Valley City - Day 229

  Valley City is a fun community on the NCT. I have been here either 4 or 5 times. At the ends of 2 hikes, for 2 NCTA conferences, and this time. But one of the conferences may have also been at the end of a hike, which would make it only 4 times. Anyway... I know the city fairly well. And the city knows the trail well. A couple of NCTA board members, people who make things happen, call Valley City home.

Now let's back up and talk about the hike. Knowing it was going to be really hot today, I got up before dawn, and was hiking when the sun came up.

After ten miles, I reached Valley City. It's nickname is "The City of Bridges," because it has several (I think I've been told 9, but I'm not positive) unique bridges.

The first is the Hi-Line Railroad bridge. Yup, a train went over it just for me. If you think this looks a lot like the Karnak bridge from a few days ago, they are from the same era, and they both span the Sheyenne Valley. The school takes its nickname from this bridge, calling themselves the Hi-Liners.

The trail goes right under one of the supports.

I stumbled into an open air church service at the park, with free food afterwards, but I was on a mission and couldn't give up the advantage of my early start.

This ornate bridge is the only one of its kind in North Dakota. It was built in the early 1900s when Valley City State University was opened as the Valley City State Normal School in 1899. Most of the students boarded with families in town and they needed an easy way to get across the river. This bridge was built in 1901 for a cost of $1950. A picture of this bridge has been on the cover of the North Star (NCTA) magazine. It's part of the trail.

As you approach the south end of town you join the Planet Walk. This is a sidewalk with large rocks marked with the names of the planets. They are spaced proportionally to their distances from the sun. Saturn even has its rings. The walk is about a quarter-mile long, and you have to walk yards between the outer planets.

When you reach the "sun," the city has reconstructed a Native Medicine Wheel with rocks radiating to align with the various solar extremes, and the compass points. You can see the rocks of the four inner planets: Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury, all very close to the center. It's a nice graphic way to suggest the vast distances of the solar system. The center of the wheel is filled with stone, and some of the lines of rocks radiate outside the circle

This was dedicated to coincide with one of the NCTA conferences, so I was here for that too.

I did take a break at the south end of town and had a cold drink with lots of ice to get me through the last four miles.

I finished hiking at 2 pm. It had just cracked 90 degrees during my final hour. So I didn't walk a long time in the heat. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.

Miles today: 17.0. Total miles so far: 2761.4.

See Baldhill Dam