Lakota Nations:

First Nations tourism in the Dakotas

"My lands are where my dead lie buried."  Crazy Horse 1877

From the 50 State Visitor Guide : North Dakota

N.D. Century Code 2021 §§12.1-20-25, 12.1-32.15, 12.1-34-06

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration of “residence” (not defined).  3 days for registration of “temporary domicile,” defined as being physically present in state for more than 10 consecutive days, present in state for more than 30 days in a calendar year, or at a location for longer than 10 consecutive days. §12.1-32.15(1)(h), (2).

Visitors: Per N Dak. SOR office, visitors must register if in state 10 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency Restriction: “High-risk” offenders may not reside within 500 ft. of a public or private school. §12.1-32-13. 

Presence restriction: May not knowingly enter school without permission, subject to exceptions. §12.1-20-25.

Duration & updates:

15 to life. Frequency of updates determined by AG. §12.1-32.15.

Updates: Homeless – every 3 days. §12.1-32.15(2). Others vary.

From the 50 State Visitor Guide : South Dakota

S.D.C.L. 2021 §§ 22-24B-1 through 22-24B-36

AWA Compliant 

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 business days for initial registration and updates, §22-24B-2; however, state law includes Saturday as a business day. §37-24-1(2).

Per the S. Dak. SOR office, there is “wiggle room” in the 3 business day registration requirement for short term visitors, especially if you are passing thru on a road trip and not staying in one location for more than a few days. If your stay in any one place will exceed the 3 day requirement, visitors should “check in” at local police or sheriff dept. and provide info about intended length of stay.  Supposedly, if not more than 5-6 days you will not be required to register. “Check out” upon departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency restriction: “No person who is required to register … may establish a residence within” 500 ft. from school, park, public playground, or public pool. 

§22-24B-23. “Residence” defined as the address a person lists for purposes of the sex offender registry.

Presence restriction: “No person who is required to register” may “loiter” within 500 ft. form school, park, public playground, public pool, or library unless registrant committed offense as a minor and was not convicted as an adult. §22-24B-24.  Petitions for exemption possible. 

Supposedly, short term visitors who check in & check out according to the procedure described above (Registration Triggers & Deadlines) would not be “required to register” & thus not subject to these restrictions during their visit.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life; Petition to remove – 5 years.

Updates every 6 mo. §22-24B-7.

Sitting Bull's grave standing guard over the Missouri River

Most recent visit: September 2022

Native American nations can be fascinating places to visit, but make no mistake – you might tell yourself you are entering a sovereign nation when you cross the reservation boundary but you aren’t.  You’ll still be bound by the registry laws of whatever US state you’re in.  

Nor should you get any funny ideas if you are of native ancestry that you can somehow escape your registry status by moving to the reservation of whatever tribe you belong to.  You can’t.  As you must already realize, the oppression of the registry will follow you onto the reservation whether you’re a visitor or become a resident.  That’s why I have placed the registry laws of North & South Dakota at the beginning of this blog entry, rather than any tribal registry laws.  They don’t exist.

Another point that must be clearly made to anyone planning to travel to Indian Country is that you are NOT going to a tourist attraction.  This is not Pennsylvania Dutch Country where you as a tourist are invited to gawk at the locals driving their buggies and eat at an expensive smorgasbord.  To the contrary, you are about to enter upon a place where quite frankly you don’t belong.  Your visit is merely tolerated, and as far as I’m concerned that is as it should be. 

Despite this lack of an invitation, however, on my road trip to the Dakotas I wanted to travel through as many reservations as I could squeeze into the time allotted.  These included the following:

Crow Creek Lakota Tribe

Lower Brule Lakota Tribe

Oglala Lakota Tribe (Pine Ridge)

Crazy Horse Memorial and Cultural Center

Three Affiliated Tribes

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Nations

Spirit Lake Tribe

Standing Rock Lakota Tribe

Cheyenne River Lakota Tribe

Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center

Based on television news and documentaries, I think most first time visitors to First Nations reservations would expect to find widespread rural poverty.  However, many reservation towns appear to be at least as prosperous as nearby equivalent off-reservation towns.  This may be partly owing to the fact that the businesses in these reservation towns have not been overrun and killed off by suburbanization and predatory outside chain stores like Walmart or Olive Garden or Home Depot.

