The North Dakota highpoint, White Butte, is pretty far off from just about everywhere, and I never had much of a plan to go get this particular highpoint. It was too far off to combine it conveniently with other state highpoints, especially after I visited the South Dakota highpoint in 1996. On that trip, I was concentrating on the states around Colorado, and only got South Dakota on a whim when storms chased me away from the southern Great Plains. Long story short, I felt the North Dakota highpoint was too far off and by itself not enough to justify the cost just for this one hilltop. So I tabled any ideas of visiting this highpoint indefinitely. However, in August of 2002, I joined up with a team of climbers on Granite Peak in Montana, and since I was in the area with a few days to kill, I decided to make the journey to NoDak and its snake-infested highpoint.

Coming off Granite, I didn't exactly go right to North Dakota. Instead, we drove into Hot Springs, Wyoming, to meet up with some other guys for a climb in the Washakies, but me, beat from Granite and knowing my skill-set was probably not enough for the Washakie Needles, opted out of this climb and only then did I make the circuitous journey east then north to North Dakota. From Hot Springs, I went east, nabbed an easy county highpoint along the way, and eventually ended my day in Sturgis, South Dakota. Being first week of August, I was right smack in the middle of the famous Sturgis Biker Rally. And there was me in my lame little economy rental car. But hey, it was an experience. I drove up and down the main drag a bit, walked around, checked out the people and bikes, and after a few hours, started my way out of town. I knew full well all hotel rooms were booked for miles around. I did get a bite to eat in town, then began my drive north out of Sturgis toward Belle Fourche on US-85. It was dark by now and I drove head-long right into a gigantic thunderstorm. Somewhere in this vacant prairie north of Belle Fourche I pulled to the side of the road to wait out the storm. Much to my surprise, I had nodded off and had slept for about 5 hours! It was about 3 a.m. now, the storm was gone and it was very quiet, very still and very dark. Peaceful in its own way. I stayed here until the sun rose then resumed my journey into North Dakota.

I had some plans for nearby county highpoints, and I tried one in nearby Adams County (the Whetstone Buttes), but the storm had soggied up all the non-paved roads and I had a little tiny vehicle that would surely get stuck, so I backed off, retreated into the nearby town of Bowman and decided to just go get the North Dakota state highpoint, and call it good. To be honest, after 4 days on Granite Peak, I just wanted to head home. But first, White Butte.

White Butte is located in Slope County, which counts about 800 residents total. The county seat, Amidon, has about 50. Driving into Amidon I slowed down when I saw a cop car on the side of the road. Only then did I see there was a mannequin in the seat. Ah, they got me! I popped into a Stop-n-Rob for drinks and advice on the nearby roads, then proceeded south to the highpoint. The gravel roads were sturdy enough for my little rental car, and after a few minutes I arrived at the home of Ms. Van Daele, the landowner who owned White Butte and surrounding lands and who required a $20 "donation" to park and hike to the highpoint. I paid it, talked to her briefly then drove to the little parking area, and started my hike.

From the parking area I walked south along a two-track etched into the grassy pastureland. The exposed dirt was a chalky-sand of some sort, slightly sticky and gooey after the rains. In time I came upon some eroded foothills of this same chalky dirt. Getting up these proved to be tricky, since the slopes were quite slick. But it was only a few feet and I scampered up onto firmer ground. From here I followed a good trail to the summit, marked by a small cairn, a flag and a strong-box. The one-way hike had taken me 30 minutes, with maybe 300 feet of gain. Not too bad, overall, but the sky was gray and it was kind of breezy, so I didn't stay too long. The views all around were of high plains prairie and various hills. I did not come across nor scare up any of the peak's most famous varmints: rattlesnakes. Apparently this peak is famous for its snakes, but today they were all hiding from me, which was good.

The hike down was easy until I came upon those exposed, eroded chalky slopes. And sure enough, I slipped going down, landing on my side and caking my skin, my pants and my shirt in thick, goopey, cement-like "dirt". I got back to my car, changed out of what I could, then drove back to the Interstate where I went into the men's room and spent another twenty minutes trying to clean it off my skin. It was like concrete. My shirt was a goner, but I bagged my pants up and hoped I could wash it out once back home.

I spent the remainder of the day driving back toward Billings. It was a cool blustery day, and I enjoyed the scenery. I had one amusing experience in Miles City: when I exited the interstate, some guy was standing on the exit ramp, but facing downhill. He had a backpack and a sign. He was obviously trying to get a ride, but had planted himself on an exit ramp, where all cars would be going the other way. Would he ever figure out his error? I had a lunch, then when I got back onto the interstate, yep, there he was, still on the exit ramp, probably wondering why all the cars are going the other way.

In all, White Butte was fun and enjoyable, and a nice way to end the week after a big hike and climb up Granite Peak in Montana. I stayed the night in Billings and flew home the next day.

Post-script: Ms. Van Daele died sometime after my visit, and recent visitors have reported the farm house to be abandoned and everything overgrown. But it is free, apparently, to park and hike the highpoint. Beware snakes...