White Butte, North Dakota Climbing Trip Report with photos

April 11, 2003

White Butte is the highest point in North Dakota located just outside of Amidon. From the intersection of Main St. and Hwy 85 in Amidon, head east for 2.0 miles and turn right onto a gravel road for 5 miles. Then turn right on another gravel road for 1 mile and stop and ask the property owners for permission to cross their property. A $20 donation is required and if the property owners are not home, just leave your donation in the old truck in the driveway. NOTE: About 1 mile outside of Amidon there is a sign pointing out White Butte with an arrow, this doesn't mean to take the next right turn at the cemetery. We made this mistake and followed a 2-track road for 5 miles, it goes to the right place but the road is much worse and the property owners probably don't appreciate the use of this road. Just make sure you go 2 miles from the intersection in Amidon.

For a summit panoramic Click Here--See Note below if image seems small.

NOTE: some version of your browser may shrink the image to fit in one window, if this is the case, hold your mouse over the image for several seconds and click the button that appears on the right side of the image.

<Back

Continue>

Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the trip report. NOTE: the slideshow above with not work with JavaScript disabled.We got a late start leaving Longmont at around 7 p.m. Driving through the darkness we arrived outside of Custer, South Dakota just before midnight and found a dirt road to pull off of and sleep by the car. It was a beautiful star-filled evening and the moon was big and bright. Right as we were ready to doze off a pack of coyotes broke into song. This cycle would repeat itself several times throughout the evening, almost asleep, coyotes would howl. April 12, 2003It was a pretty cold night but we were able to get a couple hours of sleep. We got up, had some breakfast and headed for Mt. Rushmore at about 8 a.m. Getting some quick photos of Mt. Rushmore we headed for White Butte. Passing through Sturgis and many other small South Dakota towns we finally we're getting close. Highway 85 is so straight for so long I was tempted to set the cruise, tie the steering wheel straight, and take a nap. Taking a wrong turn outside Amidon, we drove on a two track road for about 5 miles before ending up in the right place. The Van Daele's weren't home so we left our $20 in the old truck and proceeded down to the old farmhouse where we parked. The photo below is White Butte from the old farmhouse.

We followed the road and quickly came to a gate. Passing through the gate the trail follows the fenceline as it heads up the hill. The book notes that Rattlesnakes are common so we were hoping to see one. Continuing up the hill you eventually come to a ridge shown below.

Following the trail up the ridge we arrived on the summit after about 20 minutes or so.

For a summit panoramic Click Here--See Note below if image seems small.

We signed the register and took in the views for about 10 minutes. We began descending and decided to follow the ridge all the way down to make the hike a little more interesting. The ridge gets more interesting as you get close to the bottom. The photo below is Jason making the final downclimb of the ridge.

We arrived back to the car after about an hour from when we left. It was time to say goodbye to White Butte and head for Devil's Tower. We stopped in Bowman, North Dakota for some lunch at Eats N Treats. Lunch was good and it was prom day in Bowman so some of the local girls came in sporting their dresses for the big dance.

It was back down the very straight Hwy 85 to Belle Fourche, South Dakota. From here we took the very scenic Hwy 34 over to Devil's Tower. We arrived at the tower around 5:30 p.m. and it was much more awesome than I remember as a child.

We stopped on the south side of the tower and a older couple from Texas let us use their binoculars to watch 3 climbers rappel down the tower. Very awesome. We continued on and hiked around most of the base of the tower. Wanting some shots of the tower from a farther vantage point we found a nice spot where I took the photo above. As we left some deer and even a porcupine crossed the dirt road and scampered off into the trees.

It was only 7 p.m. so we figured we could make it all the back to Colorado that evening. We arrived back in Longmont around 1 a.m. bringing our mileage to almost 1300 miles in just 30 hours, and we managed to visit Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower along the way. It was a very good weekend getaway and the awe inspiring views of the Tower were worth it by itself. No close encounters to report unfortunately but another high point down.

Back to U.S. 50 Highpoints