New Rockford Canal - Day 219

  Today's lonely North Dakota picture is the sky. You never have to wonder what's happening up there; all you need to do is go outside and check. Looked ominous, but no rain, and it kept the temperature down.

There's only a little bit to say about the New Rockford Canal. It was supposed to be the next piece in the whole Garrison Diversion project for irrigation and water re-distribution. But it needed that reservoir that never happened, the land that became Lonetree WMA, to feed it. So it only collects rainwater and a bit of drainage. It's 43 miles of linear cattail marsh. The ducks and the birds love it. The watergates (I wonder how much each of those cost) sit open and rusting.

The "best" feature... best because I think it's hilarious... is where it begins (from three days ago). This is short of where it was supposed to begin by a couple of miles. My guess is that one of those lawsuits stopped construction in its tracks. There are just these two berms in the middle of the prairie with a 40-foot wide ditch between. You can be sure that end isn't going to hold any water!

Now, I'm beginning a lot of gravel road miles. There will still be neat things to see, but my feet are going to be unhappy.

One of the ranchers here told me that it's actually good for the prairie grass to have some kind of bovine grazing it. The grasses and the bison evolved together. He said it's as good for the grass as burning it. I have no idea about the validity of that comparison, but it makes sense that grazing is needed. That's probably why grazing is allowed on so much of the public land here.

Some ranches even go for the original! Bison. If you are a vegetarian, just cover your ears, but bison burgers are good.

And the babies are cute.

We have moved the trailer again. Our previous "home" was the Harvey City Campground, compliments of the city commission. They had nice showers. It was actually quite a busy campground, but I got lucky with taking a picture when the spaces near us were empty.

I'm blogging early today, because we are doing something fun and non-hiking related this evening. The cooler day left me with some energy to spare.

Miles today: 15.8. Total miles so far: 2639.2.

See The Golden Dragonfly Mystery