Luke Jordan is Hiking the Great Plains Trail

Some nice mostly state parks but they are isolated from one another with lots of private property going north. It'd be nice if there were a trail system in that area, but think there will be a lot of "roadwalking".

It isn't that I don't admire his ambition, but the Great Plains is pretty much invent-your-own trail country. Claiming to be the first to hike the trail you invented hardly seems the distinction it could be made to be.

So here there is an "organization" with a very unspecific map that misses many of the most scenic areas along the general route. The route, as mapped, misses Badlands National Park, skirts the Black Hills, and hastily crosses Theodore Roosevelt National Park. And it does so evidently in favor of county roads, electric lines, telephone poles and fences — some of which lie near major north-south highways.

And then there is private land. It's not a patch or two. It surrounds the vast majority of the trail. I'd say the organization behind this does not have anything close to a "trail" until they map out water sources and camping areas away from private land.

Water is scarce in much of this area. And the water that is there is not likely to be potable. Read about the water problems in The Badlands of South Dakota and of Theodore Roosevelt NP. The water is "naturally contaminated." That is to say that the soils are so rich in metal salts that they cannot be purified by any known backpacking methods. So far, it appears to me that the "Great Plains Trail" is mostly a vague idea that is not well thought out at all.