Run Across The Praire

(Click photos to enlarge)

Sunday after noon I ventured out to the Sheyenne National Grasslands to run a section of trail that passes through it. People that tracked me figured out I was in the Grasslands though no one correctly identified the trail as the North Country Trail. Though most of the trail was dry, 5 minutes in to my 5+ hour journey I was walking though water half way to my knees. After tip toeing around the water for the first couple of minutes, and as usual being unsuccessful at it, my feet were soaked so I decided I might as well stay on the trail and go right through it. I had my car parked 28 miles away and I was less than a half mile in when I looked over my shoulder and could see my wife driving away as she had dropped me off at the trail head and was headed back home in Fargo. There goes my way out. I've run with wet feet before though I had never waded through brown water with cow pies in it.

4 miles in to the run I came across something interesting for being out in the middle of the prairie. A grove of evergreen trees. It felt like I was in lakes country for a moment. Smelled like it too.

A few more miles in and it begins to get a bit hillier and more trees. The first 12 miles are pretty much flat and open then the miles after that are not really ever flat. Gentle and rolling hills. Some low spots still had snow in them though I had to remember. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt running outside in March. I felt very fortunate and was enjoying the moment.

More miles of rolling hills with cows grazing off in the distance. After seeing countless holes dug by coyotes, a pheasant, a turkey and about 40 deer, and oh ya, a train, I was nearing the end of my journey. Tired but energized by the experience.

Some may call my little adventure extreme, weird, ridiculous or just plain stupid. I'll call it a blessing.