North Dakota Badlands Day Two: Petrified Forest

The second hike of our second day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park was at the Petrified Forest.  The Petrified Forest is accessible by taking a very rocky dirt road to the far west side of the South Unit of the park, through open ranchland and past oil rigs.  The road is not well labeled, so make sure you take a map if you head out that way!  

Welcome to the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness

The first item of interest was the gate to enter the park.  A first for the Tales of the Witch of November blog: an animated gif!  Joe demonstrates the gate for us all to enjoy.

And this here is a gate

It wasn't easy to pick a favorite hike of the weekend, but if pressed I would have to choose this one.  We started out across the grassy prairie under the wide, wide sky.  The car, the road, and all traces of civilization disappeared over the hill behind us.  We were alone.

Under the prairie sky

After half a mile or so, the scenery began to change.  The grasses gave way to rocks and brush, and we were back in the Badlands.  We encountered a small group of hikers, who told us that there was a rattlesnake about 100 yards ahead.  They had startled it out of a shrub, and "even got it to rattle at us."  I thought, "Oh great, you've made it mad for us!".  One of the group kindly offered to walk the 100 yards with us to show us where the snake was located.  We hiked to the shrub, but the rattlesnake was gone.  We continued on, a bit more cautiously than usual.

Into the Badlands again

Our destination was the Petrified Forest, about 1.25 miles in.  We started to see petrified stumps and logs: when we picked up small pieces of wood, they were as hard and heavy as stone.  This stump grew here about 60 million years ago, and now its descendants grow in the soil around it.

Separated by several thousand generations

Aghh!!  A snake!  A four-foot-long snake meandered through bits of petrified wood.  We were pretty sure it wasn't a rattlesnake (skinny head, no rattle) but we didn't know what exact kind of snake it was at first.   We stayed well clear of it.  Turns out it was a bullsnake - not poisonous.  Whew!

Anyone  here speak parseltounge?

While we explored the Petrified Forest, dark clouds began to roll in.  We got a bit nervous.  I was concerned about lightning, Joe was concerned about it getting dark, and neither of us wanted to get rained on.  We debated when to turn around for quite a bit ("Just a little further...just until that tree over there...I just want to look over here...") but finally decided just to turn around and head back.  Before we left though, we got a picture of ourselves being petrified treehuggers.

60 million year old trees need the MOST hugs.

What a fantastic hike.  I almost hate to write about it because I want to keep it a secret - the coolest, most perfect hike at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The route we took was the "short route" - if we were feeling really motivated, we could have hiked out to the Petrified Forest from inside the park.  It would have been ten miles.  Maybe next time??

Farewell, Petrified Forest!  I think it was this hike that solidified the fact that Joe and I want to come back here.  We're already planning to drive out again in the spring.  Wildflowers, more hiking, bison stomping around the Visitor Center, stargazing.  Hanging out in the bar with the cowboys and the Friends of the Cowboys.  We're going to to take Highway 2 out this time...and, of course, hit a few more Minnesota State Parks on the way.  :-)

We'll be back.

Total miles hiked today (this hike): 5
Total miles hiked in 2013: 114
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: 19.7
Total ticks today: 0
Total ticks in 2013: 54

North Dakota Badlands Day Two: Painted Canyon

After our adventures at Jones Creek and Buck Hill on Day One of our trip, we were super excited for the two adventures on tap for Day Two.  We explored one of the most visited parts of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and then one of the least visited.  Off we go!

The Painted Canyon is super-accessible for folks just driving by Theodore Roosevelt National Park on Interstate 94...it's the Rest Stop!  No park pass needed.  There is a small Interpretive Center on site, plenty of parking (for cars and lots and lots of semis), picnic tables, and a trailhead that leads down into the canyon.

The view from the top

From this perspective, it's easy to see that the Badlands were "carved out" as opposed to being like mountains, which are "folded up" or "pushed up".  Looking down on the Badlands is like looking back through millions of years of history.  Look at the strata patterns in the rocks!

Into the canyon

The Painted Canyon Loop is about two miles long.  We saw several other trails branching off the main trail and going into the distance - further evidence of plenty of backcountry hiking as we saw yesterday on Jones Creek.  The main trail was well-marked with these brown signs that LOOK like rusted metal, but are actually plastic.  Makes sense, with the wind that we had to deal with the whole time!  It wasn't tough to stay on the main trail, until...

Hey!

