Smokies, Grassy Flats and Revenue Road, 11-20-2011

I had seen a report from a recent trip to this area on the old Griztrax website that caught my eye. Griztrax was a private web site run by Dave Landreth who lived in western NC, and did a lot of Smokies off trail hiking. Its primary use was as a message board where people could post trip reports and discuss various hiking related topics. For a while Griztrax was the primary public source for off trail hiking information about the Smokies. But then the work involved in managing the site, especially in blocking bogus posts, became too much and the site was dropped. I don’t remember when this happened, but was told that most of the activity from Griztrax had moved to Facebook, which I was not using. The role of Griztrax was eventually replaced by the Knox News Sentinel GoSmokies site, which was very active up until the early 2020s.

After reading the Griztrax post I contacted Clyde for more information about the route. He sent a map of his trip there, and some solid into about the route. He also mentioned that it was the standard on the Rhodo Rooters Scale for Class 2 (on a 1-4 scale), off trail hiking. This would be considered strenuous, but still humane. The route would start at Shaw Grave Gap, drop into Maynard Creek, climb Grassy Flats to Bunker Hill Lead, and return down the old Revenue Road. Claudia was able to join Jean and I. Jean took pictures and I GPS’ed the route.

Bas Shaw Grave.

We I had some trouble finding the start, but soon realized that it is at the second powerline crossing on US 129. The gap is at one of the famous hairpin turns on US 129 nicknamed the tail of the dragon. There is a good pullout about 100 yards down the highway, and an obvious old road leads another 100 yards to the Bas Shaw grave site. Shaw was a Union soldier killed by Confederate raiders near the end of the Civil War. From the grave site we went too far west on the road, but quickly corrected to go northeast a short way on Revenue Hill. The toughest part of the hike was the next descent down to Maynard Creek. We were trying to follow a skinny ridge, but it was super steep, and we found it tough to get any footing. Once in the valley of Maynard Creek we saw lots of sheets of dark plastic of unknown origin.

Across Maynard Creek.

Maynard Creek was an easy rock hop, and the subsequent climb up to Grassy Gap ridge was steep, but not as bad as our descent. From there we basically followed the ridge crest northeast. Almost all the ridge was covered in pine, much of it had been killed by the pine beetle. We often moved to the right side of the ridge to avoid the worst of the blowdowns. The beetle kill was old, there were lots of scrub trees with short greenbrier and blueberry bushes. Luckily the blowdowns never got too thick, and we never had to crawl. Still the dense vegetation was tedious.

At the fire tower site on Bunker Hill.

The ridge was a gentle climb to Bunker Hill Lead. The old access road across the lead to the fire tower site was hard to see where we hit it, just a quarter mile from the tower. This was quite a change from my previous visit in 1994, when the access road had looked relatively newly closed, and I’d mountain biked a half mile of it. (1994 Bunker Hill) We took a side trip to the tower site to eat lunch. There were old batteries, plus an H-shaped stand, and some old PVC where the tower and cabin had been.

For the return route we followed the access road back to the junction with the even older Revenue Road, which shows as a manway on the park 1949 map. The junction was clear, but we did not see the hog trap mentioned by Clyde as a marker. On the descent we could see some recently broken branches, probably made by the same Griztrax party who had posted about the route. The road was generally worn or sunken in, but got indistinct in a few places where it was directly on the crest. There were still blowdowns, but less frequently than on Grassy Flats Ridge. The underbrush was less thick as well, and there was a lot of trailing arbutus. Both ridges had a fair amount of bear scat, and there was some hog damage as well.

Approaching US 129.

Despite just a 7.0 mile hike, all three of us were worn out by the end of the hike. It had been warm with temps at 69F, and a clear blue sky at the end. I’d hiked in a tee shirt all day. We thought the hike could make a good SMHC trip, but that the Maynard Creek descent was off-putting, and there were not any compelling features beyond the fire tower site and the Shaw Grave.