Instead, with the exception of a few Dollar Stores and convenience gas stations, you will find locally owned businesses and food co-ops serving local people.  The towns I traveled through had almost no restaurants, and although the food stores often had prepared food counters inside them, don’t expect to find any interesting local cuisine there.  It’s just the usual fried chicken, overcooked hot dogs on rollers and chips you would find anywhere else.  

Apparently prosperous reservation towns I passed through included New Town (Three Affiliated Tribes), Fort Totten (Spirit Lake Tribe), Timber Lake and Eagle Butte (both Cheyenne River Lakota Tribe).  If you’re looking for rural poverty try Lower Brule (Lower Brule Lakota Tribe).

Either way there is one thing that all these towns have in common, at least to my eye.  They are exceedingly plain, almost devoid of any architectural adornment.  Many if not most of the homes in these towns are manufactured housing, and the site built homes are also seemingly devoid of any architecture.  Commercial buildings are mainly unembellished corrugated metal, often with dirt parking in front.  Functional yes, and as I said often seemingly prosperous, but nothing more. No one is trying to impress you.

But yes, you will find plenty of casinos.

The rural lands on the reservations look about the equivalent of nearby off reservation lands, consisting of farms and ranches.  Just don’t expect to see buffalo roaming anywhere because they’ve been long ago replaced by cattle just like everywhere else.  Beef – it’s what’s for dinner.

The Native American Scenic Byway passes through the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservation, sometimes criss-crossing the Lewis & Clark Scenic Byway (remember – the Missouri River, the European invaders’ main highway, bisects both North and South Dakota).  This scenic byway is absolutely stunning in its stark beauty. You’ll think you are driving through the set of Dances With Wolves … because you are.

One other point about reservation tourism – turn on your radio!  Most First Peoples have their own radio stations these days, often NPR affiliates, and there is nothing like driving through the set of Dances With Wolves with authentic Native war chants blasting on the tube!

Lastly, notice that neither of the two cultural centers I visited on this trip – the Crazy Horse Memorial and Akta Lakota Museum – are on reservations.  They are both definite must-sees for any reservation tourist, but the message of their locations is clear.  Yes, we want to tell our side of the American story, and we’re quite ready to fill up the nearby interstate highways with billboards to lure you in, but aside from that we want nothing more than to be left in peace like we should’ve been in the first place.

The only historical monument I saw on Native land was Sitting Bull’s Grave, which is right near the boundary between the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Lakota reservation, fittingly in the middle of nowhere keeping guard over the Missouri River, a few miles from SD State Road 20.

 Travel clarifications Part 2

Dear Janice and Chance:

My name is Bruce a.k.a. Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler.  I am writing again to offer clarifications to a couple of things you have been saying about domestic travel on your monthly ACSOL zoom meetings, most recently on September 17, 2022.  

Janice, when you give the introductory presentation at each monthly zoom meeting you usually talk about which states have the shortest and longest time periods available to visitors without triggering an obligation to register.  You correctly point out that the objective of every registered traveler should be to never stay in any state long enough to be required to register because it complicates one’s life enough to be registered at all, why would you want to find yourself registered in multiple states?

I completely agree with that logic.  However, you have often mentioned Hawaii as a state having one of, if not the longest, visitor grace periods at 10 consecutive days or 30 per calendar year.  About that you are mistaken.  Actually several states have this 10 consecutive day standard, including Montana, North Dakota (where I traveled earlier this month), Washington, Wisconsin, New York, Vermont and South Carolina.  Several more states have an even longer 14 or 15 day grace period, including Colorado, Minnesota, Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Of all these states, some also impose an overall limit of 30 cumulative days per calendar year, but others do not.

During the September 17 zoom call a man raised his hand to say he had spoken to the Oregon SOR office and they said they had no specific time period, just don’t make your visit permanent.  I am here to tell you that’s what the Oregon SOR office told me too – on two separate occasions.  That’s because Oregon’s registry law is silent on the subject of visitors and unlike some other states the SOR office has chosen not to impose a limit by fiat.

Oregon is not the only state completely lacking a visitor time limit.  Pennsylvania, for all that it has been in the news lately for having its entire registry found unconstitutional, never had any limit either.  I even visited a PA registration office to talk to an officer in person to confirm this, which he did.  However, they do define “residence” as being a place where a person is domiciled for more than 30 days per calendar year, so there’s that.  U.S. territories having no specific time limit include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

Of the remaining 48 states and two territories with consecutive day time limits, the longest is 30 days.  This generous time limit applies in Virginia, Guam and the US Virgin Islands.  By the way, none of these three places has a limit per year, so you can leave and return to re-start the clock if you need to or want to.

