Seasons: Latter part of June or first weeks of July. Spring floods and early June rise make rivers treacherous; dry seasons of late summer may require portage of Little Missouri.
Maps: Highway Planning Survey, Bismarck, N. Dak., can furnish county maps.
For the experienced camper, for the seeker of adventures, for the lover of nature, this route offers much pleasure; it is on the Little Missouri River through the heart of North Dakota's Badlands and down the Missouri River to Bismarck. During past ages the Little Missouri has been the chief agent in cutting into the prairies of North Dakota the wide slash that is the Badlands region. Rain and surface waters have washed away the soft upper layers of the deposits made by successive prehistoric seas, and, continually seeking lower levels, in the slow process of erosion through the centuries have left a jumble of jagged buttes. The sides of these buttes expose the various strata, each the testimonial of one age in the geological history of the area.
Undoubtedly the Missouri and Little Missouri were navigated by many an Indian hunter in search of the big game that once roamed the region, and by many a brave seeking the scalp of some unwary opponent; but Baptiste Le Page, the French explorer who made the voyage from the Black Hills (which title then designated all the rough upland country W. of the Missouri here) to the mouth of the Knife River in 45 days in 1804, is believed to have been the first white man to journey down the tortuous Little Missouri into the Missouri, called Wakpa Hehanka (elk river) by the Sioux. Le Page joined the Lewis and Clark expedition at one of the Indian villages near the mouth of the Knife River.
While Le Page drifted down almost the entire course of the Little Missouri, the modern would-be explorer following this route slips his boat into the historic waters more than halfway down the stream at MEDORA (2,265 alt., 200 pop.) (see Tour 8), and heads downstream with the current.
North of Medora the river flows through a comparatively wide flood plain dotted with groves of cottonwood, box elder, and ash trees, with high, many-colored buttes rising on both sides to form the deep valley.
At about 1 m. (R) is SHEEP CREEK, an intermittent tributary named for the bighorn mountain sheep that were found in the Badlands when white men first visited them. Along Sheep Creek are a few bull pines, Pinus ponderosa scopulorum, probably the northern limit of the species in the State.
At about 1.5 m. (L) is ANDREWS CREEK, and at about 1.8 m. downstream from Medora the river crosses the southern boundary of the South Roosevelt Regional State Park (see Roosevelt Regional State Parks). At 2.8 m. the park highway fords the Little Missouri, and at times of low water caution is necessary here in navigating the ford. To the R. after passing the highway is one of the park picnic areas, and just below these grounds is the mouth of KNUTSON CREEK (L), at about 4.3 m.
Below the buildings (R) of the PEACEFUL VALLEY RANCH (see South Roosevelt Regional State Park) is the mouth of PADDOCK CREEK (R), 5.8 m., and at about 8.8 m. the route passes JUEL CREEK (R). At about 11.5 m. is GOVERNMENT CREEK (R), and at about 17 m. WANNAGAN CREEK (L), the northern boundary of the park.
A few miles below the boundary is the PARKER RANCH (L), formerly the Wadsworth, said to be the first cattle ranch in the Badlands. Downstream from these buildings is ASH COULEE CREEK (R), named for the many ash trees that line its broad valley. It should be reached in a day of ordinary drifting. (Good camping place for first night is opposite the mouth of this little stream.)