Bismarck Trails and the Enchanted Highway

September 4, 2023

Despite the lack of “trails” in North Dakota we are finding that the various towns and cities have quite a network of bike paths and on the road bike lanes. Guess we’ve been in Alaska for such a long time where those really don’t exist that we get a little excited when we find them.

Bismarck proved to be a quite enjoyable “urban” ride. We started on an actual trail which then led to neighborhood streets which led to green belts and parks which then led to another trail. We were able to cross the Missouri River twice on dedicated bike lanes before ending our ride. We also were able to ride a short distance on the Lewis and Clark Trail where we would have ridden years ago before South Dakota’s wind stopped our forward movement. As for highlights? It was an urban ride so a few sculptures and murals along the way.

The true highlight of the day came quite by accident. As we were approaching Dickinson we saw some roadside sculptures regarding the Enchanted Highway. After a bit of research we found that a local artist had begun creating massive metal sculptures from junk metal and placing them along this roadside. Geese in Flight is a 105 high structure at the intersection of I-94 and the road to Lefor. Simply massive!

So, as we still had daylight, we decided to drive down a few sculptures and then ride a section of the road to the next sculpture. Deer Crossing led to Grasshoppers in the Field were got on the trikes and rode to Fisherman’s Dream. At that point I looked at the sky and saw we had a dilemma as a major thunderstorm was in front of us and another one was behind us. We opted to head back to the van in hopes of threading the needle and were quite happy when we did. The rain started within minutes of our return. Soaking adverted!

Slowing down to let this pass in front of us

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Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 192 miles (309 km)

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