Missouri River Canoe Trip, 5-18-91

This trip must have been Craig’s idea since it was, by North Dakota standards, in his old backyard. Our plan was to canoe the last free flowing section of the Missouri River from below Garrison Dam downstream to Bismarck, where Like Oahe begins. Total distance would be about 65 miles. Somehow, this didn’t seem too far for us, but I had little experience paddling on a river as huge as the Missouri.

I drove up from Lead on Friday after work making two stops along the way. The first was at the “Center of the Nation” monument outside of Bell Fourche, SD. There are actually several of these “Centers.” This one is for the 50 US states, including Alaska and Hawaii. It turned out the marker alongside US 85 is still ten miles east of the center, which is on private land. From the pullout, I hiked to the top of an adjacent butte topped with rock cairns. A sign on top explained that the cairns had been built by shepherds.

Center of the Nation near Bell Fourche 1991.

In 2007, a much fancier monument was installed along with a museum and visitors center.

Current Center of the Nation Monument from SD Tourism.

My second stop was at “Radio Tower Butte”, also on US 85, and 16.6 miles north of Bowman, ND. I’m not sure why I’d picked the route, I had already climbed the ND Highpoint of White Butte twice on my previous trips to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Perhaps my inspiration arose from Craig’s stories of a confusing sign along the road for the Highpoint that seemed to indicate that the nearby Radio Tower was the highpoint, rather than the more distant White Butte.

White Butte from US 85.

I parked at a pullout being used for road construction. There was a faint road leading east from the highway along a fence line, and I decided to run on up. It took me 18:43 to reach the top, I assume I followed the old two track all the way. The highest point on the butte (3,472’) was on the east side by some old towers. Once on top I could see over another butte to the north (though my notes say south) that was higher at 3,484’. I ran along the crest of the butte to 3,484’, then descended almost due west back to my truck for a total of 4 miles in 43:48. There was no sign of any foot traffic on either butte. 

Lake Sakakawea and Garrison Dam from Lake Sakakawea SP, 2023

I reached the US Army Corp’s Downstream Campground, near Pick City and below Garrison Dam, after midnight. The drive had taken seven hours including a dinner stop. The next morning Craig and his father drove down from their home in Minot and arrived at 7AM. By 8AM we had the canoe loaded and launched. We had a clear cool, and very windy day. Because of the potential for tipping the canoe, I did not take a camera along.

By lunch time we realized that we were not making good enough progress because of the wind. Though we were paddling downstream, the force of the wind rushing upriver was as strong or stronger than the river current, even on this undammed section. I’m not sure how we kept track of our progress, Craig likely had a map, but for a long while there were few landmarks useful to a rookie like me. A few miles in we passed the Knife River National Historical Site, but I was not aware of it at that time.

Earth Lodge at Knife River, 2019.

We ate lunch before reaching the large power plant south of Stanton, where the river turns east. We thought the plant was about 13 miles downriver (my Topo! software shows it at 16). For the next two hours we struggled against the wind, but made little progress. The wind was strong enough that we couldn’t rest without being blown backward. Much of this south trending section had white caps with foot high waves coming over the bow of the canoe. When we took a moment to look back, the power plant was still only about two miles away. We would have exhausted ourselves, but finally came to a calmer section where the river bent east (probably near Fort Clark).

We stopped for dinner around 5 PM and decided to push on toward Washburn. Luckily the highway bridge, the first we’d seen all day, was not too much further. We immediately pulled over and made camp, probably on the south side on some game lands.

My notes for the trip mostly concern our struggles paddling against the wind, but the trip was worth the effort. The scenery was great, and the river seemed wild and empty. Its wide path was far beyond any other river I had travelled. There was essentially no development right along the river, if you overlooked the power plant, and very little trash. We saw rock jetties and slopes built for erosion control. There were a few power boats on the river, but those were mostly idle while people fished. Other than the fishermen we saw no other people along the river. There was not much wildlife, but we did see an abundance of birds including pelicans, cormorants, ducks, geese, and one heron. I wish I remembered more observations, but mostly this was a heads down, keep paddling day. At Washburn we were about 32 miles down river from Garrison Dam and just shy of Cross Ranch State Park.

The Missouri River at Cross Ranch SP 2022.

We knew by then we were not going to be able to make it to Bismarck the next day in time to get back to work, and that Washburn was the best, and maybe only, place available for a takeout. So, we decided to end the trip in Washburn. The next morning, we “zipped” into town.

The Missouri River from Cross Ranch Preserve 2022.

Craig called his Dad before he had left for Bismarck, and let him know to pick us up in Washburn. We then walked all over town trying to stay warm before he met us. It turns out there was a beautiful campground down stream of the bridge, and a nice restaurant in town.  

After Craig’s Dad arrived and we got the canoe packed up. I then tucked my tail between my legs and headed back to Lead.

Custer Mountain Black Hills Hike, 5-11-91

In South Dakota there are too many things named for Custer. That said, it is handy to reference Custer Mountain (not to be confused with Custer Peak) as just south of the town of Custer, and just west of Custer State Park. My hike there wasn’t one of my better plans, and wasn’t even my original goal for the day. I’d been hoping to go to the Badlands for the last four weekends, but each time it seemed that bad weather would roll in at the last minute. This time I was already on my way, when I heard a radio weather waning for flooding on the White River due to five inches of rain the previous night. I turned around in Deadwood, and went back home to get maps for the southern Black Hills.

I’d been interested in Custer Mountain for my Black Hills peaks list, not because it gets hiked often, but because the peak appears on so many maps. I didn’t know anyone else who had hiked it, but the topo map showed an enticing ridge on the east side. I had a base map prepared, and decided to try for it, ignoring 100% cloud cover, with light rain to go along with the fog. At Stockade Lake, I turned south on Custer County 341 and parked at a point where the road crossed the east ridge of the mountain.

Custer Mountain Route, 5-11-91.

The east ridge is a rocky spine of Harney Peak Granite, which would have been a fun scramble if the rock had been dry. The ridge was uncut by roads, a rarity in the hills. I went over two false summits and climbed 900’ before reaching what I assumed was the top. With no visibility it was tough to confirm the summit, but I did walk far enough west to be assured there were no other high points.

My descent was a fiasco. I must not have had, or used, a compass, an especially grievous blunder in the fog. From the top of the peak, I crossed my ascent ridge to the south side, and then followed an old logging road. Oblivious of my direction, I followed the logging road south to its end near the intersection of BHNF roads 343 and 337, not quite 180 degrees off my intended course. I didn’t have the national forest map, and was off the edge of my topo map, so I wasn’t even sure I was headed back to the truck until I reached the intersection with County 341. I was happily relieved when I got back to the truck. Close to half the 3.4 mile hike was on the road walk.

This was a good lesson on not being overly confident on navigation, even on short trips, and especially in the fog.

I’d spend the rest of the day on better known terrain at Wind Cave National Park, hiking up Rankin Ridge, then Elk Mountain, taking the Natural Entrance Cave Tour, and hiking the Centennial Trail-Beaver Loop.