The
South Achenbach Trail is one of the most remote trails in North Dakota’s
Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Jean and I had tried several times previously
to do this trip, but each time were defeated by high water in the Little
Missouri River. The trail is isolated on the south side of the river, cut off
from all the other roads and trails in the North Unit of the park, and requiring
a ford of the river just to start.  |
| Jean fording the Little Missouri. |
In
planning our Badlands trip for 2021 we noticed right away that it was a very
dry year. By spring there had already been three major fires in the area, and
we could tell by the stream gauges (~1.5’) that the Little Missouri River was
already very low. When we got to the park, the river looked lower than we’d
ever seen, and the rangers confirmed that we would be able to safely cross.
We
spent our first day helping out the Maah Daah Hey Trail Association with their
annual National Trails Day work event by surfacing (hauling and packing in
gravel) part of the MDH trail just south of Medora. The next day we drove to
the North Unit, arriving as the Visitor Center opened to get our free
backcountry permit. We got the permit and an update on conditions (Hot and
Breezy) and water (No drinkable water available) and left our car at the
trailhead in the Juniper Picnic Area.
It
was a short walk to the riverbank where we faced the biggest challenge of the
trip. But luckily for us the river was only calf deep and the bottom was sandy
and sturdy. The edges were muddy though, and our shoes and clothes were a mess
after stomping our gear through the river bottom. |
| View across the Little Missouri River. |
Our
ranger had told us to bring a topo map, but we found right away that the trail
on the ground didn’t follow the route on the topo maps. We immediately turned
south to follow the river downstream through a pleasant open grove of
cottonwoods, then across the bottom land to the base of the Achenbach Hills.
Marker posts were few and far between, and a maze of bison trails (as is usual
in TRNP) made the NPS trail indistinguishable from game trails. But there were
just enough posts to get us to the mouth of a small draw then up to a patch of
prairie on top of hill 2538’. Once out of the river bottom we enjoyed the best
views of the hike across the badlands, at least until we reached the prairie
when the wind blasted us. With pretty much nothing between us and the Rocky
Mountains, the wind on the prairie tops here howls enough to buffet about even
heavily loaded hikers. The trail posts remained far apart, the whole route
seemed like a giant game of hide and seek. |
| The Achenbach Hills. |
We
lost the wind dropping into Park Corner Gully and began a section where we
would traverse along the north face of the Achenbach Hills. Despite the lack of
other obvious trail work elsewhere, in one grove we spotted a recently cleared
blow down. There were a few shaded sections of thick juniper trees, and in one
of those we got the surprise of the trip, another backpacker. This poor guy had
started his hike in the same heat that we battled yesterday on our work trip
(but without the frequent delivery of water and ice), and had spent the night
just across the river from Juniper CG after stocking up with water at the
picnic area. We would be the only hikers he would see on the trip.
Next
up was the junction with a side trail to Achenbach Spring. I had only hiked
this trail previously in 1988, and had no memory of whether or not I had
visited the spring on that trip. In any case, the ranger was correct, there was
no water to be had. An elaborate set of fencing, water pipe, and water tanks
had been thoroughly disrupted by several generations of bison, leaving just a
few muddy footprints. I got back to Jean at the junction just in time to save
the other hiker the effort of hiking down to the spring. |
| Jean by a Petrified stump. |
Beyond
the spring we enjoyed some more sheltered walking and long distance views. The
descent to the river was broken up by the series of badlands tiers that we’d
learned to expect. River views were sparse though, and it appeared there was a
substantial growth along the banks that might limit camping opportunities. Our
hope was to camp as soon as we hit the river bottom, rather than at the ford,
to shave off the distance we would need to carry our packs heavily laden with
water. |
| View across the grasslands. |
As
soon as we hit the river bottom we ended up in a muddy stretch along a small
creek. We reached the ford with no camping spot in sight. We both took long
futile bushwhacks through the brush, then I spent a long stretch hiking back to
the small patches of grassland above us without finding any good tent sites,
though I did spot a long bone and other fossils weathering out of a layer of
gumbo. Finally, we gave up searching, and I walked down to the river crossing
looking for a spot where I could gather water. Looking further downriver I
spotted a few sparse cottonwoods on a little bench above the river. Eureka!
