Badlands & Beer

I'm a bit of a gypsy by nature and that really kicked in my most recent beer adventure.  That no one was able to join me did not stop me.  I packed up the Huckleberry with all my camping gear and hit the road bound for Makoshika State Park near Glendive, MT.  I’d found out the Montana Wilderness Association was hosting a group hike through the park on Saturday morning.  Makoshika is in a badlands area and I’ve been wanting to visit for some time so this sounded perfect.  Even more incentive, only a half hour down the road was an elusive brewery I’ve had on my To Visit for as long as I’ve been in Montana.  I set my tent up at dusk in the middle of Makoshika and went to sleep to a cacophony of frog song from the nearby creek.  I woke to one heck of a thunderstorm in the middle of the night.  Unhappily, I discovered my tent is in dire need of another dose of waterproofing spray.  I managed to get in a bit more sleep during the rest of the night, but it wasn’t exactly restful.  

The badlands of Makoshika State Park

  

The hike was great, though we had to stick to the main road for the most part as the trails had turned to what we call gumbo.  There’s a lot of clay in the soils and when dirt roads (and trails) in these parts get wet, they become a big gooey mess that is best avoided at all cost.  Aside from beautiful vistas, the highlight was discovering that two of my fellow hikers were also big beer fans who also had plans to go to that same brewery, Beaver Creek Brewing in Wibaux.  

It was also Buzzard Day in Makoshika, and after partaking in some good grub, I drove to the tiny little town of Wibaux (population 589) thirty miles away, east on I-94.  I first stopped at their tiny little hardware store to get some supplies to make some repairs on my tent.  One of the fiberglass poles was cracking so I purchased some tiny little pipe clamps and some electrical tape and after a bit of MacGyvering, got things back together.  Then I headed to the only campground around – a run down RV park with no real facilities for tent campers.  I ended up paying way too much for the spot I was shown to, but I was given access to one of their “cabins” that had a sink and working toilet.  If the lady running the place hadn’t been so darned nice, I would have been sufficiently creeped out enough to splurge on the local motel.  As it was, all went very well and I slept like the dead, especially after all those brews at the brewery!

Beaver Creek Brewery in Wibaux, MT

As soon as I walked into the brewery I found my hiking pals, Theresa and Gary.  Gary had brought along 14 growlers to be filled!  And I thought I was the big beer fan!  We had a wonderful time chatting and the time flew by.  I didn't find any beer to be particularly noteworthy, but they were all solid.  The Paddlefish Stout and the Redheaded IPA were the most to my liking, and I also enjoyed their Rough Rider Wheat brewed with lemongrass.  The brewery itself, though, is well worth the trip.  It's got atmosphere out the wazoo.  They have a big stuffed beaver over the bar with a note underneath proudly declaring: "Our beaver tastes better!"  And one of the brew tanks is named the Chubby Beaver Ferminator.

Theresa & Gary

Gary decorates his growler carriers himself.

    

There is also a pub attached to the brewery called the Gem (actually, the Historic Gem Theater and Pub) that serves tasty pizzas and "unique entrees".  You can order food from the pub and eat it in the brewery, or you can eat in the pub and drink beers from the brewery.  The pub serves wine as well.  The Gem also offers live music several times a month.  I have to say, I was so entertained in the brewery, that I failed to wander over to the pub and check things out.  I'm planning another trip in that direction, though, so hopefully I can make the stop.  It would be great to take in a show, too.  A friend of mine from Lewistown, Charlie Denison, used to live out that way, and he and one of the owners, Jim, have collaborated on some tunes together.  I always hoped to take in a Charlie show there, but that just hasn't managed to work out.

After a full afternoon of beer talk, the next thing we knew, it was closing time.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but Montana’s brewery laws mandate that beers cannot be served past 8:00pm, and each customer can only have 48oz per day.  So, it wasn’t really that late, and I really hadn’t had all that much to drink.  But we crammed in some good times while they were available, then I headed back to the old tent to make an early night of it.

Sunday morning I continued heading east to Medora, North Dakota, and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, yet another destination I’ve wanted to get to for some time.  Teddy R is another gorgeous badlands area surrounded by prairie with the Little Missouri River running through the center.  Teddy Roosevelt, the wonderful president who gave us our treasured National Park system, bought a ranch that is now part of the park.  This rather desolate area was one of the places that made Roosevelt see the importance of conservation.  Hooray Teddy! 

Bison

Wild horse baby

I spent the morning exploring the southern unit of the park.  It is filled with strange land formations, prairie dog towns, bison and wild horses.  As it is that time of year, there were babies galore.  I also took a short hike to an old coal vein that somehow caught fire and burned from 1951 to 1977.  I read about that in a book once so it was neat to visit a place where that once occurred.  Along the trail I also came across a little green racer snake and a dung beetle pushing a round piece of poo along the trail while another one was trying to steal it.  Now that’s entertainment!

Dung beetles

After finishing the loop through the south unit of the park, I went back into Medora to find some food and snoop around.  I found a pizza place that happened to have Red Lodge Ales' Bent Nail IPA on draught (delish), then following the sound of banjo and mandolin, wandered across the street to find a couple guys jamming together at an open air seating area.  Oh, happy BOING!  I love when music breaks out for no good reason other than two guys happen to feel like playing.  I ended up hanging out with them for over an hour – I even played bongo drums for a bit (quite terribly) – before saying goodbye to head up to the north unit of the park about 70 miles away.

I spent a gorgeous night at my tent site right alongside the Little Missouri River, indulging in a fantastically smooth Left Hand Nitro Stout and an extremely aggressive Yeti from Great Divide before hitting the hay, and woke to an utterly perfect day.  I found the north unit of the park to be the prettier of the two and was glad I’d chosen to take a longer hike, 4.5 hard miles, through that section of the park.  I was disappointed that aside from two bison and lots of birds (and plenty of ticks), there were no other critters along the path, though I found the tracks of many, including a bobcat.  I only passed one other hiker, but I was glad for that.  That part of the park is pretty remote so foot and vehicle traffic is rather scarce.  True wilderness!   

Then it was finally time for the five hour drive home.  I hadn’t showered in days so I was happy to be headed back.  

Me at the Teddy Roosevelt National Park - North Unit