For Day 1 of the trip, we drove 685 miles in 12 hours from Knoxville to Sweet Springs, MO. The next day we drove another 763 miles in 12 hours to Jamestown, ND where we stopped for the night and got breakfast the next morning. I ate one of those saucy omelets at Perkins, and off we went. By the time we arrived in Medora at the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (another 240 miles in 4.5 hours) I was feeling a bit down. Jean took over the driving as we went around the TRNP South Loop Scenic Drive. We took a short walk on the Coal Vein Nature Trail, but I was losing energy fast. At some point in the drive, I asked her to pull over. She didn’t quite realize I meant now. In a flash I was depositing my last couple meals along the side of the road.
I
didn’t feel much better afterward, but recognized my symptoms as food poisoning,
which is usually a 24 hour bug for me. Back at the Badlands Motel, I lay in bed
alternating shivering under the covers with sweating from a high fever. Neither
of us knew quite what to do. Our packs had been packed at home, and the shuttle
with Dakota Cyclery arranged, so it seemed like the show must go on. We would be
backpacking for three days on the new-to-us south half of the Maah Daah Hey
Trail.
I was working on a “new” trail guide, essentially splitting off the North Dakota chapter of my Black Hills and Badlands book into a new, standalone guide. The construction of the 96-mile Maah Daah Hey Trail between the North and South units of TRNP and the 19-mile Buffalo Gap Trail around the South Unit made the new guide possible by adding enough trail miles in the surrounding national grassland to the trail system in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to make a marketable new trail guide.
5-24-04,
Little Missouri River (MP 46.5) to Elkhorn Campsite (MP 38.5), 10 miles
By
the next morning I was feeling better, but not yet good enough to want to start
three days of rugged backpacking. But we had some logistics ahead, and maybe I
could survive a shorter hiking day. Our plan was to follow Jen and Loren from
the bike shop in Medora to the FS Wannagan Campground on the MDH, where we
would leave our car. They would then drive us out the nearest point on FS Road 708
to the Maah Daah Hey Trail crossing of the Little Missouri River. This is a
remote part of the grassland so we would stop twice along the way to stash
water to collect on day 2 of the hike. Two 2-liter bottles were dropped off at
the crossing of FS 725 near old M P25, and four bottles near old MP 28, near
where the Roosevelt Creek Water Box is now. MP numbers on the MDH were changed
when the new southern section of the Maah Daah Hey Trail was completed, but I’ll
reference the old MP numbers in this post.
The
plan was for us to start with a short hike down to the river and back to reach
the south end of our 2001 trip. Then we would backpack from the drop off point south
to the new Elkhorn Campground for night one, find our own campsite along the
trail for night two using our cached water, and finish the backpack at Wannagan
Campground on day three. Then Jean and I would day then hike out and back to
the park boundary, return to the car at Wannagan, and drive ourselves back to
Medora. This would complete the Maah Daah Hey Trail for us.
Luckily,
we had a nice easy drive out to the river crossing, and found our water cache
spots with no issues. We learned a huge amount about the trail from Jen and
Loren and had great time riding with them. By the time they let us off in a
light mid-morning rain at FS 708 I was feeling OK for hiking, but still far
short of 100% I had the “warm up” hike to do first though, down to the river
and back. The hike down past some inviting campsite locations was fine without
the weight of my backpack, but that was about to change.
Fortunately,
the start of the backpacking was easy, with some tabletop grasslands, a drop
into, and climb out of, Morgan Draw, and then a short piece alongside FS Road
708. Some of the MDH mileposts were in place, we saw MP 42 near the FS road.
Next
we descended down to the river level to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt
National Park. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is an undeveloped unit of the national
park, sitting about halfway between the developed north and south units that
anchored the ends of the Maah Daah Hey. We saw a parking area, but no signs,
and only a narrow mowed path which we followed to a junction with a wider mowed
path where we turned around. We knew there was little left of Roosevelt’s
favorite home in the badlands, and I just wasn’t feeling well enough yet for any
extra exploring.
The
Maah Daah Hey Trail then turned west toward the USFS Elkhorn Campsite,
following FS Road 2 on its north side. We soon hit a side trail to the
campground and followed it for another half mile. This section of the MDH has
since been relocated putting the main trail much closer to the campground. We’d
seen a lot of roads on this section, and enjoyed the canyons the most, but the
best scenery and badlands topography were yet to come.
At the Elkhorn Campsite junction.
The
campground was a little stark, but hey this is the badlands. It had well with a
pump, so we had no water worries. Thank God for Curt, Russ, and their crews for
developing these campgrounds! Some of the campsites had shade, and all had
their own picnic tables. We were the only campers, maybe because of the two
rounds of showers and 45-50F temps. We saw one group of pronghorn from the CG.
5-25-04,
Elkhorn Campground (MP 38.5) to Crooked Creek campsite (MP 24), 15 miles
Despite
lingering rain through the night and the aftereffects of my food poisoning, I
felt better the next morning. The rain had mostly been light and this part of
the Maah Daah Hey Trail stayed out of the ruggedest badlands, so we managed to
avoid getting mired in gumbo, that soft, sticky clay that’s almost impossible
to cross when wet. The first mile south of Elkhorn has since been relocated,
but we joined the current course around MP 37.5. We exited Ellison Creek at MP
36. This was mostly ranch land with lots of cows, small creeks, and a few stock
ponds.