2011 7-30 Cumberlands Challenge Ride

In 2007 the State of Tennessee completed a land acquisition project called Connecting the Cumberlands that greatly expanded public access to land in the Cumberland Mountains. Combined with other properties previously acquired, there was now a large swath of public land combining Frozen Head State Park and the Royal Blue and North Cumberland Wildlife Management Areas stretching across the range from I-75 on the east to Wartburg on the west. Jean and I were immediately interested in the new property. In 2008, we began exploring on foot in the new property around the edges of Frozen Head, and I also started exploring the wildlife management areas on my mountain bike.

The new properties were open to hunting and crossed by a network of old roads, some active, but most only passable to ATVs. The new properties had either previously been private land, or had been used only by hunters or recreational ATV riders. We could find few decent maps, even the state agencies didn’t have access to anything that showed the current road and trail network.

The best source I eventually found was Tom Dunigan’s wonderful “East Tennessee Mountain Bike” website. The maps there were even then about a decade old, but I was to discover that almost all the trails shown were still passable. Also, at that time the standard Google satellite maps pulled up by most websites were remarkably useful. In contrast to the current set (2020), the photos available in that era were taken in winter thus offering a view through the tree canopy, and of such remarkable resolution that it was possible pick out two track ATV roads at maximum resolution.

For the next couple of years I pecked away at the list of rides on the Dunigan website. I posted short reports of most on Matt Steagal’s Knoxville Cycling message board, including a shorter version of a description of this ride. Late in the game, I found a link to Dunigan’s epic, or challenge, ride from Caryville to Frozen Head. There are a couple different versions of this ride described on his website. The original 42 mile ride used quite a bit of land that is now part of the Windrock ATV park. With my friend DK we would eventually do an abbreviated version of that route as a trail run in 2013. A latter version by Cheryl and Curtis Travis went down to the New River and back up via Bootjack Mountain. Our own variation, via Cross Mountain, Ash Log Mountain, Smokey Junction, Hembree, Fork Mountain, and the Garden Spot with about the same distance and more climbing was legit enough to make the official epic list.

 

Resting

Mark Shipley is probably the strongest climber on a bike I know, and has the combination of plentiful backcountry riding experience and lack of common sense needed to join me on the ride. We left Knoxville @5:45. We left a shuttle car at Frozen Head and were pedaling out of the Cumberland Trail Trailhead at Cove Lake by about 8 AM. We parked at the CT Trailhead, but did not ride any of the CT. The shuttle drive from Frozen Head to Caryville took only an hour. We had prepared for a full day of riding, but found out we were not quite ready for a maximum effort day in the full 90 degree 90% humidity of summer in the Cumberlands.

 

Overview of our Challenge Ride Route.

We started by riding back under the interstate and then north on the frontage road. We hadn’t yet ridden the start of the Red Ash/Mine 10 road, it but turned out to be great riding. However, it was steep, and it was a little depressing for one of us to have to walk a few pitches so early in the ride. At the top of the climb there are a few miles of easy riding after Wheeler Gap where the road follows an old coal bench out toward Mine #14. Mine 14 was still operating back, then and had such a small equipment storage area it looked like the road was going to take you right into their shop.

 

Approaching Mine #14.

National Coal Mine 14

Beyond Mine 14 we planned to take a new-to-us ATV connecting trail up to Grave Gap so that we could descend the route I had taken previously down from Ash Log Gap. A much more humane way to do the challenge ride would have been to stay on the Red Ash/Mine 10 Road over Massengale Mountain, and ride directly down to the Coal Plant at Smokey Junction. The direct route would have taken several miles off the route and replaced some of the tougher riding with some fairly easy gravel road.

 

Mark on the Red Ash/ Mine 10 Road

The ATV trail up to Grave Gap, turned out to be steep and rutted, and again required some pushing of the bikes. In general, all the ATV roads and trails we used were rougher than they had been on the past trips. I think heavy storms of that spring and early summer did a lot of damage to the ATV roads, especially those that didn’t get any maintenance.  There are still some great views off the old strip mines on Ash Log Mountain, and we rode by at least one old abandoned mine building. The trail along the crest is getting looser, rockier, and more overgrown, but is still fun and the 6+ mile descent off Ash Log to the New River is a blast.

 

Old mine building near Ash Log Gap.

