Events
Hike Along the Sheyenne
This out-and-back hike with the NCTA Dakota Prairie Chapter will cover a total of about 4.5 miles at around a 2 mph pace, with an option to add a mile for a chance to see a scenic view of the valley.
The Trail surface is mostly flat (some rolling) and grassy, on mowed tread or two-track farm road. There is no water along the Trail. This segment of the NCNST was built in 2018-2020 by Dakota Prairie Chapter volunteers. The Nelson and Rustad families generously provided access to their land for the NCNST.
The hike route runs between the Nelson-Rustad trail access area and a new NCNST kiosk on the Heath-Kudelka Farm. The Trail is on the southern bluffs of the Big Bend of the Sheyenne River, passing through an area that is rich in Native American and frontier history called the Okiedan Buttes. The east end of the Trail provides sweeping views of agricultural land, gravel mining, and riparian terrain. The west end of the route contains one of the largest collections of earth mounds built by Indigenous peoples along the Sheyenne River and lies on a pre-historic Native American travel route called the “Old Game Trail.” In the 18th and 19th centuries, this area was on the paths of the Sibley punitive expedition against the Dakota, the Fort Abercrombie-Fort Ransom military road, and wagon trains headed for the Montana gold fields, as well as Euro-American explorers, scouts, buffalo hunters, soldiers, immigrants, and settlers.
Take ND-27 to 141st Avenue SE, that runs along the west side of the Sheyenne National Grassland (also known as the Milnor Road). From that intersection, go south four miles on 141st Avenue to 71st Street SE (a gravel road). Turn west and go one mile to 140th Avenue SE (a dirt road). Turn south. Go 0.75 miles on 140th Avenue. This is a road walk portion of the NCNST, so you will see blue blaze signs along 140th Avenue. Watch carefully for NCNST signs on a narrow dirt two-track road that turns west off 140th Avenue in a wooded area. Turn west onto that dirt road and drive about 200 yards to a parking area on the south side of the road. (Parking area GPS coordinates: 46.37346, -97.49162).