 North Dakota

Bison herd roaming in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

From the 50 State Visitor Guide

N.D. Century Code 2021 §§12.1-20-25, 12.1-32.15, 12.1-34-06

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration of “residence” (not defined).  3 days for registration of “temporary domicile,” defined as being physically present in state for more than 10 consecutive days, present in state for more than 30 days in a calendar year, or at a location for longer than 10 consecutive days. §12.1-32.15(1)(h), (2).

Visitors: Per N Dak. SOR office, visitors must register if in state 10 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency Restriction: “High-risk” offenders may not reside within 500 ft. of a public or private school. §12.1-32-13. 

Presence restriction: May not knowingly enter school without permission, subject to exceptions. §12.1-20-25.

Duration & updates:

15 to life. Frequency of updates determined by AG. §12.1-32.15.

Updates: Homeless – every 3 days. §12.1-32.15(2). Others vary.

Hot air balloons rising at dawn above Medora, ND

Most recent visit: September 2022

North Dakota’s visitor rules are about average and not too tough to live with.  You get ten consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year, which should be enough for most visits – unless you’ve come seeking your fortune as an oil worker, in which case you’re establishing a residence anyway and will need to abide by North Dakota’s relatively mild residency and presence restrictions.

Taking advantage of North Dakota’s longer (10 day) visitor time limit as compared to its southern namesake (3 days), I entered this state via U.S. 85 on a Saturday afternoon, the weekend after Labor Day, hoping to find a campsite available at Theodore Roosevelt National Park – South Unit, even though I did not have a reservation.  Oh well!  “Campground full.”  But fortunately there is another campground just outside the national park entrance, appropriately named Medora Campground after the town where it’s located.  They had a few sites available so I snapped one up.

The next morning was bright and crisp, and I noticed to my surprise that there were hot air balloons being readied for flight in the open fields outside the entrance to the campground.  Hurrying over to have a look I joined a big crowd of people gathered to watch at least a dozen balloons all taking off at once!  Apparently this was some kind of event that I knew nothing about ahead of time.  What a sight to see!

Once all the balloons drifted off into the distance I entered Roosevelt National Park, taking the Scenic Loop Drive (part of which has been closed for a couple of years for reconstruction, so right now it’s not a loop road).  Spectacular Badlands and wildlife, including a couple of herds of bison.  About an hour’s drive north is the National Park North Unit, also spectacular badlands with a scenic drive and lots of great overlooks to see.  

This national park is not very famous but it should be.  The North & South Units are separated by Little Missouri National Grassland, named after the river that created these two regions of badlands.  This is where a young Theodore Roosevelt came for solitude and solace after his mother and first wife died in rapid succession.  Later as president he remembered this beautiful place as he was creating our national parks system.

So far, so good for North Dakota.  But I have to say – after Teddy Roosevelt everything was downhill.  The closest town to the North Unit is Watford City which, like Minot which I also passed through, is an oil boom town where a seemingly endless collection of crappy mobile homes, strip commercial garbage, truck stops and equipment maintenance companies have been vomited across the landscape.

I stayed at two state parks while in North Dakota (Fort Stevenson & Graham’s Island) and I have to say they were both very nice, clean and well equipped with hot showers and flush toilets.

I also passed through two Indian reservations, Three Affiliated Tribes and Sprit Lakes, which I will describe in a separate blog post that treats the Sioux Nations as something separate from either South or North Dakota – because they deserve special treatment.  Lastly, I visited the International Peace Garden which strattles the boundaries of North Dakota and Manitoba!  I’m going to write separately about that too, because … well because it’s the only chance I have to write about a visit to a Canadian province, that’s why!

  South Dakota

Black Hills National Forest

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

S.D.C.L. 2021 §§ 22-24B-1 through 22-24B-36

AWA Compliant 

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 business days for initial registration and updates, §22-24B-2; however, state law includes Saturday as a business day. §37-24-1(2).

