This post was written by Clay Jenkinson, and originally published in his weekly column for the Bismarck Tribune.

July is almost gone. Any day now the box stores will carve out large spaces for school supplies. We all know what’s coming — what every North Dakotan knows must come — and it makes us want to linger outdoors in the evening, makes us want to schedule more picnics, more hikes, more days at the lake, more time on the river, more afternoons in the Badlands than we would think appropriate if this were southern California and summer lasted forever.

We cannot afford to pace ourselves here. North Dakotans have to squeeze in an awful lot of recreation between July 1 and Labor Day. It’s use it or lose it on the northern plains.

My daughter and I were in Medora last week to see the Medora Musical with the great Sheila Schafer, now enjoying her 50th summer in the Badlands. READ MORE »