This hike was part of our 2019 North Dakota trip designed to
support the new edition of my North Dakota hiking guide. Bower House books had
acquired the rights to the books of my previous publisher, Big Earth Publishing,
and after some discussion with them we decided to put out a new edition of the
book with a target release date of 2020. Since this would be my first visit
back to the North Dakota Badlands since shortly after the publication of the
first book in 2011, I’d need to rehike nearly all the trails covered by the
book. Since the hike details will appear in the new book, this description will
focus on the sights and experiences of our scouting hike on perhaps our
favorite route in the North Dakota Badlands.
The Petrified Forest Loop circles the area west of the
Little Missouri River within the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The loop road and rest of the park infrastructure are east of the river so Petrified
Forest Loop is isolated from most of the rest of the park trails. The trailhead
is reached via a series of gravel forest service roads rather than the NPS loop
road. Jean and I had launched a backpacking trip from here in 1999 and had been
nervous enough then about the road conditions that we’d parked short of the
trailhead to ensure we could drive out if the road got wet. Now however the
roads were signed, well maintained, and the trailhead even sported one of the
park’s excellent trailhead map displays.
Pronghorn Antelope
The hike starts with a half mile feeder trail. 2019 was a
wet year and we were reaping the benefit of the of a prodigious wildflower display.
We decided to take the north side of the loop first and go clockwise
around the loop. Pretty quickly we came across a lone pronghorn
patrolling the grassland. It stayed with us as we dropped down into the
Petrified Forest.
Fossilized Tree Stumps in the Petrified Forest
After so many years away we were astounded by the size and
numbers of the petrified trees. The fossil wood
found in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the surrounding Dakota Prairie
Grasslands is most often found at the base of the Sentinel Butte Formation.
Scientists believe that the trees were conifers, similar to modern sequoias.
Some specimens are huge, with diameters approaching eight feet. Since the root
systems of the trees are typically poorly preserved, the trees probably grew in
a swampy environment, similar to cypress groves of today.
Most of the trees are stumps that we covered by ash deposits
from the eruption of volcanoes in the Yellowstone region 55 million
years ago. The trees are well enough preserved that features such as tree rings
ae still obvious. The forest lies in a gentle valley and along the walls you
can see the various rock layers exposed. The gray layers are bentonite which
has formed from the volcanic ash and marks the layers which contain the
fossils.
After an orgy of fossil gaping and picture taking we began
the gentle climb out of the forest. Hiking into the forest were three of TRNP’s famous herd of wild horses. Though beautiful to see, we were likely more
spooked by the horses than they were by us. Following our hike, I stumbled onto
the website for a group call North Dakota Badlands Horse. I learned there that
all the park horses have names and a large online fan club. The horses mostly live
in bands led by a dominant stallion. The group that we had seen were bachelors,
young males that not been able to attract females to start their own bands.
Badlands Horses
Beyond the forest the trail followed some open prairie
before crossing a small draw to join the Maah Daah Hey Trail. The MDH Trail
starts 50 miles south of the park in the Little Missouri National Grassland and
ends 144 miles later in the north unit of TRNP. It is the premier trail in the
region, and has been the catalyst of a boom in hiking and mountain biking in
the region. Since this was a work trip for my hiking guide, I walked the half mile to the north to
describe the junction there with the Buffalo Gap Trail, which had been built as
a bypass route for mountain bikers around the designated Wilderness Area in the
national park.
The trail continuing around the loop is one of my favorites. It follows the eastern edge of
Big Plateau with occasional views of the Little Missouri River on the left and
constant views of the remote prairie on the right. While the hiking is flat and
easy the wildlife watching, and wildflower displays are outstanding as well.
Soon off in the distance loomed a herd of 40 bison.
They were at the perfect range, far enough off so that we didn’t disturb them,
but close enough so that they were easy to watch through our binoculars. As
bison often do, this group was hanging out in a small prairie
dog town.
Bison Grazing Beside a Prairie Dog Town
The north and south Petrified Forest Trails meet in a
complicated spot that Jean and I came to know as the V-junction for its very narrow
split between the two forks of what is essentially a Y-shaped junction. My very
first hike into TRNP in 1988 came up the stem of this Y onto Big Plateau, which
was a wonder of wildlife watching bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn and coyotes
that still remains with me.
By this time the sun and heat were catching up to us and we
ducked into a small grove of trees to trade some bugs for some shade while we
ate some lunch. Approaching the Petrified Forest from the southern trail we
came across another pronghorn, potentially our
same friend from this morning. Then we were down in the forest among another
bountiful display of fossilized trees. Since
both the forests on the north and south trails are about 1.5 miles from the
parking area, the NPS doesn’t recommend one side over the other. However, it
seemed to us that though some of the largest specimens are on the south side,
there were more fossils spread over a larger area on the north side.
Jean Entering the Petrified Forest
Petrified Forest
Exiting the forest, we met up again with our wild horse friends from this morning. Not long after we also saw our last bison of the day, a lone bull grazing near the start of the feeder trail. The mix of abundant fossils, diverse wildlife, spring flowers and skyline to skyline views of the badlands and Little Missouri River make this perhaps the most outstanding hike in the region.
Lone Bison Grazing
Our Route Through the Petrified Forest