This giant bison lumbered out of the woods and right onto the trail in front of us.  We had already carefully navigated the steep, steep trail down the side of the canyon, and were not too keen on turning around and going straight back.  But Mr. Bison was also not keen on giving up his nice place on the trail.  He gave us the stink-eye as we stood there, trying to figure out what to do.

This land is my land, it is not your land.

We thought we could see where the trail picked up on the other side of the bison barrier, so we scrambled up over some rocks to avoid him.  Surely that 2,000 lb critter (with the delightful scientific name of Bison Bison Bison) could not get to us up here.

Leaving bison zone

People may pooh-pooh a trail that starts and ends at an Interstate Rest Stop, but don't you be one of those people.  It was a great hike - challenging, with the steep path into and out of the canyon - and once we were down in there we couldn't even hear the road above.  It's wonderful that such a wild, amazing trail is accessible as it is to overland truckers, families going to Fargo to visit the folks, and other people who just have an hour or so to enjoy the Badlands before getting back on the road.

Back at the top, with fall color

When we returned to the top, we met an over-the-road trucker and her snorty English Bulldog, Winston.  She asked us if we'd just come back from hiking, and we told her about the bison on the trail.

"Oh yes!" she said. "In the spring, they come all the way up here by the rest stop.  This place is crawling with them."  Apparently, when the female bison are calving, the males will sort of circle around them and watch from afar.  This includes coming up on the rest area grounds.

Not sure if we believed her, we said farewell to her and snorty Winston and stopped in the Interpretive Center.  The ranger on duty confirmed her story.  We saw a few pictures of bison staring in the Interpretive Center windows.

"But how do they get up here?" we asked.  "Surely the canyon walls are too steep for them to climb?"

"Oh no, they come right up the trail that you hiked on," the ranger said.  "They're surprisingly nimble for being so big."

Joe and I looked at each other.  Apparently our great idea of climbing up on the rocks above the bison wasn't all that great.  It could have just nimbly charged up after us.  Well!  Now that we knew, we wouldn't make that mistake again.




Total miles hiked today (this hike): 2
Total miles hiked in 2013: 109
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: 19.7
Total ticks today: 0
Total ticks in 2013: 54

North Dakota Badlands: Day One

One quick note before I begin these posts: we left Theodore Roosevelt National Park on September 30th...and the government shut down on October 1st.  All of the NPS websites are currently dark.  I'll link to them in this post (in the hopes that they'll eventually come back up!) but be warned that the links are kind of boring right now.

We sure packed a lot of Parktime into Day One at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We hiked 5 miles of the Jones Creek Trail, toured around the Scenic Loop Drive, climbed Buck Hill, and attended an Astronomy Festival (which was fun, but we have no pictures for obvious reasons)...and even got in a game of Ticket to Ride.

We stayed in Medora, North Dakota, which is a town of about 800 right at the entrance of TRNP.  Being late September, it was definitely shoulder-season.  Many of the stores and restaurants were closed for the season, and we rarely had any company on the road or trail.  Fall color was in full swing, and - even better! - Saturday was National Public Lands Day, so we got into the park for free!  We stayed in the South Unit (the North Unit of the park is about 60 miles north) for the entirety of the trip.

We started out the day with the Scenic Loop Drive.  It is a 36-mile drive that includes short hikes, trailheads for longer hikes, overlooks, and visitor centers.  The badlands scenery is impressive, the hundreds of prairie dogs were adorable, and we got to see the first of many bison and wild horses.

Bison on the hillside

It seemed like there were only about four cars in the whole park,  but they were all in front of us.  And they were all doing the same thing we were doing: looking at the bison and at the wild horses.

Wild, wild wild wild horses...including a colt!!

We decided to pick one big hike for today: the Jones Creek Trail.  It is an out-and-back, so we followed it out about 2.5 miles and then came back.  We hiked through a valley surrounded by the Badlands, wild with fall color and under a brilliant blue sky.  We didn't see any wildlife other than birds and insects while we were out on the Jones Creek Trail.

Hiking through the brush

The trail was mostly flat, but we had to scramble up and down a few steep paths in order to avoid a muddy ford (on the way out) and then to brave the muddy ford (on the way back!).  The scenery was great, of course, and the trail was well-marked.  I'd recommend this trail to anyone who is comfortable with walking a few miles.  Since it's an out-and-back, you can turn around at any time.  Another thing I really liked: there is a hill right at the beginning of the trail, so once you're on the other side you can't see the road...or the car...or anything other than the Badlands all around you.  All of a sudden you're in the wild.  It's very cool.

