Williston, North Dakota to Mitchell, South Dakota
Richard and Margaret Batterman - 2004
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit
Little Missouri National Grassland
South Dakota
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands
Badlands National Park
This is the return portion of our 2004 Lewis and Clark trip . The trip out followed the Missouri River as far as the North Dakota/Montana border. Pictured below is the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers near the state line. The Corps of Discovery continued west along the Missouri from here in 1804, but we left the trail and headed south from this point.
The Dakotas are generally arid and treeless, but along the rivers there are modest stands of trees and brush. Our return through the western Dakotas was through strikingly different scenery including the barren badlands of both states and the lush Black Hills of South Dakota.
We followed U.S. Highway 85 from Williston, ND to Spearfish, SD. In North Dakota we toured the Theodore Roosevelt National Park North and South Units and the Little Missouri National Grassland. From Spearfish we followed the Spearfish Canyon Highway into the Black Hills. We spent two nights in Hill City. Here we took a train ride from Hill City to Keystone, rode bikes on the George Mickelson Trail, drove through the "Needles" scenic parkway and stopped at Mt. Rushmore. We then headed east on secondary roads through Scenic, SD and a portion of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands to the Badlands on route to Mitchell, SD.