Order of Visit: High Point #20
Date Visited: August 24, 2020
Route Taken: Fence line trail (along private property owned by the Dennis Family) – 3.3 miles round-trip
Type of Terrain: Easy two-track road across a field for one mile, then steeper climbing up a sandy butte for the remaining 0.65 miles to the summit.
Elevation: 3,506 feet
Ancestral Lands: Mandan, Cheyenne, Sioux, Itazipco
What’s in a name?
It doesn’t take much research or imagination to figure out how White Butte earned its physically descriptive name.
The southwest corner of the North Dakota is mostly flat grasslands, occasionally interspersed with badlands and buttes carved from sandstone. As such, the distinctive, chalky white soil on this particular butte stands out dramatically from its sedate surroundings, especially in the summer when everything else around it is green.
The term ‘butte’ refers to an isolated hill with steep, often vertical, sides and a small flat top. Essentially, it’s a smaller version of a mesa, tableland, or plateau landform. And once you see this state high point with your own two eyes, you’ll agree, it’s definitely a white butte.
Interestingly, the second highest peak in the state has an equally descriptive name — Black Butte. Want to take a guess about what it looks like?
TRIP SUMMARY
Summer 2020 was supposed to be filled with some epic high points. I was absolutely over the moon about scoring a Mt. Whitney permit in the annual lottery. But on June 1, 2020, the USFS cancelled our permit because to concerns over COVID-19. And then Mt. Whitney was hit with a 5.8 magnitude earthquake on June 24, 2020, triggering a massive rockslide that closed Whitney Portal until further notice. So, I’m pretty sure hiking California’s highest peak is going to remain on my list of unclimbed high points for a good long while.
Adding insult to injury, we also had to scrap our 2020 plans to hike Boundary Peak (Nevada’s high point) when we developed an issue in our RV back in early July. But, that is life, right? This crazy, crazy year has gone nothing like we expected. And so, we pivoted and decided to head into a new direction for the summer. The Dakotas!
In preparation for this hike, I learned that White Butte is still one of the handful of high points that lies on private land. Thus, in the past, visitors needed to coordinate with the family to access North Dakota’s highest point. Permission was routinely granted, but I’m sure it became a bit of a hassle to have so many strangers calling or knocking on their door after all those years. So, now a red donation box sits out on the road near the high point’s parking area, and visitors can make a monetary donation in exchange for the opportunity to hike to the summit.
With our permission and trespassing worries set aside, the next challenge was figure out how the heck to get out to the trailhead. This detail was – by far – the most frustrating part on our journey.
White Butte isn’t exactly a hotbed of tourist traffic, but every place I looked (on-line and in my paperback guidebook) seemed to have a long-winded, detailed route to get there, with vague directions like “turn right at the blue farmhouse.”
Part of this confusion and chaos stemmed from the lack of road signs on the dirt farm roads in the area. Then you add in some road construction that forced visitors to detour onto other [unmarked] dirt roads. And pepper it with some unhelpful advice from people wanted to vent about their car getting stuck in the mud right after some heavy rains.
The research left me feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. So I decided to disregard it all the bizarre sets of directions, and just used Google Maps.
As it turns out, the trailhead wasn’t nearly difficult find in 2020 as people made it out to be. Google Maps brought us right to the parking area. And let’s be honest, this was flat, open North Dakota. We could see the butte for miles and miles before we arrived. There was even a big sign on Highway 85 marking our turn from the highway onto the dirt road. Easy as pie.
The parking area wasn’t much more than a small pull-out just big enough for 2-3 cars on the side of the dirt road. But we knew we found it when we spotted the bright red donation box was on one side of the road. Plus, there was a nice big white sign announcing it as on the White Butte Parking area (Thank you Highpointers Club).
Thanks to our leisurely start to the morning, we didn’t actually arrive until 11 am. It was a weekday too, so we were somewhat surprised to discover that there was one car already parked there ahead of us. We foolishly expected to be the only people interested in hiking up White Butte this warm, summer Monday. But perhaps this was a more popular sight than we’d anticipated!
After dropping our donation in the box, we grabbed our trekking poles and got ready to hit the trail.The trekking poles weren’t coming along to assist us with the terrain. As you can clearly see from the photo above, the beginning of this hike was anything but arduous.
No, the poles there just in case we encountered a snake. Some of the reviews I read about this trip warned us that rattlesnakes were native to this part of North Dakota. I wasn’t expecting to get close enough to NEED to remove a rattlesnake with a trekking pole (that’s just crazy!). Our poles were really more about making sure we were making enough noise and vibration on the ground to encourage the snakes to shake their rattle if we started to walked too close.
The sign in the parking area was direct and to the point. We needed to walk about a mile due south and then we’d be at White Butte’s true trailhead. Just follow the cattle fence line on our left the entire way. Luckily there was also a two-track jeep trail paralleling the electric fence so we didn’t need to wander into the tall grass where snakes might be lying in wait.