Autumn colors in the Badlands

There are more coniferous trees than deciduous trees in the Badlands, and more scrub than trees overall.  The deciduous trees were transitioning to brilliant color, and the prairie grasses were also aflame in reds and oranges.  Every once in a while we'd come across a grove of trees like in the above picture - just brilliant.

Beautiful blue skies...just that one teeny cloud

When we came to the first creek crossing and looked down about 20 feet of steep mud, we said "whaaaaat!" and decided to find another way around.  Ordinarily I'm the "let's do something spontaneous" person, and Joe is the "let's make a well-thought-out plan" guy.  This time, Joe took the lead as he forged a path through the brush.  I got a bit nervous that we were wandering out into the depths of the Badlands, never to be seen again.  Luckily, Joe also has a pretty good sense of direction (and there was a creek to follow).  We found our way back to the Jones Creek trail, and decided to brave the creek crossing when we came back.

Nice picture, Joe!  Steep climb up from the creek crossing.

Going up steep embankments is much easier for me than scrambling down them, so I did not mind going first.  Joe went next, carefully swinging his camera to a position behind his back.  Note the incredible difference in color between our two cameras!  Joe's Badlands are brown and brilliant blue,  my camera recorded the greys and silvers of desolation.  Joe assures me this is just a matter of camera perspective.

Joe in full color - honest!

See - the next picture was also taken by my camera.  No greys and silvers here (except for Joe's sweater).

Joe on the hillside, sky and clouds

After we got back to the car, we continued the Scenic Loop Drive around the South Unit of the park.  We got out and hiked the half-mile steep trail up to the top of Buck Hill...and were nearly blown off by the force of the wind.  The panoramas are well worth the glute-conditioning climb to the top, and the core-conditioning workout you get staying upright in the wind once you get there.

Buck Hill overlook

whoooooosssshhhh

You could say that we were blown away by Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Stay tuned for day two...


Total miles hiked today: 6
Total miles hiked in 2013: 107
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: 19.7
Total ticks today: 0
Total ticks in 2013: 54

Go West: Rocky Mountain National Park: May 28th, 2013

We set out for Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday, May 28th.  It was one of the first days in which the main road through the park - Trail Ridge Road - was open for the season.  Our first stop was the Endovalley Picnic Area, right at the turnoff to the Old Fall River Road.  We'd heard that the Old Fall River Road was still closed, but it was open to hiking.  We figured we'd start off with a nice amble up the dirt road, taking in the scenery.  We were not disappointed.

Rocky Mountain National Park: where every picture is a postcard

We followed our ears to a babbling brook, where Joe gave his new camera a workout.  We went further up Old Fall River Road in search of the trail to the waterfall, but instead we encountered a work crew.  Chasm Falls Trail was closed for repairs!  No matter, we had a nice walk on a beautiful day, and there was plenty of park left to go.

Mandatory picture of Joe looking at a waterfall

Icy cold water, on its very long path to the Atlantic ocean.

Our main goal was to head for the Continental Divide, while doing some small hikes off Trail Ridge Road as we went along.  Joe did all of the driving.  I had brought along a few knitting projects in anticipation for steep cliffs and situations in which I just did not want to be watching how close we were to plummeting to our deaths.  Not a knock on Joe at all...it had more to do with the lack of guardrails and me being such a flatlander.  I knit furiously to keep my mind off of the road.

We stopped every few miles to explore the designated viewing areas.  We didn't have a lot of choices - most of the road was a sheer drop to certain death on one side, and a six-foot-high wall of snow on the other.  When we did get out of the car, we enjoyed ourselves in the alpine meadows.

Joe gets me back for the Michigan Incident.

Marmots sunning themselves on a rocky outcropping. 

And then it was on to the Continental Divide.  We didn't actually find the sign that said "HERE IS THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE".  We figured that it was buried somewhere under the all of the snow.  The walls of snow at the parking area were taller than Joe - probably a good 8 feet tall!  We were disappointed to not find a sign...oh well.  I did take the opportunity to use the outhouse at the Divide parking lot.  I wonder which ocean my pee will eventually find?

There was so much snow that we decided to get out the snowshoes, which were hiding in the trunk of Joe's car.  Why not snowshoe over the Continental Divide, on the Tuesday after Memorial Day?  There was no trail to be found, no signs...well, we did find the Ute Trail sign.  I have a feeling that it will be a while before it is open to hiking for the season.

Alpine Visitor Center, 4 miles.  Fall River Pass, 4 miles.  Ute Trail, under 4 feet of snow.

