Monday, June 29 - Taking the Long Way Around

I got up very early and hit the road toward Mobridge, SD.  I swear there was a  crop-dusting plane that followed me wherever I went – for like 30 miles. It was right out of the Hitchcock movie “North By Northwest”.  No, not really…but still…it was weird.   I didn’t make breakfast at my campsite since I’d gotten in late and kept the tent next to me up (and boy were they RIGHT next to me...talk about cramming the tents in) and didn’t want to wake them up early too. I had breakfast (which doubled as lunch later) in Mobridge at one of those great small town diners.   I love diners in small towns!  The food is usually great (and cheap) and I love eavesdropping on the conversations of  the locals.  Mobridge is at the junction of Hwy 12 (which goes from Minnesota to Wyoming) and the 1804 and 1806 highways that run north/south, one on each side of the Missouri River.  They are named for the Lewis and Clark routes traveled in those years.



I then visited the Sitting Bull and Sacajawea monuments on the West side of the Missouri River from Mobridge.  Sitting Bull was killed in 1890 and buried in Ft. Yates on the Standing Rock reservation about an hour north of here.  Later his remains were supposedly moved to this site at the request of his grandchildren.  I first stopped at the Sacagawea monument.  After the Lewis and Clark journey she and Charbonneau  and baby "pomp" settled in Kenel (about 20 mi. north, I drove through it) and she died there, according to this monument...although I've read elsewhere that she lived and was buried in Wyoming.  I walked from this monument to the Sitting Bull monument aftera break to watch a cowboy at work on a beautiful summer day.

 I started up the few steps at the Sitting Bull gravesite and had just thought “hmmmm…there could be snakes here” when there was one suddenly a few steps in front of me.  Talk about your stomach going to your throat!  It wasn’t a rattlesnake.  I need to get a snake book…I almost bought one and then thought “I don’t need that!”.  I was wrong.  He was BIG!   This is a beautiful tribute to a great chief. 

Then I took more back roads sort-of along the Missouri for a while.  There isn’t even a marker when you pass from SD to ND.  The water in the rivers is VERY high.  You can tell there are trees that have not been partially under water before.  I was eavesdropping in the café and heard “old-timers” talking about how they’ve never seen it this high.  I love small town cafes, did I mention that? You learn a lot!

I went to Ft. Yates and the Standing Rock Reservation. Even knowing what I was looking for I had to backtrack to find the original burial site of Sitting Bull.  There is no marker whatsoever by the road.  Here is the plaque:

I think the way and reason that Sitting Bull was killed is tragic.  He was a wise man and yes, he was a warrior, but wouldn’t you be, if your family and people were being threatened the way his were?

The "Standing Rock" that gives the reservation it's name.

I then took off across, literally, the middle of nowhere North Dakota.  I LOVE back roads…I love being able to come to a junction and think "hmmm...should I go right or left?" .  I love the open spaces and unexpected things that you see.   In both ND/SD and MT today, I saw more pheasants than I’ve seen the entire rest of my life put together!  But if you don’t have time to “stalk them” or wade through ditch grass (where rattlesnakes are lurking) they are impossible to photograph!  Everything in all 3 states is greener than I think I’ve ever seen it…I’m usually here when everything is brown and crunchy.  One funny thing that I saw was a fox in  a field.  I hadn't seen another car in a long time and I pulled over and stopped.  He saw me and crouched down in the field.  The plants weren't very high so I'm sure he thought he was hidden since he couldn't see me, but his ears were sticking up.  I sat there and he'd raise his head and look and quickly put it back down.  This happened repeatedly so I went on my way, so he could go on his without worrying about me.

I reached the vicinity of the high point of North Dakota

(which is 7 miles in on pretty rough roads) and parked…thought about driving further but it was a pretty rutted track and I didn’t know how deep the  puddles were.  So I got ready and took off…I was so preoccupied with snakes that I didn’t wear enough sunscreen,

The Trail To the Top

didn’t get my hat, didn’t bring any food, etc.  I’ve never walked looking down the entire way before.  It rained a few days ago and since then someone has ridden a mountain bike there.  You can imagine how the bike tracks look like a snake track?    :)     Then some guys, Tony and Rocky, showed up…saw them driving their vehicle around mine and further in so felt bad about where I parked.  They eventually caught up since I was walking and we hiked to the summit together.

 It was Tony’s 36^th  high point summit.  They’ve even done Denali!  They are policemen who do this in memory of fallen comrades, particularly the ones who lost their lives on 9-11.  How cool is that!  They had just done Granite Peak in MT where they had to deal with a LOT of snow and ice and sleet.  They commended me on not getting out of breath on the steep hike up so I felt very good about all the running, etc. that I've been doing and it makes me confident that I'll do ok on the long backpack days in Glacier.  Anyway,  the landscape here is very interesting...I'm not sure what the white ground is, I need to do some research. It's very crumbly and ruggedly pretty. 

There was a hidden valley up in there that I meant to take a picture of on the way down and I forgot.

We reached the summit after having no snake sightings.  I just had to creep around to where I knew the rattlesnake den from Youtube is...I was EXTREMELY careful.  The den was empty...that actually worried me more.  If they weren't in the den, where were they?

 Here is the high point...

each one is marked with a survey marker and the box contains  a register to sign and date.  It was my first high point. 

I hiked much faster on the way down, I wasn't quite as worried about snakes anymore. 

I found some good-sized coyote scat on the road...he's been eating deer (I saw a lot of adult and fawn tracks in the mud). 

Being "scat lady", of course I had to take a picture.

It was a good hike and fun experience.  I'll be doing more high points, it's pretty cool!  I was hoping to get to Ekalaka, Montana tonight but after discovering road construction and a very low speed limit to get down there and back, and knowing there were only 12 campsites (free) at the state park which might all be occupied already, I decided against it. It would have made it REALLY late and a long drive to come back up later.  So I just drove on to Miles City. I've really wanted to drive that road to Ekalaka, and Medicine Rocks State Park looks cool, but it will have to wait for another trip, and that's ok.  The last picture of the day, the Little Missouri River the ND/MT border.  At some point I'm going to try and figure out how to post a map with my meandering route on here.

© 2009 Tara Morrison