Halfway down this dirt access road, we came across an old house. It was clearly no longer in use, and we didn’t venture off to explore it. I assumed that since it was private property, the owners wouldn’t appreciate our nosiness. And, really, it was just an abandoned house that was on its verge of collapse. One more hard winter might just do it in.
After that sight, we keep walking toward the white-colored buttes which were growing larger and larger. It’s easy to see how this state high point got its name. But, these buttes are a bit misleading. The summit (which was hidden at this point) wasn’t white or bare like these initial foothills ahead of us. Instead it was covered in green grass. But, maybe Green Grassy Butte doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily.
Almost exactly a mile after we departed the parking area, we were at the base of these white buttes. That’s when we encountered a fence marking our entry and the official trailhead. A nice, bright white sign gave us some rudimentary instructions to the summit and warned us (once again) about the risk of rattlesnakes. And then it was time to climb.
The distance to the summit was only another 2/3 of a mile. Yet, it would also require a bit of climbing up some steep slopes. The trail quickly bent around to the left, but it super was easy to follow thanks to the tall cairns other before us built. As long as you were paying attention, It would be pretty difficult to get off track.
However, we also discovered that the sign’s warning that the summit trail is slippery when wet was well-warranted advice. Even though it was perfectly dry when we hiked it, it was evident that this sandy fine dirt would make a slick mess with just a little rain. And the slope would definitely require some trekking poles to get up and down safely under those adverse conditions.
About halfway up to the top, we encountered a nice open meadow. The terrain was nearly flat here and allowed us to catch our breath before the final push up the grassy summit ahead of us.
As we made the final turn of our climb, we finally spotted our compatriots out here. It turns out they were a family of four, and were sitting on the rocks eating a picnic lunch. The kids were mere preschoolers, and I was impressed they’d made it the entire way and were in such high spirits. Kudos kids!
The summit itself was marked with a large rock cairn and a survey marker suspended several feet in the air. And so we stopped for the quick, obligatory photo. With that complete, I dug inside the green ammo can in search of the summit register, but soon discovered it was completely full. The entry on the final page was a few months ago in May 2020. Oh well.
The scenery from the peak was relatively interesting. It’s North Dakota, so it’s not as if you are nestled in the middle of the mountains. But, it was certainly more a more scenic journey than some of our other high points (I’m looking at you Florida and Rhode Island). In one direction we had cow pastures and fields as far as the eye could see. But, to the south, there was a much more varied and visually interesting series of badlands.
After five minutes it was time to descend and get some lunch. Our stomachs were growling and we hadn’t brought any food with us to celebrate this quick hike. In fact, we’d still have an hour drive back to Medora before lunch. And with that, we beat feet back to the trailhead.
We didn’t spot (or hear) any rattlesnakes on the journey back to the car, which I was exceptionally grateful for. The only fauna out there seemed to be the cattle from nearby ranches and some flying grasshoppers. Not spectacular in terms of wildlife, but better than the heart-stopping sound of a rattle in the grass as you walk by.
Next up, South Dakota!
DETAILS
When to Visit: This hike is open year-round, but it is best tackled between July-September to avoid getting lost on dirt roads covered in snow, slush, and rain. The final 2/3-mile of trail up the summit is steep in places and is sure to become a muddy, slick mess when it’s wet too.
Getting There: White Butte is located approximately 55 miles of Medora, ND (Theodore Roosevelt Natl Park) or 150 miles west of Bismark. The lack of street signs on the rural dirt roads you’ll take on your last 6 miles to the trailhead has resulted in far too many people posting confusing directions online. Ignore them all! Just enter “White Butte Trailhead, Bowman, ND” into Google Maps instead. That pin accurately marks the parking area where your hike will begin.
Entrance Fees: This high point is on private property and the owners ask visitors make a donation to help maintain the area ($5 is the suggested contribution amount). To facilitate these donations, a red drop box is available at the trailhead’s parking area.
Parking: There’s room for 2-3 cars in a small parking area just off the road. A white sign clearly marks the parking area, and informs visitors to use the fence line as a guide to the butte in the distance. There are no port-a-potties of bathrooms at the parking area or along the trail.
Accessibility: The first mile of the hike is a very easy walk across a flat field. However, this changes at the official trailhead, which is marked by a gate and prominent white sign near the base of the butte. From there, the trail climbs upward for 2/3 of a mile, and it can be pretty steep in several places. If it’s wet from rain or melting now, this section of the trail will be super slick and quite difficult, especially as you are coming back down from the summit. Bring trekking poles for assistance. Most people can expect their roundtrip hiking time to be about 1.5 hours.
Bonus: Theodore Roosevelt National Park is only 55 miles from this state high point. This national treasure is known for the Painted Canyon, herds of wild bison, and the Maltese Cross Cabin (where President Teddy Roosevelt once lived).
Resources:
- An Overview of White Butte (SummitPost.org)
- White Butte Route Map (AllTrails.com)