2004/06 Yukon trip - Getting there - Crossing North Dakota |
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Thursday 24th June
We had no frost but the temperature dropped to the thirties and it was very windy. The radio was talking about wind-chill! We quickly packed up, and the packing is quite quick when we can just take the stuff (like the chairs) we stashed on the front seats at night and put it back on the bed, but of course there’s always the potential of leaving the step out, the kettle on the stove, or a window or a vent open!
We headed north on I-29 to bypass the cities of Fargo and Morehead. I-29 has to be the classic federal project. It’s a freeway that provides high speed access between the United States and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and every couple of days there may be a truck that takes advantage of it. Mostly the road is empty!
We left I-29 and headed west on US200 across flat country, through small towns. It was sunny but windy and cold for June. 
Eventually we met the Missouri River. Normally this would be no big event, but this year is the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and here some agency had created a reconstruction of the fort that had been built amongst the Mandan Indians. We left that tour for another day when we had more time to spare. We
were headed for the Badlands and Teddy Roosevelt national park, or rather the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) campground that’s just outside the park. We’d stayed there last year when the park was full. It’s a cheap campsite with a great view over the park and the Little Missouri River, so it’s ideal for our purposes. This time there was only one other party there with their horsebox, and they were in another part of the campground.
Friday 25th June
The Badlands were unusually green, due to weeks of rain in the spring. We were more used to seeing them in July or August when the grass is a faded brown. We took a short walk along the 100 mile long Maah Naah Dey trail, which connects the north and south sections of Teddy Roosevelt national park.
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We left 98 miles of the trail for another day, but it was a scenic hike, with lots of flowers in bloom, and a pretty day, 70 degrees with woolly clouds against a blue sky.