Dakotas buffalo trail tour traces story of American bison

Photo by Carol Highsmith, Library of Congress

(AP) From historical details of Native Americans’ final great wild buffalo hunts to tales of the animal’s rescue from near extinction, a new self-guided tour across 10 sites in the western Dakotas tells the story of the last stand of the American bison, the national mammal.
The trail, which is accompanied by the tour book “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes” oriented toward history and nature enthusiasts, officially opens June 11. Starting in Hettinger, North Dakota, the route runs — at times across gravel or pasture roads — into South Dakota before returning north with an opportunity to see the Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal bison herds.
“They’re authentic places, and not only that, but most of them are unspoiled,” said Francie Berg, the tour book’s author. “There’s one place where it’s good to be able to roll under a fence.” Continued