Rainy north Dakota

Not a few hours after we were comfortably sleeping (a rarity on a thin air pad), massive gusts of winds almost knocked over our poorly planted tents. The rain and wind were howling, and the side of the tent was flip flopping off the mesh screen door. I was forced to hold the tent up so I didn’t roll over for a few of the howling beasts, but thankfully, the rain and the wind were fairly short lived in its intensity. Soon after we were awoken and trying to figure out up from down, the rain softened to a pitter-patter on the roof. 

I decided to string up the side of my tent to a viewing bench that was somewhat close by, but long enough for my bear line to reach and synch down my wall facing the wind, so at the very least I wouldn’t have to hold it up in a large gust, of it were to happen. Lighting off in the distance stretched horizontally across the horizon. Pretty neat to see.

Back to bed we went. Once it got light out a few hours later, we woke to rain once more. I checked the forecast, and there was a window of time when the rain would stop so we could pick and eat breakfast. Wet, but not terribly soaked, we packed up and began the hike before the embodying dark clouds in the distance caught up to us. 

The day was thankfully cloudy. A reprieve from yesterday’s sun and heat was a silver lining to the gloomy and wet tone. 

As the day rolled by, so did the hills. A wonderfully graded trail made for great hiking. And boy, have I never been so thankful for the hard work of the save the MDHT foundation (the fella who cares for and mows the trail). Today’s stretch was a little less groomed (in real world, a beautiful normal trail) where the wet talks blades of grass would brush us as we hiked. Infested with ticks. 

With only about 7 miles on the day, but about 30 in total on the trail, we found a campground and decided to post up there for the afternoon/night. We got in our tents to rest our bones, and then I noticed a tick crawling in my tent. Got rid of it. Their hard shells make them horrifically difficult to kill. Shivers. Yuck. 

Not 5 minutes later and I feel something on my leg. Boom. Tick. Fortunately, it seemed to have been crawling on whatever my leg was resting on, so it was on its back with its creepy crawlers legs wiggling in the air, on my leg. Got rid of it. Burned and then chopped in half (surprisingly difficult as their Appleseed texture slips under the blade). 

Not going to let this slide. I went through every individual item in my tent. Every nook and cranny of every bag and article of clothing. Last item to check, my clothes bag. Where I had my hiking pants in. Checked, nada. Then I opened the ZIPPERED pocket. Bam. Tick. 

Finally, with everything very throughly checked. I put on my glove to grab the one of the ticks that landed in the mesh tent pocket when I smacked it off my leg in surprise. It couldn’t crawl out of it. So I simply watched it wiggle and walk around the bottom of the pocket while I checked the rest of the items. I grabbed it and squished it as hard as I could, and it crumpled up. Down on the tent floor while I got my boots on. IT WAS PLAYING DEAD. A few minutes later (with carefully watchful eyes) the tick hopped over and started to walk away (before I torched and dismembered it). 

Now that I went through everything, I felt like getting out of my tick nest. I put on my camp pants (which I had already inspected) and went outside. Moments later, I drop my pants to the ground (my pants are tucked into my pants so ticks can’t crawl up) and there’s a tick on the inside of my pants. What in the holy fuckeroo? Four ticks were inside my tent. Two were on me. Now every little tickle of a hair or fiber from my clothes has me jumping to inspect to make sure I don’t have another. 

I’ve quarter into my tent of ticks, and there will be a thorough decontamination process before entering now. Yucky yuck. Apparently these guys (big ol American Dog Ticks / Woods Ticks) like moisture. I’ve never in any of my travels seen this many ticks! 

Anyhow, off to bed. The campground is actually quite full. Forgot it was a holiday weekend... whoops. I tend to avoid campgrounds... but we wanted a tall grass - free area to camp. Even though apparently I just brought them all with me anyway.