Descending Ash Log Mountain

The middle section of the ride follows the New River Road north to Smokey Junction. This is maintained road with little traffic and nice views of the river. With the day heating up it was nice to be able to ride fast enough to get some cooling breezes. I was having a little trouble with my front derailleur, but managed to get it into adjustment. Arriving in Smoky Junction we stopped at the Hembree Store for cold drinks and bags of chips just for the salt. I think we freaked out the crew hanging out on the porch when we told them we’d rode over the mountain from Caryville. I don’t know what they would have thought if they’d known we were bound for Wartburg.

From my previous rides in the area I was familiar with the roads up the Smoky Creek to its headwaters. This is some of the most remote parts of Tennessee’s Cumberland Mountains, the owners of these few lonely homesteads surely appreciate their solitude.  A few more miles on the flat valley along Smokey Creek brought us to Hembree and then to the concrete bridge over Greens Branch. It was time to pay the price for all the easy riding.

It was hot and muggy when we reached Greens Branch, so we ate a bit more and laid down in the creek to cool off before the trip got really ugly. The climb out of Smokey Creek is a bitch at best, and conditions that day would be far from the best. From the concrete bridge all the way to the crest of Fork Mountain the road had just been graded to support a massive logging operation in the upper Smoky Creek Watershed. This grading and gravel probably helps the coal and timber trucks, but a couple of inches of loose, coarse rock and mud don’t do anything at all for traction on a mountain bike. I’d “biked” up this climb on a ride the previous year and dubbed the section “The Road of Horrors”, but had not been able to find any other alternate way to connect the Smoky Creek area with the area around Frozen Head. After sloshing and spinning a few feet up the hill we got off the bikes and started pushing, and kept pushing.

The climb was nothing short of horrific. We did catch a bit of a break with the weather as it started pouring almost as soon as we started the climb. It was midafternoon, temperatures in the 90s and we were fully exposed to the sun. The road rock was so coarse and loose we could hardly walk on it, much less push the bikes ever upward. The few stretches of climb in the sun were almost unbearably steamy. Our only salvation was getting hit by summer thunderstorm. The rain washed the stinging sweat into our eyes and the mud slumped on our tires made the bikes even harder to push. We couldn’t have gotten any wetter from the rain, and it least the water was only lukewarm.

We both had our moments on the climb, mostly from dehydration. We had some cramps and a bit of the spins, but no puking or anything worse. Good thing too, this isn’t the kind of place where someone else is going to ride by and bail you out. We’d downed a couple of Gatorades apiece at Hembree Store and drank  ~150 oz. of fluid over the course of the ride, but it was just impossible to drink enough to keep up with the rate we were sweating. It ended up taking all of two hours to push the four mile, 1600’ hill.

But once on top, we had one of my favorite rides, along the crest road past Burge Mountain, and then down onto the contour road that circles the head of Indian Fork. We were too hammered to really appreciate the view, but at least we were back on familiar ground.

 

Windmills on Buffalo Mountain.

From Indian Fork we had to push one last pitch up Fork Mountain, then rode over to Cold Gap and into Frozen Head. I had to air up my tire at the Gap, but fortunately it held up for the rest of the ride. By this time we were about out of water. The wild boar were getting pretty thick around Frozen Head and we saw a lot of sign of them near Coffin Springs. However, the spring house itself looked pretty well protected, so we hoped some old iodine tablets would do their job.

The upper part of the Frozen Head Jeep Road is another of those fun flowing double tracks that I like so much. We were able to recover a bit, and had a great descent down most of the road into the park. The lower mile plus of the jeep road had gotten really eroded over the previous winter, and we ended up walking down a few stretches that were nothing but boulder fields. We saw Ranger Michael Hodge in the parking lot at FH when we finished around 5:40 for a 9:40 ride. Michael has seen a lot, but I think we were his first visitors to cycle in from Caryville. Otherwise we saw only two coal trucks and some ATV’s all day, probably ran across more deer and turkey than we did people.

 

Challenge ride elevation profile

Overall, I had about 44 miles by GPS. My bike odometer had 43.8 miles , but it wasn’t able to pick up some readings during the second climb, I think because the heavy rain shorts out the connection between the pickup and the computer. The GPS showed 5,900’ of climb, which might be a little high. I’d do the ride again, but maybe not in mid-summer (the high in Knoxville for the day was 96F), and definitely not right after the road grader had passed through. This was another ride where I did not carry a camera, so I have used a few images from my earlier rides in the area.

