Scott Davis Scott Davis - City Magazine
Scott Davis Scott Davis - City Magazine
Scott Davis Scott Davis - City Magazine
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TRAVEL<br />
THE BADLANDS<br />
THE LONG X DIVIDE<br />
Right around the Spring Equinox, barring<br />
a late spring blizzard, park rangers<br />
re-open the scenic drive into the North<br />
Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National<br />
Park. Now, in April, is the time to look here for the<br />
first signs of spring—the emergence of the pasque<br />
flowers (crocuses to us laymen).<br />
When you visit the North Unit this year, drive to<br />
the end of the scenic road, stop at Oxbow Overlook,<br />
walk to the edge, and gaze south and west<br />
over the top of the Little Missouri River. Those tall<br />
hills you are looking at are the Achenbach Hills<br />
(no, that’s not some fractured German translation<br />
of “aching back” hills, but if you’ve ever hiked the<br />
steep Achenbach Trail, which winds through them,<br />
your back will likely be aching). Beyond them,<br />
30 | THECITYMAG.COM | APRIL 2013<br />
welcome. Both beginning hikers and experienced<br />
backpackers enjoy these trails. Maps are available<br />
from the Forest Service offices in Dickinson<br />
and Bismarck, at the Park’s Visitor Centers, and at<br />
Western Edge Books in Medora.<br />
The Long X Divide is one of five badlands areas<br />
proposed for permanent wilderness protection. As<br />
the oil industry moves closer and closer to our national<br />
park boundaries, only that designation will<br />
guarantee the integrity of our state’s most dramatic<br />
skyline vista. You can learn more about how to protect<br />
this and other endangered badlands skylines<br />
by visiting www.badlandsconservationalliance.<br />
org<br />
Imagine working for 32 years in the oil industry<br />
and then discovering that the past 18<br />
months in North Dakota have been the most<br />
rewarding of your career.<br />
That’s what happened to Curt Dacar, the chief<br />
executive officer of Denver based Rock Pile Energy<br />
Services, who grew up in Scranton, N.D. and got<br />
into the oil industry to help pay his way through<br />
college.<br />
“My desire was to go to college and someday<br />
have my own business,” Dacar said. “In order to put<br />
myself through college, I searched out a job in the<br />
oil field, figuring that I could earn enough money<br />
in a couple of years to put me through school and I<br />
found the industry to be very challenging, dynamic,<br />
and interesting.”<br />
He ended up earning a Bachelors of Science in<br />
Business Administration from Regis University in<br />
Denver and then went on to get a Master’s degree in<br />
petroleum engineering from Heriot Watt University<br />
in Edinburgh, Scotland.<br />
He then spent 32 years working for the largest<br />
oil field services company in the world until coming<br />
to Rock Pile Energy Services in 2011 and that’s<br />
Jim Fuglie is a former North Dakota Tourism Director and has<br />
Rock Pile Energy Services went from one employee on January 1, 2012<br />
been exploring the back roads of the badlands since his first trip<br />
along the entire southern <strong>City</strong> skyline <strong>Magazine</strong> of the Park, 2/13 is Crossword an<br />
PuzzleJunction.com<br />
to 78 by the end of the year.<br />
there with his parents as a boy in 1959.<br />
area known as the Long X Divide.<br />
The Long X Divide is a 10,000 acre stretch of<br />
Badlands bordering the south side of the park, Correction<br />
owned by the U.S. Forest Service and extending the Oops, we accidentally posted the wrong crossword answers<br />
viewshed for those who visit the park’s overlooks. in last month’s issue of Solution <strong>City</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>. Below are the<br />
This is the most spectacular view of the Little Mis-<br />
crossword answers for the February issue of<br />
<strong>City</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
souri River Valley. It is often called the Grand Canyon<br />
of the Little Missouri, a title it richly deserves.<br />
The Long X Divide is one of those areas still<br />
protected by the Forest Service from development,<br />
as well it should be. It serves as a visual buffer<br />
between the park and industrial development. To<br />
mar that skyline would rob us of one of our state’s<br />
most wondrous views and one of our truly unique<br />
outdoor experiences—wilderness hiking.<br />
Three primitive hiking trails meander through<br />
this area: The Long X, the Summit and the famous<br />
Maah Daah Hey. Primitive means no vehicle<br />
access—hikers, horse riders and bicyclists are<br />
W I C K A H E M F R A T S<br />
I D L E H U L A L O I R E<br />
L E A N A R I S T O C R A T<br />
D A W N S A W S P A<br />
E L S E E L A I N E<br />
L O G O F F R E S E T<br />
S E N R O A R L A V A<br />
C R E S T F I T A L T E R<br />
A G A R C O S T E R N<br />
N O T E S S A I L E D<br />
E V E N L Y E D G E<br />
L E O T I N V E A L<br />
A L L O T M E N T S O L L A<br />
T I D A L C O A T T I L T<br />
H A S T E A R M S E S S E<br />
when the fun began. But who is Rock Pile Energy?<br />
Rock Pile Energy is a company that was the vision<br />
of Triangle Petroleum, who realized, as a small operator<br />
in the Williston Basin, that getting fracking<br />
services for their drilling program would be very<br />
difficult. They could not spend $10 million to drill a<br />
well and then wait forever on fracking services.<br />
Instead they brought in additional resources into<br />
the frack business to service their needs and hired<br />
Dacar in September of 2011 to take the company<br />
from a vision to deployment in less than one year.<br />
“By the end of 2012 we were running 24/7,”<br />
Dacar said, “and had grown from one to 78 people.”<br />
And what has been the most rewarding part of his<br />
job? Working with the next oil field generation by<br />
passing along his knowledge and skills to the future<br />
of the industry.<br />
“I have a passion for teaching,” Dacar said. “And<br />
I am very pleased to be able to see friends and family<br />
members move back here and be part of energy<br />
development in this great state.”<br />
Kevin Holten is a writer for <strong>City</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
WESTERN N.D.<br />
CURT DACAR<br />
THE MOST REWARDING YEARS BY FAR<br />
APRIL 2013 | THECITYMAG.COM | 31