Week 61: the one with the BIG storm!
AdVANtures from South Dakota to Minnesota.
Hey, hi, hola! Welcome back to another weekly update — it’s so great to have you along for the ride as we make our roundabout way to Ohio to visit family. This week we left Badlands National Park in South Dakota and travelled across North Dakota to Minnesota, whew! (If you missed it, you can catch up on last week’s post here.)
Here’s our travel map:
Now let’s get to the recap!
Monday: Picnic Spring Camp Day
We started the week off at Picnic Spring Campground, South Dakota. It’s a free (!) Forest Service campground and it was so quiet and peaceful — we loved it there.
The forecast called for upper 70s and sunny — which felt like heaven after the 100 degree temperatures last week — so we decided to have a camp day. I think of these as “spa days” :)
Here’s what that looks like:
We had the back and slider doors open to let the breezes in, the bug walls down to keep the bugs out, the awning out to shade the van from the sun, and the Instant Pot cooking away on the outdoor fold-out table. I made lentil sloppy joes and a big batch of black beans and brown rice so that we’d have them on driving days.
We put our chairs up in the shade and J read a book and I got to art. Awesome day!
I wanted to share this sweet log cabin someone made that we found on a stump in camp — note all of the trimmed branches — so cute:
We thought we had a tiny home — this one has us beat lol!
Tuesday: Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Tuesday we said farewell to South Dakota and headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. As a prairie girl through and through I always wanted to go here. The landscape called my name — and it didn’t disappoint!
Our first stop was the Painted Canyon Visitor Center, where I learned more about President Theodore Roosevelt — and came to appreciate him even more. From the park website:
After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the United States Forest Service (USFS) and establishing 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments by enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act. During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt protected approximately 230 million acres of public land.
What an amazing legacy. I hope it lives on forever. Wouldn’t it be awesome if every president set aside public land for everyone to enjoy in addition to building a library?
Stamping my Sketchbook
I started a new accordion-fold sketchbook waaaaaay back when we began our journey to Ohio since I knew we’d be going to several national parks and I wanted to document everything — and stamp it with each park stamp. Theodore Roosevelt had the best stamp station yet — I loved seeing all of the pins from visitors all around the world:
I posted a video of it over on Instagram if you’d like to check it out:
I’ll post the finished book when it’s complete — stay tuned!
Hiking Painted Canyon
There are several trails that start right from the Visitor Center and go down to Painted Canyon, so of course we had to hike one. Just look at that view:
Clouds started rolling in, making for some dramatic lighting:
Whoa!
We got a first come-first serve camp spot and then set off to explore the park.
Exploring the Park
First off, a bit about the park: there’s a driving loop — that’s currently under construction so it doesn’t actually form a loop anymore — with trails all along it. We didn’t have a set plan and just jumped out and hiked any trails that caught our fancy.
Such a varied, beautiful landscape.
We saw a bunch of signs saying “Coal Vein Fire/Do Not Report” and we were guessing that the black layers in the rocks might be coal:
It was a hazy, hot and humid day so hopping back in the van and AC was a welcome treat. Another treat was getting to see bison! We saw several off in the distance, and this big guy closer:
As we hiked to the top of Buck Hill the wind started kicking up, which felt amazing. There were really awesome views in all directions, and we watched a storm for a bit off in the distance.
We kept an eye on the weather and thought we could get one more hike in, so off we went to the Coal Vein Nature Trail. Lightning caused a seam of coal to catch on fire — and it burned for 26 years!
Here’s where the fire ended — you’d never guess there was a fire here, right?
It started sprinkling just as we made it back to the van, whew!
We started heading back to camp and didn’t get far far until we spotted more bison. We watched them for a while and got to see another big male roll in the dirt:
BIG Storm!
The clouds started getting really spooky and asked J to stop so I could get a photo — what a sky! I can’t wait to try to paint this:
Then it started pouring rain and hailing! The thunder rolled across the prairie and the lightning lit up the sky, while the wind whipped the van around. The windshield wipers couldn’t keep up! It was like being in a white-out, so J had to stop the van and put the hazard lights on. (I was glad he was driving!)
The storm only lasted about 10 minutes but it felt like hours. Wow!
We made it back to camp and checked out the van for hail damage and we didn’t find any — so glad. Then we had this dramatic view right from our camp spot:
I was sure it was going to rain again, but instead we were treated to this amazing sunset — it looked like a painting:
What a day!
Wednesday: Theodore Roosevelt NP Camp Day
We were both feeling pretty worn out and decided to have a camp day — the best kind of day!
Thursday: Hiking Theodore Roosevelt NP
Feeling refreshed after our camp day, we decided to go for a few more hikes. I’ll just share a few favorite photos:
Friday: Theodore Roosevelt NP to Buffalo River SP, Minnesota
Friday was a long driving day (5.5 hours!) so we got up early and took showers in the van. While J was showering I did a quick spread in my nature journal about the park:
As we were leaving the park we got to see the wild horses again! I wish you could have seen their manes and tails blowing in the wind — it felt like we were in a movie:
After a stop in Bismarck — the capital of North Dakota — to do laundry we crossed into Minnesota and made it to camp at Buffalo River State Park.
All the green deciduous trees around our camp spot makes it feel like we’re back home in Ohio already.
Saturday: Hiking the Prairie
Now for a bit about why we just had to stop at Buffalo River SP: it’s adjacent to Bluestem Prairie, a 6,078 acre tallgrass prairie that is a part restoration and part remnant. It’s considered to be one of the largest and highest-quality northern tallgrass prairies left in the US.
We first visited the prairie back in 2018 when we were in Winona for the 2018 North American Prairie Conference. If you’re a prairie enthusiast like we are, we highly recommend attending one of the bi-annual conferences — the next one will be in 2027. You can also check out Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) website for a wealth of information about prairies. (Random fact about me: I have been working on NPAT’s website since 2019!)
Of course we had to go for a hike — we ended up hiking 5 miles total. When you first see a healthy prairie it may just look like a boring sea of grass:
Start looking closer and you’ll notice more and more details, like purple prairie clover:
Milkweeds — we saw 3 species of milkweeds on the prairie, including this “common” milkweed:
Big bluestem — of course:
Mexican hats and harebells:
Three species of liatris, also known as gayfeather:
Best of all, we saw 21 monarch butterflies — we hadn’t seen any for 2 years so this was a super special surprise!
We also saw several little frogs, a garter snake, so many birds, neat native bees and other pollinators, mountain mint, lobelia, spirea, sunflowers, and more. It was awesome!
That’s a Wrap!
That’s it for this week! Tomorrow we’re getting back on the road and heading to Chippewa National Forest as we continue on our journey to Ohio.
Thanks so much for joining us — it really means a ton to have you along for the ride! — Lisa, Jason & Walter-the-Van
