Day 2 on Maah Daah Hey to Bismark,ND

From last night:

Found spot W of town on West River Road by a corral but right along side railroad track. Nice spot but trains passed with too much noise. Fixed dinner. Internet speed was way slower than town. Needed to research MN, IA, MI, & IL rides and needed speed. Drove back into Medora, found quiet parking lot but right beside track again. I told myself that it is just a noisy train and because the van shook just meant that I had to dig deeper into my slumber. Didn’t wake up for any trains.

I did wake up to loud whooshing sounds. Looked outside and saw about 8 hot air balloons burning their propane heaters to get airborne.

Fixed Bfast. Walked into town (3 blocks away) to public restrooms, no growler hole dug in asphalt this AM.

Off back W on I-94 to Belfield to go N to Little Missouri Nat Grassland for a section of the MDH Trail at Magpie Camp. About 10 miles of good gravel road driving back among oil wells.

Before I left 2 bike groups visited but they were going S and I am going N.

Take off riding cow pathes and slopping thru cow pies or picking lines around them. MDH trail is just organized cow trail riding. The better riding was yesterday on the Buffalo Gap trail which is a bypass trail aroung teddy’s NP where bikes aren’t allowed.

Rode 9 miles N & turned around after a little more than an hour of riding. No point continuing. After the first several miles the trail idea is the same and the cow shit cumulative. Round trip 18.9 miles with 1800′ vert climbing.

Geology is this was an inland shallow sea that drained away. Strata after strata in soft rock:

Spot & trail marker and horizon: both keep on going.

Trail cuts in & out of small drainages. Soil is really unstable & heavy rains created new lines. To the FS credit the trails appear stable.

Cows. Tom, you want an opinion: America eats too much beef, it will kill people and ultimately destroy our environment from stealing water from the downstream ecosystems, destroying riparian areas, compacting the soil contributing to erosion, and taking the land out of crop growth. Too many business people producing more beef and hay than the market will support so subsidies are spent to keep them in business producing more surplus.

Drove back road E towards Bismark, my resupply point for today. Back roads are less populated and slower but lack towns & grocery stores. Couldn’t find a shower after my ride.

In shopping district of Bismark. Need to find a quieter place for sleep.

Cougs got creamed by Cal.

Tomorrow is Minnesota. Getting harder to find rides along my proposed route.