North Dakota Badlands Trip 2011, Hiking and Mountain Biking

 This was our first trip back to the North Dakota badlands since 2004, and the first trip since the publication of our trail guide to the area that came out in 2006 (2006 Guide). The 2006 guidebook was expanded from older and briefer coverage in my Black Hills trail guide. The schedule for the publication of the first edition of the ND book was a little tight, so I wasn’t able to cover all the trails that I would have liked to. We were able to describe in detail all of the two main areas; Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail, which connects the two units of TRNP across forest service and state lands. But we had not managed to hike all the rest of the forest service trails that were being built at that time.

We had gotten a lot of help from Curt and Russ at the forest service while working on the guides, and were in touch with them going into this trip on the status of their trails. I was particularly interest in hiking some of the side trails off the Maah Daah Hey that would be new to me, such as the Summit Trail, Long X Trail, Bennett-Cottonwood trails loop, and the Ice Caves Trail. Also, since this was our first trip since the mid-2000s this would allow us the chance to accumulate some digital pictures for any later guidebook revisions.

Unfortunately, the weather news was not good. Western ND experienced a wet spring and high water in the Little Missouri River, so we expected some of the trails to be impassable. We were initially planning a week in the Badlands, then a week visiting family in Iowa, but managed to switch the order to give the Badlands an extra week to dry out.

Since all the trail detail from this trip was eventually incorporated into the 2021 expanded second edition of the ND guide (here), this post will focus less on the trail detail, and more on what happened during the trip.

6-3-2011, Sheyenne National Grassland, North Country Trail, 8.2 miles

Since we had a long drive from Iowa to Medora we decided to split things up and hike a bit of the North Country National Scenic Trail in the eastern part of the state.

Wet trail across the grasslands.

The FS had just rebuilt a 30-mile section across the prairie, bringing it up to standards. We started from the Eastern Trailhead on County 23, near where the Jorgen’s Hollow Trailhead is now. We hiked out and back about eight miles west to the bridge over Iron Springs Creek. 

Damage to the Iron Springs Creek Bridge.

The prairie hiking was new to us, expansive vistas, open skies, and plenty of birds and wildflowers. Much of the start of the trail was wet and soggy, conditions that should have tipped us off as to what was happening on the other side of the state. Some of the trail near the start had been surfaced with gravel, mitigating potential damage from horses or mountain bikes. We saw one horse party, but the trail dried up as we moved west. There were several shady stretches in groves of oak, but mostly we were crossing open grassland. The bridge over Iron Springs Creek had been knocked partially off its mooring by a creek that looked too small to flow even half the year. 

Enjoying the groves of oak.

While I enjoyed the trail and would come back here in 2019 to expand the guidebook coverage, Jean was not excited about the prairie hiking. We spent the night in Jamestown, planning to finish the drive to the Badlands the next day.

6-4-211, Little Missouri NG, Summit Trail, 8.8 miles

The Summit Trail is located just south of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This was the first of the new side trails to the Maah Daah Hey that I wanted to explore. I knew from the FS guys that the state’s largest juniper tree was out there, and that the original route of the trail shown on older maps further to the north had been replaced by new trail. The trail starts from a picnic area and heads west out across the prairie before following a long ridge top to the northwest. 

Butte along the Summit Trail.

Past a gate we entered the badlands and soon saw badlands scenery as spectacular as anything in the national park. There was a recent landslide on the north side of the ridge. 

Narrow pass through the Badlands.

We hit “Devils Pass”, a narrow exposed section, and then a long traverse carved into a gumbo the side of a ridge, some of the most exciting trail we’d seen anywhere, with views stretching to the Little Missouri River and the national park. Next we dropped down to an unnamed creek, where the landslide damage from the wet spring became more apparent. 

Jean at Vista.