It's hard to gauge exactly how much hiking we did.  The Old Fall River Road hike was about 3 miles.  We probably snowshoed about half a mile, and we did about a mile or so of the Tundra Communities Trail, which is a self-guided interpretive trail about the flora and fauna in the high alpine meadows of the park.  That's where we sat down and got our foot self-portrait.

Self portrait in the mountain meadow

Once we'd hit the Tundra Communities Trail, we both kind of hit a wall.  Tired and probably feeling the effects of the altitude, we headed back to Estes Park.  What a great day, though.  I'm glad that we were able to get up the road - we sure cut it close, with the beginning of the season being so late in the year - and that we got to hike around a bit.  Perhaps we'll return someday to see a bit more of the park.  

Total miles hiked today: We're going to guess 4.5 high-altitude, sometimes-ground-sometimes-snow miles.
Total miles hiked in 2013: 22.8
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: 6.8
Total ticks today: 0
Total ticks in 2013: 4

Go West: Mount Rushmore and Wind Cave National Park: May 26th, 2013

On one of the most American of holiday weekends - Memorial Day, the unofficial beginning of summer, Joe and I visited one of the most American of monuments:  Mount Rushmore National Monument.  I'd never been there before, Joe had.  He was positively giddy at the prospect of showing me around a place that he'd been and I hadn't.

Hello, gentlemen

You may notice a sudden uptick in photo quality on this blog.  This is because Joe has a fancy new camera.  What better place to try out the new camera than a trip to one of the most photographed sites on earth? 

Rocks and trees and sky

The Americana was so overwhelming that I found myself walking around with a big dopey grin on my face.  People from all over the world milling about, taking pictures and pointing, exclaiming over the immensity of the monument and the plaza in front of it.  Kids and parents were equally amazed and everyone seemed to be in some way enchanted by the four big faces looking proudly out over the hills.  America!  America!

Joe was so moved that he put the moves on George.

Joe and George, sitting in a tree

There wasn't much in the way of hiking - the main loop that everyone seemed to be walking on was a paved/wooden walkway.  The weather was gorgeous, the sun was out, and it just felt good to be alive.  No wonder I was wandering around, grinning like a fool.  My face actually started to hurt from all the smiling.

It only took us about 90 minutes or so to get our fill of Mount Rushmore.  We wanted to get a move on...because we were about to visit our first National Park together.  Wind Cave National Park was just down the road!

Welcome to Wind Cave!

Right upon arriving we got our tickets for a cave tour.  We were surprised that there was no fee to get into the park itself - but to be honest, there wasn't a lot to do other than take a guided cave tour.  They don't let you underground without a guide, and there were very few hiking options.  The earliest tour that we could get was an hour away, so we hiked out to the nearest hilltop to enjoy the wait.  We sought out the shade of a tree and Joe played with his new camera.  

Smile, beautiful landscape!

We took the Natural Entrance tour, which was a 1.25 hours long.  We were guided by the most energetic Park Ranger ever - and why shouldn't she be, what a great job she has - and were part of a group of perhaps 25 tourists.  We gathered, and then marched to what was the original entrance of the cave.  It was a hole in the ground about the size of a basketball.  Apparently some local kid in the late 19th century found the hole, was intrigued by the rushing wind coming out of it, and decided to squeeze in to find out what was in there.  What he found was miles upon miles of cave.  Part of me thinks he was pretty amazing, part of me thinks he was pretty insane.

One good interior picture - boxwork formations

Obviously, it is difficult to take a good picture in a dark cave.  This one shows some of the delicate formations that we saw while creeping, single-file, through the dark.  It was a very cool tour, but I was amazed at how raw it was.  This was no Disneyfied cave.  Sure, the ground had concrete to smooth it out and there were handrails...but it still felt wild and exciting.  I'm not a huge fan of caves and other underground places in general, but this was great.  We saw that, in addition to the usual Ranger-led tours, they had candlelight tours.  Uh, NO THANKS.

Ah, it's nice to be on the right side of the ground

What a perfectly wonderful day.  And the vacation was just beginning!

I'm going to make some guesses at distances hiked, same for all hikes on the Go West trip.  I'll do my best- figuring out mileage in Minnesota is so much easier for some reason.  On this trip we underground mileage for the first time!

Total miles hiked today: .5 underground at Wind Cave, 1 aboveground; 1 mile of trails and paths at Mount Rushmore...2.5 total
Total miles hiked in 2013: 18.3
Total Superior Hiking Trail miles hiked in 2013: 6.8
Total ticks today: 1
Total ticks in 2013: 4