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| The Highest Point in North Dakota! |
This was the most ambitious of days, as it would turn out. It began with me driving to the highest point
of Nebraska at the break of dawn. From
there, I drove north through Wyoming and into South Dakota and managed a 7-mile
hike to the top of Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. After that, I managed a stop at Mt. Rushmore,
a first for me, and I realized that I might still have time to make it to the
highest point in North Dakota. So, I did
just that!
The drive started off quickly enough with me taking the
interstate out to Sturgis, the famed mecca for motorcyclists. Even just a few weeks away from the big
rally, there were a fair number of Harleys to be found in the vicinity, of
course, nothing rivaling the number of bikes soon on their way. From there, it was empty by-roads heading due
north into North Dakota. This was the
lonesome portion of the road-trip, a time for reflection really. Eventually, I made it to the tiny hamlet of Bowman,
North Dakota, and now it was time to start thinking about the highpoint, which
lied just beyond.
Amazingly, they had a large sign on the side of the road
saying to take the next right for the highpoint. This was in slight disagreement with my
directions from Google, which indicated that I should still go a bit further
prior to making a right. Now, the last
time my Google directions were in conflict with a posted road sign, I wound up
in a random ranch in New Mexico with my car bottoming out in multiple places
along the road in vain search of Black Mesa, the highest point in
Oklahoma. (See my Oklahoma
write-up). As such, I decided to just follow
the sign.
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| Do --NOT-- Go This Way! |
The turn-off was a short one, and I was soon in front of
another sign: “Rd to White Butte East 1
Mile”. Less promisingly, behind that
sign there was another sign: “Dead
End”. Looking beyond, there was just an
old farm lane fully overrun with grass.
Anyone with good sense would conclude that this was a dead end, turn
around, and follow the Google directions.
Me? I chose to follow the lane
with the warped, guiding thought that the lane would “dead end” at the
highpoint. Yeah, sure; besides, it was
only 1 mile, right?
Well, the lane was gently undulating, and the farther one
proceeded, the higher the grass became.
Soon, the grass was reaching the top of the grille on the front of my
car. Whump, whump, whump. I was feeling really uneasy. I eventually made it through the mile and
sure enough noticed that the lane continued onward, but now it was really impassable -- even with a real off-road vehicle. I
definitely messed up. Worse, I now had
to figure out how to turn around without getting stuck and then drive again
over that same ugly stretch of road. With
a carefully considered 18-point turn, I managed to turn around successfully and
make it back to the main road, escaping the fate of a dumb tourist trying to be
rescued from a field in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota. Yay?
I now referred to my Google directions with a religious
fervor, unwilling to yield to outside influences again. The correct route, while circuitous and
indirect, was very straightforward in terms of topography. Really it was just one farm lane after
another until I wound up at the farm on whose land the highpoint lies.
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| The Correct Route! (Seriously) |
The directions culminated at the entrance to a small
farmhouse. I parked by the mailbox, next
to a handmade “Road Closed” sign and sensibly proceeded on foot this time. The lane, also overrun with tall prairie
grass, continued onward straight to a cluster of buttes, just on the
horizon.
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| Cattle Country Off to the Left |
It was getting late at this point, with about an hour of
daylight at most left. Despite the
urgency to summit, I still had to be mindful of rattlesnakes, which by all
accounts are quite abundant in and around this particular highpoint. The tall grass everywhere meant that I had to
walk a little more slowly so that I could see where I placed my feet.
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| Getting Closer |
At any rate, the hike was pretty straightforward for about
the first mile, with me simply following the farm lane as I became nearer to
the buttes. I passed a barn along the
way, and soon found a gate, which allowed me to enter onto the private
property.
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| Official Entrance Gate |
From the gate it was a pretty short walk to the hilly
buttes. Here is where things became
problematic. It was not clear where the
path to the top was, and it was not clear where the highpoint was. Seriously, thinking that since the highpoint
is called, “White Butte”, I figured that the massive white-colored butte to my
immediate right was my target for the evening.
It was not, as I would find out later.
I managed to scramble up one of the intermediate lying slopes, and when
I arrived at the top, there was no clear path to anywhere, let alone the white
butte lying to my right. Yikes. I proceeded back down the slope and searched
around the base for another viable trail.
Nothing was immediately obvious.
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| The Trail Dies in a Cirque of Buttes |
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| The Correct Way Up is to Stay as Far Left as Possible and Scramble |
With nightfall soon approaching, I realized that I had
precious little time to figure this out, lest I camp for the night and try
again at sunrise, which I really did not want to do. I pulled out my phone, and tried to do some
quick research. I found a couple of
Youtube videos for the place, but they just showed the view from the summit and
nothing about the approach, so not particularly helpful. I tried to find some beta online, and
Summitpost indicated to follow the leftmost slope to the top, alongside the
boundary fence at which point a user trail may be faintly visible. Okay, let me try this again – quickly!
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| View Atop the First Hill |
Sure enough after an engaging scramble up the steep,
rock-strewn slope, I could make out a path in the tall grass that was
distinctly leading somewhere, albeit in a circuitous manner. The path was pretty easy going, since I
managed most of the elevation gain going up the slope.
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| Trail to the Left; Lots of Grass Everywhere Else |
I proceeded more quickly, rattlesnakes be
damned, and made my way up another slope.
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| Trail Becoming Fainter |
This was a false summit, and I now had a choice of directions. The correct choice proved to be a grassy
knoll behind me, leading away from the prominent white butte in the
distance.
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| Go This Way! |
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| Keep Going! |
Sure enough, soon making my
way up that hill, I was at the highest point in all of North Dakota.
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| Vanity Shot with the USGS Boundary Marker |
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| Detail of Marker: The Official Highest Point in North Dakota |
It was pretty obvious that I was in the right place since
the USGS boundary marker was on a raised post.
It curiously did not give the elevation, but I was at 3,507 feet! Just behind the marker, there was a burial
marker for a Mr. Lawrence P. Buzalsky, presumably a family member of one of the
owners.
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| The Highest Point is also a Grave Site |
I signed the logbook, took the
usual photos from the summit, and enjoyed the view in all directions.
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| View from the Summit |
The
advantage to such a late arrival was that I could enjoy the view in twilight,
which added a tinge of beauty to the surroundings.
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| Another View from the Summit at Twilight |
Making my way down was pretty straightforward and much
quicker since I knew where exactly to go this time around. By the time I made it back to the car, it was
pitch black, but I luckily had my headlamp with me. Not too bad – 3 state highpoints in the same
day. That was hardly fought!
I quickly left the farmland in search of civilization and a
place to spend the night. There was
still one more highpoint left on this trip…