Jean stopped along a major slump along the creek, and I forged ahead to try and map the route to connect to the Maah Daah Hey Trail near what is now MP 142. Beyond the major slump block there were still a few trees tipped over by the slumping, but once up on the grassland again things were solid and the MDH junction signs easy to spot. We retraced our tracks back to the car, taking more photos.

Precarious badlands trail.

The Summit Trail was probably the most impactful trail in the FS, and maybe enough to rival anything in the national park, thanks to its deeply dissected topography. However, the damage from May 2011 was extensive and it seemed unlikely that a slump-proof trail could be built. Unfortunately, the FS was not able to re-open the trail after the 2011 landslides. Instead, they have replaced it with a short trail across the prairie, which omits the spectacular badlands section. In 2020 the FS extended the trail out to edge of the grassland for a four mile out and back hike. 

Toe of a slump block.

The MDH Trail Association still shows the Summit Trail on their website, and hopes that one day the connection to the MDH will be reestablished. For the sake of hikers looking for outstanding Badlands scenery, so do I. 

Slumped material in the creek bottom.

 6-5-11, TRNP South Unit, Upper Paddock-Talkington Loop, 13.2 miles

By now we were aware of the full effects of the flooding in the area. Things seemed worse to the north, but even Medora had record flooding and a river height of 20’.  We’d also heard from others that the Bennett-Cottonwood loop was not passable. So, it seemed a good time to go to the South Unit of TRNP, where we heard that the trails were still open despite some small slides along the loop road. We decided to try the Upper Paddock-Upper Talkington Loop. 

Sand bags around the Roosevelt cabin.

Our first stop was the visitor center where we got another surprise. Behind the counter was Jesse, who we knew from his summer work at Frozen Head State Park near home in TN. Jesse was a summer hire, but as a geology graduate, the park would be a perfect fit for him.  He mentioned that one of his first tasks at the park was to remove TR’s desk from the historic cabin located in back of the VC. 

Descending to Paddock Creek.

The Upper Paddock-Upper Talkington Loop is a long 16 mile loop. I describe it in full in my guidebook, but also mention an off trail short cut option starting at Buck Hill that shortens the distance to a little over 11 miles. In truth I always use the Buck Hill option, but it’s still a long loop with plenty to see. The descent off Buck Hill is easy cross country, there’s a ridge that takes you the right direction, and you can see the Painted Canyon VC on the horizon as a target. About a half mile out there is a circle of stones, beyond that there is a small saddle and a few steep pitches before you arrive at Paddock Creek. Usually, it’s a hot dry walk up Paddock Creek, but with the high water, we had a small creek crossing. 

Hiking Upper Paddock Creek Trail.

The loop is excellent for wildlife watching. Except of course, it’s their home and they aren’t always in a hurry to let you by. We had to make a wide detour way around a group of four male bison, sort of like seeing a street gang at your local corner. With the wet weather we spent a ton of time picking off ticks, who often seemed to be sprinting up our legs in well-defined lanes. The trail climbs out of the Badlands near Southeast Corner Spring, adjacent to Interstate 94, to start a prairie section at the east end of the loop. 

Don't get closer than this to the bison.

Whether in the badlands or prairie, bison love to scratch on posts that mark the trail. Prairie trails are often little hiked, this combination can make following a grassland trail a tough task. True to form we soon lost the trail. We tried to follow the rim of the grassland to the north, but did not see much of the official trail here. But luckily we did find the two posts that marked the head of Talkington Creek and our return trail down into the badlands. 

Prairie dog town on Upper Talkington Trail.

The trail led into an enormous prairie dog town where we also saw more bison (friendlier looking this time) and a deer. Further along we spotted some of the park’s wild horses on the skyline. As we approached the loop road there was a trail register and we were surprised to read that three groups had hiked the same loop the day before.

Bison along the Upper Talkington Trail.

One downside of the shortcut from Buck Hill is that it requires a 1.5 mile road walk to get back to your car on Buck Hill, nearly the highpoint of the park. The bonus is that by then it is late in the day, the drive back is great for wildlife watching, and there’s a chance to add some of the park’s short interpretive trails to your day’s walk.  

My route map for Upper Paddock and Upper Talkington.

