Sheyenne National Grassland 1 - Day 236

  I ended up hiking with two young people today. They are walking buddies. Rachel is a pharmacist, and John is a soil scientist. We discovered that we were all walking at about the same pace, so we finally quit playing leapfrog and just walked together. The weather was beautiful, and I saw new plants (no IDs yet). Just about perfect.


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

See Sheyenne- Goodbye, Hello

Sheyenne- Goodbye, Hello - Day 235

  Today, I said goodbye to the Sheyenne River. I should count how many times the trail crosses it, but not tonight. The bridge you can just see at the bottom of the road on the hill is Ranes Bridge. I walked across that, crossing for the final time, and continued east while the river swings north at Big Bend, to head for Fargo and the Red River.


But, don't worry. Everything out here is Sheyenne. I'm ready to say hello to the Sheyenne National Grassland.


In between are a lot of new (since I was here last) off-road miles that are pretty special. P.S. they are also well-maintained by the Dakota Prairie Chapter of the NCTA.

The new-to-us miles go through an area that is being described as one of the richest archeological areas in North Dakota. For one thing, there are a number of Native American mounds. Most of them are not as high as they once were because they were plowed and planted for years. But many are still recognizable.


One area that is new, not only to our trail, but has recently been preserved as a National Histoic Site by the Archeological Society, is called the Biesterfeldt Site (named for the previous property owners). At the current time, there isn't much to see. It's a flat area on a low bluff above the river. The trail curves around the edge and you can sometimes make out the remains of a low dike.


But ground-penetrating radar has identified this as the location of a Sheyenne village in the 1700s. There were about 50 earth lodges here, and a map drawn in 1908 has been located that shows that the site had previously been studied. This is an image of what the earth lodges would have looked like.


There are several excellent interpretive signs of other landmarks as well. I can't do a long post tonight. It's already late and I have to get to sleep.

And guess what! I ran into friend Tom, out mowing the trail.


Miles today: 14.7. Total miles so far: 2835.6.

See Lisbon

Lisbon - Day 234

  Today, I ate lunch under an American Elm. I've seen very few of these in my life, as most were dead of Dutch Elm Disease before I was old enough to care about trees. Nevertheless, I've seen a few. However, I don't think I've ever eaten lunch beneath the canopy of one.

This is in the city of Lisbon. This tree is pretty big but not nearly as big as another they did have which was the largest elm in North Dakota until it finally died of the disease a couple of years ago.


Who's under the tree? Gerry from the local NCT chapter hiked with me for most of the day today. He was a great hiking companion because he knew story after story of local history.


Lisbon has an historic downtown, but I didn't take many pictures. They are restoring an Opera House built in 1889, and I was given a tour, but that will have to be a bonus section for another day.

Here's a view of the whole town from the trail. There is new off-road trail south of here that Gerry keeps well-mowed. It was easy to walk.


The new trail follows a ridge so you get more nice views of the Sheyenne Valley.


BONUS SECTION: Charlie's Collection
Gerry also knows a man named Charlie who lives right along the trail.


Charlie collects... well... maybe anything having to do with old cars. For starters, old gas pumps. Do you like the 1940s- 1950s?


Maybe you prefer the 1930s.


He makes model tractors from metal 5-gallon fuel cans.


And from sewing machines.


He collects oil cans, promotional buttons, gas station signs, even the metal name tags dealers would put on cars they sold (now these are usually stickers), We ran out of time to see even a good chunk of his items because he had an appointment and we had to hike. He also restores and collects (would you be surprised?) cars.

Many of you will recognize this one. 1955 Chevy.


He likes Chevrolet.


I liked this one a lot. I think it's a 1951, but I'm sure I'll get corrected if I'm wrong.


So, I got a special treat that most hikers wouldn't, but I'll take it. Charlie said it was all right to take the pictures.

Miles today: 15.0 Total miles so far: 2820.9.

See Sheyenne State Forest

Sheyenne State Forest - Day 233

  Today was really an oddball day. It was sort of a day off. I spent the morning working on logistics for some backpacking I will need to do in Minnesota. Then in the afternoon Jerry Warner took us for a ride in General Hank. He's a 1944 Jeep. What fun! I liked it better than my ride in a Corvette a few years ago.

We did have a destination in mind. We went to hike the miles of the North Country Trail in the Sheyenne State Forest. I'll bet you didn't know North Dakota had any state forests. There are six of them, but the other five are all in the far north portion of the state.

