Saturday morning Ben and I participated in the 4th Annual Filthy 5k at MB Johnson Park in North Moorhead.  I had not done this race before, but since I have been watching cross country events for 2 months I was ready to go.  Over 350 runners with most of them dressed in some crazy get up made for a fun time.  It was the first time I raced with Ben.  Like Matt, it will not be long and I will be seeing only his back side.  Great Saturday morning!

Matt Engen has been talking up Ft. Ransom State Park for the last couple of years and using it as his main training grounds for our CO mountain bike trips to include the Leadville 100.  I finally had some time to take Matt up on his offer to go and ride his little slice of heaven.
I had heard that there were some multi-use trails being built last summer which sparked my interest.  Matt informed me that the state of ND received a sizable  grant for trail building and that a professional company  came to Ft. Ransom to do the work.  The results are 15 miles of new trail that flow up and down the Sheyenne River Valley in and around the perimeters of the park boundaries.  As is typical with a multi-use trail, the horses do their share of abuse and leave piles of crap everywhere, but we need to share as this will always be the case.

The trail builders really did a good job utilizing the park and its natural flow.  Nice wide trails that appear to shed water correctly and will only get better with time.  The riding was excellent!

Outside of the park boundaries there is an abandoned house that sits in an over grown shelter belt.  We were curious and went to take a look.  I am sure there are hundreds of houses like this in ND off the beaten trail but they are going to be scarce as property changes hands and the bull dozers come in and turn the land into growable acreage.
This home is in relatively good shape including the ornate gable ends.  We found an old news paper dated April 1, 1955 that I would say was about the time this place was vacated.

The old way of taking care of business.  The out house structure is in good shape too.
I find places like this very interesting.  This particular home had been cleaned out and there was not much junk in the trees but you can only imagine how it was when it was inhabited by a family that was busting their ass to make it out on the prairies of ND.  This part of ND was settled heavily by Norwegians.  Their heritage is still strong in the small towns, churches and the people that continue to live here.

Matt Engen's wife Julie's maiden name is Sorby.  On the grounds of the park there is a working old time demonstration farm complete with original farm implements used at the turn of the century and continues its functionality today.  Jens Sorby was Julies great grandfather that had a blacksmith shop in Ft. Ransom.  The building was moved to the park and put to use at the annual farm demonstrations put on each fall.

I had been to the area years ago but never really explored in depth.  Bringing my bike and riding all of the trails and seeing things in detail made me appreciate ND even more.
I highly recommend making the trip.  If you need company, let Matt Engen or I know as we would be happy to tag along and show off this really cool part of ND!