6-6-11, Maah Daah Hey Trail, Plumely Draw to Medora, MB ride, 18.7 miles

The biggest change in the ND Badlands trails since our previous visit was the completion of the southern extension of the Maah Daah Hey Trail from Medora to the Burning Coal Vein CG north of Amidon. The extension was first called the “Maah Daah Hey II”, or “The Deuce”, but the FS now prefers to call it the southern extension of the Maah Daah Hey. 

Plumely Draw to Medora Mountain Bike Map.

Trails in the badlands are usually dug in (or sometimes just mowed) to a dirt base and then often coated with a layer of fine rock and dirt, called “surfacing.” The surfacing is needed because much of the trail is in areas with a layer of bentonite clay, or gumbo. When wet, gumbo is some of the nastiest stuff around, wet, sticky, and extremely slippery. Travel on wet gumbo is essential impossible, and damaging to the trail as well. 

Jean and I, ready to ride.

We knew from the FS guys that much of the trail immediately south of Medora towards Plumely Draw had been surfaced and would likely be ridable, despite the recent wet weather. And while the entire trail tread had been dug, the trailhead and campgrounds on the Deuce were not yet in place. 

Slumped area along the trail.

Previously, we had used Jen and Loren at Dakota Cyclery in Medora for the shuttles needed for our two long backpacking trips on the MDH. They hadn’t shuttled yet on the Deuce, but a drop off at Plumely Draw with a ride back to Medora looked like a potential popular trip for them.  We set up the shuttle for Jean and I, and a pair of their friends would do the ride also. 

Grassland Gate.

After the short shuttle from Medora, we were soon pedaling across the prairie. These grasslands sections of the MDH are fun, the riding is flatter, faster, and smoother, and this is usually where you see wildlife, especially pronghorn. Outside the park, cattle graze on the trail, and sometimes the cattle can trample wet trail into boggy, rutted mess. But we saw little of that. Not too far out we started to see some recent slump blocks from the wet spring, but generally things had dried well enough to ride. 

Hilltop view.

The main difference we noticed was that while the original MDH had been built for hikers and horse riders, the Deuce was built for bikers. The downhills were fast and twisty, and switchbacks dug wide for bike friendly turns. The other pair of riders disappeared almost immediately far ahead of us, as I stopped frequently for trail notes. Five miles in was a fun descent to Davis Creek, then a tolerable climb back up to the grassland. The South Unit of TRNP is just on the south end of the Williston Basin, one of the prime targets of the current oil and gas boom. We could see a few wells operating along the trail, but they have their place on the FS lands.

Davis Creek Bridge.

We had a couple more fun descents and some airy badlands ridgetops before crossing FS 3, the gravel road connecting Medora and Plumely. By now Jean was getting tired on the bike, so she took the road north, while I continued on the trail. As fate would have it the trail north of FH 3 was the easiest and most scenic of the trip. I had a really fun ride to the junction with the paved road to the golf course where I planned to meet Jean. Jean had overshot the trailhead wasn’t there when I arrived, but we met up easily, and rode together back into Medora. In 2011 there was still a small gap in the trail across the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation (TRMF) property between the golf course and Sully Creek State Park.  

Well pad just off the Maah Daah Hey Trail.

Overall, this was a great ride. It was a little too technical for Jean with the recent slumping, but she had not been riding much and the slumped areas were an added obstacle that later riders wouldn’t face. The trail was also much easier after the first five miles, perhaps it got more maintenance. The shuttle was short and easy, and it is now a regular run for Dakota Cyclery. The trail needed more surfacing, we’d ridden a few areas pockmarked by cattle, but that work has likely been completed by now. 

Riding the narrows along the Maah Daah Hey.

6-7-11, TRNP, South Unit, Roundup and Jones Creek Trails, 11.2 miles

The TRNP trail map hadn’t changed much since I first came to the park in the late 1980s. But around the time I moved from the Dakotas in the early 90s the park added three new horse trails to the South Unit. The first trail gave access to the Upper Talkington Trail from the east side of the park. It didn’t stay long on the map, so I never got a chance to hike it. The Mike Auney Trail connected the Roundup Group Horse along the East River Road Camp to the Petrified Forest Loop, while the Roundup Trail connected the horse camp to the Jones Creek Trail. I knew I’d want to add these trails to any later version of my trail guide. 