Just
past MP 34 was deeply incised Dry Creek with its tiny trickle of water. Besides
the mileposts and notes from the FS guys, the creeks were signposted, so we
were easily able to track our progress on my topo field sheets. Near MP 33 we
hit our first gumbo layer, but it was dry enough to cross easily. Our first
well developed badlands were on the descent to an unnamed creek near MP 32.
Next we got a bit off trail where it tangled with some new oil and gas development,
probably our only significant time lost during the trip. But we were rewarded
for our troubles by finding some petrified wood as we approached FS 722, where
the Roosevelt Water Drop is now located. We pulled our four bottles from our
stash. All the while I was taking notes on the terrain, trail surface, and
notable features, while also trying to trace out route onto copies of the USGS
topo maps. Meanwhile Jean was taking pictures.
The
landscape continued to get rougher as we approached signed Roosevelt Creek
between a dam and a water tank. The south side of the creek looked campable,
but we still had miles to go. We passed a huge stock dam near MP 26. After we
crossed FS Road 725 at MP 24.7, we started looking for camp sites. We finally
found a nice one just short of Crooked Creek around MP 24. This site was much
better than any of the three sites we’d used while backpacking the northern
section of the MDH in 2001 (MDH North BP Post).
Caching
water allowed us to pick our spots, rather than being tied into stock ponds or
tanks. In 2001 we’d been lucky to have any water, and what we’d have was often
fouled by cattle. Obviously for hikers using the FS campgrounds was ideal, but
the campgrounds are 20 miles apart. Twenty mile days are fine for bikers or
horse riders, but too far for most hikers. This 15 mile day may hold the all-time
record for our longest backpack day, but it still wasn’t enough to get us to
the next campground at Wannagan.
Our site was on a sheltered bench above a deep gully about 100’ south of the milepost. We shared it with a small band of wild turkey. I fixed a left heal blister with blister block and had no further trouble. The only people we’d seen all day (or since our shuttle drop) were a rancher and oil service truck near MP 25. We’d seen pronghorn twice. The section was really remote but lacked (at least until the last couple miles) the rugged badlands topography we craved. Our weather was cool and clear, I’d walked in a T-shirt and long pants most of the hike.
5-26-04,
Cooked Creek (MP 24) to Wannagan Campsite (MP 17) and hike to TRNP Boundary (7
mi. RT)
Our
wish for more rugged badlands was filled for day three, capped by some cool and
breezy weather. Just north of Cow Camp Road (FS 728) we saw where a fence had
been cut through, and found an equipment cache that included a saddle. We’d later
run into a pair of horsemen who had abandoned their trip, and were returning to
Medora, but didn’t find out if the cache was theirs.
There
was a nice overlook near MP 19 and a small, petrified forest there as well. The
scenery kept coming all the way to Wannagan Camp at MP 17. As we arrived a lone
biker took off, flashing some smooth bike handling on the single track. I was
jealous, but knew I’d have my day on the bike tomorrow. Our car was still safely
stashed at Wannagan, and we dropped the overnight gear and switched to day
packs. We’d walk the 3.5 miles south to the TRNP boundary and back, to cover
the last section of the Maah Daah Hey Trail.
South
of Wannagan Camp the trail quickly crossed FS Road 726, then climbed up and
over a divide to meet the Buffalo Gap Trail near a pond along a branch of
Wannagan Creek at ~MP 13.5. The Buffalo Gap Trail provides a bypass for
mountain bikes around the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which
is designated wilderness, where mountain bikes are not allowed. I would ride
Buffalo Gap Trail the next day, with Jean driving shuttle for me. Buffalo Gap Post
From
the Buffalo Gap junction it is just a short half mile climb to the upper
prairie level where a bison fence marks the boundary of TRNP. We’d done it, the
Maah Daah Hey Trail was complete! We celebrated with the views down into
Wannagan Creek and the satisfaction of knowing there was still much more to
explore in the badlands.
Wannagan Badlands from the Maah Daah Hey-Petrified Forest trail junction, 2019.
5-27-04
The
next day Jean dropped me off back at Wannagan Campground and I rode my mountain
for three miles on the Maah Daah Hey Trail, around the Buffalo Gap Bypass
Trail, and then back to Medora. I had now completed all of the Maah Daah Hey
Trail. We hadn’t backpacked all of it, but we were surely among the first nonbuilders
to walk or complete the entre trail. We were especially lucky to do the trail
in its most primitive condition, before many of the campgrounds, water wells,
water caches, side trails, and other supporting infrastructure were in place.
It was a fantastic experience that we’ve tried to relive with return trips on
foot and on the mountain bike to revisit the beauty and wildlife of the
Badlands.
For more information
on the Buffalo Gap and Maah Daah Hey trails see the Maah Daah Hey Trail
Association website:
mdhta.com
For my new trail guide
to TRNP, the Maah Daah Hey, and other trails in the North Dakota badlands and
prairie:
Guidebook
For information on
shuttles and other services from Dakota Cyclery in Medora: www.dakotacyclery
