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North Dakota
Sweeping views are the norm in North Dakota, as the North Country Trail moves through the open country of the northern Great Plains, serving up big skies, superb birding and breathtaking sunsets.
Starting at the trail's western terminus at Lake Sakakawea State Park, the route crosses Garrison Dam, parallels the shorelines of lakes Sakakawea and Audubon, and comes to the McClusky Canal segment. At the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area, the trail meets up with the Sheyenne River, a major tributary of the Red River, which courses across the state.
The trail follows the river valley for the next several hundred miles, bringing hikers past the New Rockford Canal and Lake Ashtabula. It also passes through Valley City, goes from Clausen Springs Recreation Area to Kathryn on the "Ladies Line" rail trail segment, and traverses Fort Ransom State Park and Sheyenne State Forest and National Grasslands.
Along the route, hikers will encounter a surplus of scenic landscapes, including patches of remnant prairie; prairie pothole wetlands; the Sheyenne River bottomland forest; grazing pastures for cattle and buffalo; row-crop fields of canola, sunflower, wheat and sugar beets; and rolling glacial hills. Hikers will also get a personalized lesson in North Dakota history, as they witness the state’s bonanza farms, grain-hauling railroads, dust bowl sand dunes, ghost towns, and Native American cultural sites.
Leaving the Grasslands, the trail heads east toward Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site, and then it leaves North Dakota, crossing the Red River of the North at Wahpeton.
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