Great Plains, Badlands, and Beyond

[Been powering through the trip. This post covers Tuesday morning thru Friday morning]. 

Restful, if brief, night of sleep in Butte. On the road by 8am (Tue). Some pretty stretches as we drove through Bozeman and Billings (what's with the 'B' names in MT?!). Outside of Billings, we picked up I-94, which heads northeast toward North Dakota, while I-90 heads southeast toward South Dakota.

Outside Livingston, MT, near Yellowstone

Karri had seen a forecast that mentioned 60+ mph winds and we started to feel them shortly after Billings. For the rest of the day, driving across the Great Plains, we had strong gusts from the north that required two hands firmly planted on the steering wheel, making for stressful and exhausting driving.

After about 7hrs we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the badlands of western North Dakota. Roosevelt lived here in his youth and credits the area for giving him an appreciation for nature. We checked in at the visitor center and got a recommendation on a 5-mile hike - deciding this would be a good way to see some of the park, stretch our road-weary legs, shake off the stress of driving in the wind, and enjoy some fresh air. It was a great choice.

The trail combined portions of three trails - Big Plateau, Maah Daah Hey, and Ekblom - to form a loop. We started by crossing the Little Missouri River - took our shoes off and waded through water up to our knees - then ascended through a canyon up to a very windy plateau, before looping back. Along the way we saw and heard thousands (seriously) of prairie dogs scrambling amongst their burrows. Their bark(?) - a warning call to alert others of the presence of approaching danger (us) - is a high-pitched chirp that reminded me of Monty Python's 'Knights of Ni'. Later we saw a handful of antelope, and then a herd of ~50 bison (from a comfortable distance of about a quarter mile). The park is known for its bison and we were thrilled to see some on our short hike.

Start of the hike - crossing the Little Missouri River

Looking back after successful river crossing

One of the few prairie dogs that didn't dive into his burrow as we passed

Bison herd

Antelope grazing

Final stretch of the hike as the sun was getting low

Back in the car, we hustled on to Bismark, again arriving well after dark and opting for a hotel instead of camping. Thursday morning we got an early start to drive the rest of the way through North Dakota and on to Minnesota and Wisconsin. We stopped briefly in Minneapolis to get our bikes checked out and to pick up a few accessories for the ride, then continued on to Madison, WI for another hotel night, staying a block from the beautiful Wisconsin State Capital building. Friday morning we drove through the University of Wisconsin campus before hitting the road for the final stretch to Cleveland. If all works out, we're hoping to squeeze in a short bike ride along the way.

Meeting up with some of my family for dinner tonight in Cleveland, then on to Pittsburgh in the morning. In less than 24 hours, we'll be starting our ride on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal trails!