Horse herding near Medora.

We planned an out and back hike on the Roundup Trail with a side trip to the junction of Jones Creek Trail and the Jones Creek Spur Trail. We parked on the shoulder of the East River Road, just opposite the entry to the horse camp. 

Bison along the Scenic Loop Drive.

We were expecting the trail to be degraded from horse traffic, but were surprised to find a well-kept and well-marked trail. There had been a slight rain overnight, with more forecast for the day, but the trail was dry and easy walking. The wet weather had the grasses greened up and some flowers in bloom. 

Prairie Flowers.

The trail was mostly grassland until we crossed the Scenic Loop Road. We saw a pronghorn, and the remains of an elk, probably from the park’s thinning effort. Beyond the Loop Road we climbed to a small ridgetop that held a small pond that, at least in this wet weather, still held water. 

Pond along the RoundupTrail. 

The next descent took us down to the Jones Creek Trail. We took the trail on the north side of the creek east to the junction with the Jones Creek Spur, and turned around at that point.

Jean on the Roundup Trail.

  

At a "Ted Head" trail sign

Back at the car the skies looked ominous.  We still wanted to try hiking the Jones Creek Spur, since we hadn’t been on it in several years. Luckily for us, we could hear thunder to the north, but the rain held off long enough for us to hike the mile out and mile back. 

The rain is coming.

The spur was another mix of Badlands and grasslands walking that would make a nice introductory hike for new visitors to the park. We got back to the car just as a heavy rain found us. We spent the rest of the day driving the Loop Road, spotting a band of wild horses, and with a short trip on the Ridgeline Nature Trail. 

On the Jones Creek Spur.

6-8-11, TRNP, South Unit, Jones Creek-Lower Paddock Creek Loop, 11.1 miles

The Jones-Lower Paddock Loop is one of the staples of hiking in TRNP’s South Unit. Jean was a due for a rest day, so she dropped me off at the Lower Paddock Halliday Wells TH, and we made plans to meet later at the Jones Creek TH. The start of this loop is one of the best spots for bison watching in the park. There is a string of prairie dog towns along the start of the trail, and these attract enough bison that its often difficult to get out of, or back into, your car without disturbing them. Jean walked out with me to the trail register, and then headed back to the car to spend some time in Medora. 

Signing in at Paddock Creek.

Hiking solo, I especially wanted to keep clear of the bison, and with Jean waiting for me at the trailhead, I wanted to move quickly enough to be on time. But once past the prairie dog towns about two miles in, I got off trail for a short time. Paddock is a tough trail both to mark and to follow, there are lots of creek crossings and the bison frequently knock down the trail posts. 

Lower Paddock Creek.

In TRNP getting off trail usually just slows you down. Without tree cover, you can see the lay of the land and usually find your way back to the trail. I followed the rest of Lower Paddock to its junction with the Scenic Loop Road. At that time the trail north followed the shoulder of the Loop Road a short distance, before heading back out into the prairie. 

Fossil Wood.

About 6 miles in, I hit the Lower Talkington Junction. Just beyond that, in an area pockmarked with small buttes is a fossil wood area. The fossil stumps are not as well preserved as the fossil forest on the west side of the river, but there are several large well preserved specimens in place. Just beyond is a thick lignite seam, and just beyond that a partly filled in old stock pond on a flat grassland section. 

Fossilized tree stump.

At 8 miles I hit the junction with the Jones Creek Trail, at the end of our hike the previous day. It was less than a mile to the Roundup junction. The last section into the Jones Creek TH was generally well above the creek and was fast walking, but didn’t have many views. 

Long abandoned stock pond.

6-8-11, TRNP South Unit, Old East Entry Station, 1.0 mile

By the time Jean picked me up she was ready for a short hike, so we decided on a destination new to us, the park’s old East Entry Station. This had been the main access to the park up until the  mid-1960s when I-94 was built, and park facilities had been upgraded as part of the Mission 66 initiative. After the entrance was moved to the current location in Medora, the old East Entry Station sat nearly forgotten with no roads or trails leading to it. But hikers had rediscovered the station. There was not an official trail in 2011, but our next visit in 2019, the route was on the park map.

