On May 23rd, 2021 I ran the Outer Loop in Little Missouri State Park. All of the trail segments in the park have letter designations which leads to some rather complicated signs, as you can see in my starting photo. But this loop (I-PS-T) seems to be one of the more well used loops in the park.
It had been sprinkling some that morning and I was trying to get to the park before the heavy rains that were forecast. The clay in this area becomes slippery and sticky when wet and makes running all but impossible. I started at 12:24 and went clockwise. It was cloudy and starting to rain more and the clay was starting to build up on my shoes, doubling or tripling their weight. I stopped every 5 or 10 minutes to scrape the mud off my shoes. Even so the landscape was beautiful, especially the slippery climb back out of the valley. I didn’t realize there were ridges of any kind to run in North Dakota.
I got back to the trailhead at 1:22, just before the rain got real heavy. I stopped my watch when I got back to the trailhead I started at but I’m experimenting with a different setting on my watch that recalibrates the gps less often to save battery and records at longer intervals (for an upcoming adventure) so the finish location looks slightly different than the start location. It must lose accuracy going through the small canyons. I drank just a few ounces of water and saw no one else. I ran unsupported. The road leading back uphill from the trailhead had become very slippery. Definitely best to park higher up if it’s raining. This could go much faster when dry.