Lewis and Clark Ride: It’s beginning to look a lot like badlands

Ok, maybe this isn’t technically classified as badlands, which French traders would have called mauvaises terres pour traverser (French for “bad lands to cross”) in Lewis and Clark’s day, but it was exciting to see scenery I haven’t come across before.

Here I am just northwest of Huff, North Dakota, the Missouri River winding just out of view to the right. Lewis and Clark passed through this region 215 years ago — nearly to the day.

The image below looks west from N.D. Highway 1806 at a 200-foot plateau, north of the Cannon Ball River. Again, the Missouri is just to my east. Most people won’t be too excited about these views, but I found these small tastes of mauvaises terres to be breathtaking and really made the ride go by quickly.