Here was a tent spot, cook spot, and nice bluff to watch the river from. We
hauled our gear out to the site and made ourselves at home.  |
| Watching the River. |
Jean
then found an old plastic planter that must have washed down the river, just
the right size for sitting, or use as a table. Having this simple amenity made
the campsite seem more luxurious, especially nice for sitting and watching the
river. We got some water from the river, let it settle in a pot and then
filtered some for the next day’s hike. We boiled the next potful for dinner,
grateful that the low flow in the river gave us some clay in the water, but not
the silt that a more vigorously flowing river would have carried. Despite our
vigilance watching the river, and a huge number of animal tracks, we only saw
one deer come down in the evening to drink. |
| Our tent site. |
With
no rain in the forecast, we didn’t use the tent’s rainfly, giving us a
fantastic view of the night sky. Our nearest neighbors were likely 5 or 6 miles
away in Juniper Campground, or snug somewhere in some remote Badlands ranch. Coyotes
howled all through the night. |
| Evening Light. |
The
next morning, we planned an early getaway as the 90F+ heat was predicted to
return by noon (after a forecast high of 77 for our inbound day). We pumped
another pot of river water that had settled overnight, and then boiled another
for our breakfasts. We would have about three quarts each for the long walk
out. |
| Yummy cooking water. |
After
packing up, we made one false start to retrieve a precious water bottle that
fell out of a pack descending the bluff by our camp. Otherwise, the return hike
was the mirror image of our outbound, except for the cooler temperatures of the
early morning and a slight change in course to correct a navigation error from
the day before. The winds on the prairie were milder. I took a few more GPS
waypoints on the return, hoping to strengthen my write-up for the trail in my
guidebook. I also confirmed that no traces remained of the old tracks shown on
the topo maps, and that the trail was not as mapped at the east end near the
Little Missouri River. Even accounting for the need to re-sign the ford every
year based on changing conditions in the river bottom, the significant issue
remained that the trail is not signed along the mapped route between the river
bottom and Point 2538’. |
| View of the Little Missouri River. |
We
found a less muddy, knee deep, place to cross the Little Missouri and were back
at our car in the Picnic Area shortly after noon, with the heat still tolerable,
and at least a splash of water left in our bottles. Jean’s boots had
delaminated at some point in the hike, perhaps from the heat in our driving
trip. Hiram had a large heel blister, probably a result of not being used to
wearing his heavy hiking boots.
This
would be our only visit to the North Unit on this trip, so we decided to drive
the Scenic Drive, stopping at Riverbend and Oxbow overlooks to take pictures.
We first drove the campground with the idea of spending the night, but even
with several sites open, the afternoon promised to be too hot for comfortable
camping. Driving out we were surprised to see two Texas Longhorn Cattle, part of
the park’s demonstration herd. We’d missed the cattle on our last few visits
and had begun to wonder if they were still kept in the park. Despite the midday
sun we got good pictures from both overlooks. At Oxbow we could see far enough
downstream to see the section of river just above our campsite.  |
| Real Texas longhorns. |
For
the backpack trip I had purchased the latest copy of the TRNP Trails
Illustrated map and had noticed two
“changes” to check out on the drive out. The first was a 0.4 mile connector from
the Scenic Drive to the FS Wolf Trail. Though we saw no trailhead or parking for
the connector, it looked like there was an old two track road in place that
might mark the route. The second change was a trail from the prairie edge down
to the river bottom just to the east of Oxbow Overlook. We saw no evidence of
this trail, which was likely a mis map of an old pre-park route. We confirmed
with a ranger at the North Unit VC that both changes were errors.  |
| View from Oxbow Overlook. |
