WOW....There's A Reason They Call It...The BADLANDS!!!

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Thursday, May 17, 2012....What a great day for a ride. Got out of work early and finished packing. Tom arrived at my house, we loaded up the bikes, one last check of my checklist, and we hit the road. First stop, Belfield, ND to top off gas and get our "last meal" before heading north to Magpie Camp, west of U.S. Highway 85 near Grassy Butte. U.S. Highway 85 is full of truck traffic, we had to be careful making that left turn off the highway onto Magpie Road. Magpie Road just kept getting more scenic the further back into the Badlands we got, lots of cattle crossings and cattle greeted us along the way...on the roadway...."MOOve". Once we arrived at Magpie camp we found we were the lone occupant and had a nice choice of camp sites. Beautiful treed area in the heart of the Badlands. I was amazed at the number of songbirds singing in the area, with crickets blending their music into the chorus. We set up the tent and spread out our sleeping arrangments with the proper separation (Tom...Ha!) then unloaded the bikes near night fall and took a short ride around the camp to locate the trailhead. A campfire, a little ukulele music, some beer and it was suddenly 11:30 p.m. So ended our first day.

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