In North Dakota, I think the first location to be established as trail was the western terminus at Lake Sakakawea because that's part of the congressional authorization. But the next major player to get behind the North Country Trail was the National Forest Service. Yes, this is a grassland, but it is managed by the Forest Service. In 1980, the trail was planned to go through 8 National Forests. Now we go through 10.
But the significance of this is that within a very few years, the Allegheny (PA), Wayne (OH), Manistee, Hiawatha, Ottawa (MI), Chequamegon (WI), Chippewa (MN) and Sheyenne Grassland (ND) had all built trail. Even if the pieces were not connected, it was a beginning, and a major player was on board with support.
In order to mark the trail through the Sheyenne, tall posts were put up. These are 4x6s, deeply sunk in the ground because the grassland is grazed, and cows like to rub against the posts. They have to be really tough.
When these were first erected, a branding iron with the trail emblem was made to mark them. Now, the woodburned look has all faded. In fact, most of the brands have been covered over with the colored markers. They do show up better, but I found one where you could still see the original imprint.
In 2001, or maybe spring 2002, the Forest Service undertook a huge project. In the western half of the grassland, it was quite difficult to follow the trail, even with the posts. So they dug 15 miles of a shallow trench and filled it with pea gravel. In 2002, I was not in love with this fix. I couldn't even walk on it, it was so loose and slidey. But 20 years later, it has compacted and filled in with fine soil. It provides a nice stable base and the treadway isn't lost. The local chapter is also keeping a wide strip mowed which is extra nice.
And this is pretty amazing. They have fixed one wet area where the cows wallow by crossing it with super-sturdy puncheon. The decking is made of 3x10s. The cows aren't tearing it up. After the mess at Lake Ashtabula, perhaps you can grasp how much I appreciated this. Not a cheap fix, but it seems to be effective.
How about water? There are tanks throughout the grassland with water for the cows. We always just filtered water from the tanks. They were powered by traditional windmills, so you could see where they were. My understanding is that a lot have now been converted to solar power, so you can't see where they are. I saw a few of the old kind today, but no new ones. I guess that's the proof of the problem- I couldn't see them! Anyway, the Dakota Prairie Chapter has very recently added some metal boxes with water for hikers at a number of road crossings. Each box has both jugs of water so you could fill your own containers, and some single use water bottles. This is an amazing service to provide, and will need constant attention. I looked at the trail register, and the Grassland is getting a fair amount of hiker traffic. That makes me really happy!
John made a great joke today. As we were approaching one of the many (spring loaded, so they close by themselves if you forget) gates you have to go through, a largeish herd of cows was standing right in front of it. I started talking to them, and in the end about half of them got to the right side of the gate, while the other half remained where they started. We passed between the two groups without incident.
After we were through the gate, John said, "Joan is like Moses. She parted the Red Angus Sea." The beef are Red Angus breed.
We also moved the trailer today. Many thanks to our last host, Jerry, for rides in General Hank, hiking in the State Forest, and some food treats, which included cherry pie baked in a dutch oven.
Miles today: 15.0. Total miles so far: 2850.6
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1 comment:
The Chequamegon, of course, had its trail completed by 1970. Maybe it has to do with our WI state motto - “Forward”
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