NPS photo of East Entry Station.

East Entry Check Station.

Jean and I drove around the loop road to MP 12.9, where there was a small pullout. If you know where to look, you can see the station, hidden in the trees, with I-94 also in view behind it. There was a well beaten trail that leads to a prairie dog town in just a tenth of a mile. It is just a flat half mile (excluding our detour around a grazing bison) to the station. Though the current trail follows the route of the old road, there is little sign of the road, just a few scattered fragments of asphalt.

East Entry Metal Work.

East Entry stone work.

Local workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) had built the East Entry in the 1930s. 

Stone work in the Check Station.

The station is composed of a main gate house and a smaller closet sized enclosure which would have been on the opposite side of the entry road, along with the log gates on either side. The monument (or pylon) that sat out front was later moved to Painted Canyon. We were amazed by the workmanship that went into the station. The buildings were made from hand carved sandstone fitted together in intricate patterns. The details of the stone carving on the windows and doors were spectacular, and the metal work was adorned with the Maltese Cross. The building was well sealed up, and the station’s isolation for nearly 50 years had kept it remarkably well preserved and free from vandalism. This is easily the most impressive structure we’d ever seen in a park or forest backcountry. 

East Entry from approach side.

East Entry Station from park side.

 

6-9-11, Maah Daah Hey Trail, I-94 south to Buffalo Gap Trail, 7.6 miles

For our last day’s hike, we needed a short one, and decided to hike the section of the Maah Daah Hey Trail between I-94 where it exits TRNP and the south junction with the Buffalo Gap Trail. This section had been relocated since our last hike there in 1999. 

Map of the Maah Daah Hey Trail in 2011.

Just a quick reminder here that the Buffalo Gap Trail serves as a bypass to the MDH around Theodore Roosevelt NP, where mountain bikes are not allowed in the Wilderness Area of the park’s South Unit. We parked in a gravel lot next to the I-94 Exit 24 on ramp. Parking is no longer allowed here, instead there is now a nice mile plus long greenway connecting the MDH to Medora to allow hikers and bikers to park in town. Medora parking is much safer, driving home after the hike we had a flat tire caused by a nail, mostly likely from the gravel lot. 

Under the railroad.

Before heading south, we made a quick check of the MDH heading north into TRNP, a complicated spot that seemed to use a different route every time we visited. Next we wandered under the interstate and under the railroad bridge to Andrews Creek. Normally an easy crossing, Andrews now had a strong flow. Wanting to keep our feet dry, we gathered enough wood to bridge the creek, and then were able to step over two further crossings of the creek. 

On the Maah Daah Hey Trail.

With those logistics behind, we had a nice gentle climb through the green prairie and spring flowers. We reached the start of the relocation after two miles and a trail gate sponsored by our friends at Dakota Cyclery. 

Jean along the Maah Daah Hey Trail.

The trail descended through some sandstone boulders, then joined an old two track road with great views back to the north. A pair of switchbacks eased the final climb to the ridgetop junction of the MDH and Buffalo Gap trails. 

View from the Maah Daah  Hey/Buffalo Gap trails junction.

We copied all the trail sign information for our guide and realized that the relocation extended to join the old MDH in the bottom lands along the Little Missouri River (re-exploring that section would take another trip). Though the MDH-Buffalo Gap junction was now a couple hundred yards west of the old location, the view down to the Little Mo was still awesome, colorful deeply carved badlands swooping down to the river below. 

Looking north toward Medora.

We retraced our route back to the car enjoying the last of the prolific wildflowers in this wet spring. We bypassed the two secondary crossings of Andrews Creek on our return (The MDTHA and FS have since worked to harden the Andrews Creek crossing).

Prairie Flowers.

Our efforts to document these changes to the trail system paid off in 2019 when our new publisher OK’ed a revised version of our hiking guide. Jean and I spent a couple of weeks scouting new trails and checking older ones for the 2021 edition of the book, which included the new south extension of the Maah Daah Hey Trail, all the new side trails in the national grassland and detailed descriptions of all the major trails in TRNP. here