadwood. I spent 3 hours checking out a couple of things of note. My first thought of The Deadwood Welcome Center museum was that it was cute, but they didn’t really have too much to see. It was more reading and less cool stuff to look at. I still favor Belle Fourche’s. I didn’t spend nearly as much time in Deadwood shopping as I did with Sturgis with the exception of the gift shop in the Welcome Center.
Then I headed to Mt. Moriah Cemetery to see Wild Bill Hitchcock and Calamity Jane’s graves (Thanks Mel for that tip). I also ended up hiking all the way to the top of the cemetery mountain to see the first appointed sheriff of Deadwood, Seth Bullock. He and Roosevelt ended up becoming lifelong friends and Roosevelt said of Bullock, “Seth Bullock is a true Westerner, the finest type of frontiersman.”
by a fence that you cannot go inside.
This is as close as I could get.
a fence, but I was able to lean far over like a crazy person to get
this selfie with her.
even close to the highest point.
After leaving the cemetery, I drove around looking at the houses in the small town a bit. Granted an hour and a half was spent just hiking around the cemetery which was in fact high up on a mountain. I’ve never seen a higher cemetery. It was a hell of a walk…again in sandals. Ha! It was crazy cool! I thought it was funny that the cemetery has an entrance fee. I’ve never seen that before in my life. Usually they are open to the public and free, but it was only two dollars and it was worth it for the exercise. I need all the training I can get. Too many hours sitting in the car.
At some of the campgrounds, I had been doing a few exercises before going to bed just to strengthen my ankles and my calves. Those seem to be the weak parts of my body when I hike and climb. Those are usually the only parts that are sore for days after, so I was trying to prevent that soreness. Even after hiking around the very inclined cemetery quite a bit, I still planned on doing my exercises that night as well as soon as I got to camp.
So I got to Horse Thief Campground and found my spot, but it took a some time. The numbers are all wonky and camp maps are always the worst. Seriously who can make sense of them?! At one point when I was looking for my #88 campsite, I was on the road going up a hill and I thought well this can’t be right. I didn’t think it was an actual road. I thought it was a trail. Ha! Well it turns out it was a road. I finally just asked a fellow camper if they knew where #88 was. They knew right away. Turns out I passed it a bit back before the road turned all crazy, so I circled back around. It was pretty rough for me to get my little Kia up to my campsite, but I managed. My camp space was rough. After I got my sleeping arrangements set up, I walked to the bathroom. It was only right down the dirt road, but it was a pretty far hike. But when I got there, I was shocked at how beautiful the bathroom is for a campsite! Seriously! but they do call this a “resort” Haha! So, I guess that makes a difference?
Anyway, I did not set up my hammock because it was a chilly night and I haven’t been (shockingly) the most comfortable in my hammock, so I set up a nice little bed for myself with my Mexican blanket, wool blanket, sleeping bag liner that is warm, my sleeping bag, and a couple of pillows. I just had to clean up my house on wheels and move a lot of things around to make it happen. I had to throw out two rotten lemons that I had with me that were the cause of a mystery smell. Problem solved! My cell service was very minimal and people were trying to chat with me to check in, but I really couldn’t respond because it took an hour to send a message and there was no way I could post photos or send them to anyone or anywhere.
Once the sun set, I noticed how extremely dark it was. I could pretty much see every single star in the sky. Gorgeous! I sat with the car running for a bit to charge of all my things and then retired to the back and ate an apple with almond butter and relaxed. Ahhh… what a fun busy day. Just spending the day popping around small towns was fun. I saw and learned A LOT! That’s not something I typically spend much time doing on trips, but these towns were the exception. I was ready to get back into nature…
PART TWO…More high peaks and more adventures!
