Summer stuff to do in MT, ND, MN, WI

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband and I are planning to drive from California to Wisconsin and back, taking three weeks, in July. On the way back I’ll be towing a small camping trailer, on the way up, tent camping in state campgrounds for the most part I assume. Planning to go through Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota.

Anyone have any suggestions for short side trips off the big road? Bearing in mind we will have two Australian Shepherds with us. We like walking, hiking, outdoors, history, swimming in natural bodies of water, natural wonders, quirky museums, do not like cities, amusement parks, did I mention the dogs yet?

2

I once lived in North Dakota for three years (Minot), then the three after that in Montana (Great Falls). I’d traveled quite a bit between Great Falls and Minot/Bismarck during those handful of years too. Get yer Google Maps up for this one. . .

If possible, avoid Dickinson and Williston, ND. Not that there’s nothing there, but the oil field worker population has really driven the charm out of those towns. Minot too, to a certain degree.

Do hit: Glacier NP (obviously), and Great Falls is a good destination for the Lewis & Clark Interpretive center. A lot of history around that town. There’s plenty of little towns along the Missouri River you can pull the camper into, and stay overnight by the river hassle free. From Great Falls, if you take US87/MT200 to I-94, you can see some beautiful scenery in Judith Gap, and great little towns like Belt ant Lewiston. After Lewiston, it gets a little ‘badlandy’ which I kind of enjoyed, but if you’re not into that, hang a right and go through Roundup down to Billings and pick up I-94 there.

Otherwise, once you cross into North Dakota, the Little Missouri Grasslands/Teddy Roosevelt NP are nice and I think let you camp out overnight. I also highly recommend the little town of Medora during the summer. I think they still put on a Western show in the evenings during the summer. Then you can swing through Bismarck which is okay, but an hour-or-so north on US is Fort Mandan, where L&C overwintered their first year out. There’s another museum up there, which was really expanded after I left, I hear. Further east of Bismarck is Jamestown and Valley City, which are ‘western’ towns too. Jamestown is the home of Louis L’Amour, and there’s small rodeos and bullriding events normally on the later-weeknights.

I can give you a few other local highlights if you want. I don’t know if Bottineau still hosts ‘Rockin’ in the Hills" or not–a few days of classic rock acts over several stages in farmers fields . . . seems to be hit or miss every year. Heck, you might make Norsk HǿstFest up in Minot, or even the State Fair.

What’s your itinerary? I might be able to pull up some more info for ya.

Tripler
Oh Minot. . . good times, good times.

3

If you’re aiming for a camping type trip plan for ‘up north’ when you get to Wisconsin. I doubt you’ll have time with just three weeks, but you could even hit the UP (Michigan) as well. For a quirky museum AND camping, go to Spring Green. There you can find The House On The Rock, Taliesin West, the Baraboo Clown Museum (though it doesn’t look like it’s always open) and camping in The Dells.

4

Taking notes . . . Tripler, our only itinerary is leaving the 5th of June, picking up our trailer in Minnesota on the 10th (so not a lot of leisure time on the drive out), then visiting a Wisconsin friend who lives between Fond du Lac and Madison, and then home in time to pick my daughter up from the airport on August 2nd. Those are the push pins.

Joey P, that’s interesting as Spring Green was on my mind too.

5

I’ve only been there for the touristy stuff that I mentioned (Taliesin and House On The Rock), but if you go there, you’ll be close to Devil’s Lake State Park and The Dells. I’ve never been to Devil’s Lake but I know it’s popular for camping. The Dells is probably the most popular place in Wisconsin in summer. Go there and have fun if you want to kill a half a day at a great water park, but the whole city is going to be at full tilt as soon as school lets out. Just to give you an idea, there are about 2000 people living in the city and during summer the businesses hire on about 9000 employees…think about that for a second.

There’s camping in The Dells as well, but you might just want to avoid the whole area if you’re not looking for that kind of ‘adventure’.

6

It’s a little bit off the beaten track (ie, a ways off I-94), but the headwaters of the Mississippi.

A ton (and I mean, a TON) of lake resorts in MN that you could park your camper at overnight or for a few days.

7

Devil’s Lake has a great bluff trail on its western edge. if you park at the SW corner of the lake (here), the trailhead is at the intersection of Cottage Grove Road and S. Lake Road. It climbs steeply, and the goes north along the top of the bluff, affording spectacular views of the lake before descending to lake level at the north end. From the north end, you can return via a lake-level trail on either the east or west shore of the lake. The whole hike should take maybe 90 minutes if you return via the west shore, maybe two hours if you return via the east. There is a swimming beach at the north end of the lake, and I think also at the south end.

In North Dakota, check out Salem Sue, a giant fiberglass cow.

Also in North Dakota, check out the world’s largest buffalo.

Minnesota? World’s largest prairie chicken.

Plenty more where that came from: visit www.roadsideamerica.com, which lists all sorts of crazy stuff.

8

Given your schedule, make sure you go through Montana on the return trip. Logan Pass in Glacier NP often doesn’t open until mid-July due to snow.

And if you’re up to an 11-mile hike over a mix of mostly level (Logan Pass to Granite Park Chalet) and downhill (GP Chalet to The Loop) terrain,the Highline Trail is freakin’ spectacular. I recommend timing it to park your car at Logan Pass at dawn so you aren’t pressed for time (because you’ll need to catch the shuttle from The Loop back to Logan Pass in the afternoon), not to mention it’s just a great time of day to hike those first few miles.

9

This is exactly the kind of thing we like to do. You wouldn’t believe what it takes to actually tire our dogs out. Thanks!

10

WI State Park Map
If you decide to try and camp at Devil’s lake you might want to try for mid-week because the weekends book up way in advance. Most of the WI state parks have some non-reservable sites so you might get lucky with one of those. In the Dells area there is also Mirror Lake State Park and Rocky Arbor State Park and they tend to be a little less crowded than Devil’s Lake, but like Joey said, it’s impossible to escape the crowds in the Dells during the summer. Just outside Spring Green is Tower Hill State Park. Only a few sites (try to get site #3 on the river) and a nice hike up to the shot tower. Between WI Dells and Spring Green is Natural Bridge SP, no camping, but a nice hike to see the bridge.

If you camp closer to Fond du Lac the Kettle Moraine Northern Unit and Pike Lake aren’t too far and there is High Cliffs SP at the top of Lake Winnebago. There are also decent county parks all over the place but they are a little more difficult to track down online. You’ll have to determine the Co and and then wade through its public website. Some you can reserve, some you can’t, it really just depends on the Co. Or maybe searching “county park near…” on google maps might bring them up. I’ve camped at one just outside Waupun and another east of Beaver Dam. Both were close to or within the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area.