For years the NCT has had these 4.2 miles of trail, but they don't connect to anything. Getting landowner permissions for passage on each side of the forest has so far been impossible.

Omer agreed to walk one portion of the trail with us. The gate is welcoming, but only to hikers. The idea is to help keep horses off the trail. They do have their own trail.

Most of the miles are indeed in the woods, which is pretty unusual for North Dakota. It was nice to have a local guide because I had not known this is a mineral spring. The water has been tested, and it is safe for drinking. It has that oily taste of mineral water, so I only had a little. But it was nice and cold.

There are actual hills in the Forest, and some of them have views.

But the destination of the hike was North Dakota's only waterfall. You may find this leaving you speechless. Here you go.

Then we got invited out for dinner by another Gerry, with a G, and his wife Deb.

Where did we go? To a renovated 1916 school building that is finding new life. The primary business is wool. Processing, dyeing, spinning, teaching people how to do these things and knit, crochet, weave, etc. But they also use the added (1960s) gym as an event venue, they rent rooms on the upper floor, and once a week they serve food (although you can book private parties). I think half the population of North Dakota was there.

What did we have? Pizza!

On the way home, we got to experience the big sky effect. This thunderhead was building and then discharging behind us. Ahead of us there was a rainbow.

So, I walked 7.9 miles today. 4.2 of them are unique NCT miles, But I'm not going to count them in the total yet, because they don't connect.

See Fort Ransom Area

Fort Ransom Area - Day 232

  Fort Ransom was an actual historic fort, operational from 1867-1872. A series of forts was established to guard the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Dakota Territory. Once the railroad was built, the forts were considered unnecessary.

Fort Ransom is also the name of a small town about three miles from the site of the fort. It began to be settled after the fort closed, and was officially founded in 1880. This was the original mercantile, now the museum.

The Standing Rock Lutheran Church dates from the same era.

Fort Ransom also lends the name to the nearby state park. The NCT has been routed through this state park since early days of the trail, and they embrace the trail. Translation- they keep it well-maintained, have interpretive signs, literature, and a welcoming arch. (Not to mention cold drinks for sale.)

The park also has wonderful scenery. This is another of those side valleys that branch off the main Sheyenne Valley. The blue hill in the distance is on the other side of the river.

The trail does drop down into that cool valley,

and emerges at the Sheyenne River. I told you we follow it a long way!

But there are several fun myths/alternate histories of the area. This is known as Viking Hill. Many locals claim it is a pyramid built by ancient people, that in fact, it may be the oldest pyramid in the world. They say the top third of the hill was constructed of dirt that was brought to this site from a different location.

And what's on top? A statue of a Viking. One of the strongest legends of the area is that it was visited by Vikings. The statue was erected in 1972 to honor the local Norwegian population.

What makes people believe the Vikings were here? There are several rocks with holes through the middle that look like Viking mooring stones. There is a rock that some believed had runes carved on it. There is purported to be a drydock along a creek about two miles away that would have held a ship 100 feet long.

I saw one of the mooring stones in 2002. It's a squareish rock with a hole in the middle.

Of course, others say the rocks were drilled by early settlers to accept dynamite charges. Geologists pooh-pooh the pyramid theory, saying the hill eroded that way naturally (it does look a lot like the pointy hills in Ohio). The "runes" look pretty much like glacial striations on rock. I'd never even heard of the drydock before and haven't seen that site.

The other big mystery is a large flat stone with odd markings. It's called the Writing Rock. Sioux legend says that a spirit would arise from the water and write messages on the rock. Anyone who saw the spirit would receive special gifts. Then the spirit would erase the message until the next time it appeared.

You know the geologists say this is more glacial or erosional doing. But this one is harder to explain. I've never seen the rock itself, but it's big. About 5x7 feet. This is a drawing of the markings.

Some say the lines with small hash marks at each end, and dots, etc. along the length are very, very similar to numbering systems used by the ancient Mayas, and Sino-Tibetan people.

There's something to amuse everyone in the Fort Ransom area. If none of this catches your interest, there is a HUGE craft show at the end of September each year.

Today was easy- good surfaces, more moderate weather. And Fort Ransom SP also had a plant checklist! You know I'm a happy camper.

Miles today: 15.5. Total miles so far: 2805.9. (Look at that number- that means probably under 2000 to go! But I don't want to add it up yet and stir up any false hopes about finishing before Dec 1)

See Kathryn