Per the S. Dak. SOR office, there is “wiggle room” in the 3 business day registration requirement for short term visitors, especially if you are passing thru on a road trip and not staying in one location for more than a few days. If your stay in any one place will exceed the 3 day requirement, visitors should “check in” at local police or sheriff dept. and provide info about intended length of stay.  Supposedly, if not more than 5-6 days you will not be required to register. “Check out” upon departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency restriction: “No person who is required to register … may establish a residence within” 500 ft. from school, park, public playground, or public pool. 

§22-24B-23. “Residence” defined as the address a person lists for purposes of the sex offender registry.

Presence restriction: “No person who is required to register” may “loiter” within 500 ft. form school, park, public playground, public pool, or library unless registrant committed offense as a minor and was not convicted as an adult. §22-24B-24.  Petitions for exemption possible. 

Supposedly, short term visitors who check in & check out according to the procedure described above (Registration Triggers & Deadlines) would not be “required to register” & thus not subject to these restrictions during their visit.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life; Petition to remove – 5 years.

Updates every 6 mo. §22-24B-7.

1880 Train, Hill City

Most recent visit: September 2022

The litany of South Dakota’s residence and presence restrictions described above is long, but upon closer inspection you’ll notice that they only apply to a “person who is required to register.”  If you’re a short term visitor and avoid triggering an obligation to register, you’re off the hook. 

South Dakota is one of a handful of states that, by policy, treats a statutory very short (in South Dakota’s case three business days) visitor registration requirement as a “duty to check in” but holds SO visitor information separately pending a commitment to depart within a specified time (5-6 business days); your info becomes part of a “visitors registry” that is not made public. Other states that do this are Nevada, Alaska and Rhode Island.

You may be wondering why the South Dakota state SOR office would go out of their way to create a separate visitors registry when it’s not spelled out in state law. As a person who worked as a government bureaucrat his entire career (until I ruined my life), I’m confident I know the answer: work avoidance.

You see, although South Dakota has very short visitor registration requirement, it also has a standardized procedure available to remove you from its registry after departure.  What this means for a SOR office (or sheriff’s department) bureaucrat is that any time a visitor is forced to register, they have to do all the work of adding that person to their registry and posting it on their website. Then as soon as that person leaves the state they have to do all the work of removing that person from their registry and their website.  That’s double the work for somebody they really couldn’t care less about. Thus is born the separate, low effort “visitors registry.”

While I was updating all my state by state research in August 2022, the nice lady at the South Dakota SOR office came right out and confirmed this when she said, “We have hundreds of sex offenders coming to the Sturgis Bike Rally every year.  They typically stay more than three days but less than a week.  Why would we want to register all these people and then have to remove them a few days later?”

[As an aside, I was amused by how the SOR lady’s description of the Sturgis Bike Rally made it sound like an annual sex offenders’ reunion.  Hey, maybe NARSOL should hold next year’s national conference in Sturgis during the rally and make it official?]

The SOR lady stressed that all they are asking is that visiting registrants staying more than three days come in from the summer heat and check in at the local sheriff’s department, then check out when you leave.  No harm, no foul.

However, when I decided to go on a Dakotas Road Trip just a few days after completing my state by state research, I elected not to test this system. Instead, I entered the state (from Iowa) one fine Thursday in early September and crossed the state line into North Dakota less than three full business days later on Saturday.  As noted above, South Dakota is unique among the 50 states in that it counts Saturday as a business day.  Then after spending a few days in North Dakota I re-entered South Dakota on my way back to Iowa, which re-started the three business day clock because this state has no limit on return visits per month or year.

On my first pass through South Dakota I visited national parks and forests.  Badlands National Park.  Custer State Park (largest bison heard in North America – bigger than Yellowstone).  Wind Cave National Park (one of the best cave tours anywhere, and that’s saying something).  Black Hills National Forest.  All spectacular must-sees.  Also rode the 1880 Train in Hill City.  Although it’s a little hokey, it’s one of the best historic train rides I’ve been on owing to the length of the ride (3 hours), spectacular Black Hills scenery and well maintained track and equipment.

However, be advised that Mount Rushmore, while located within Black Hills National Forest, is actually a commercial concession which charges admission and a parking fee and hawks T-shirts and souvenirs the whole time you’re there.  Since you can see Mt. Rushmore from the surrounding roads you don’t have to endure all this unless you really want to get up close.

One place you’ll definitely want to see is Crazy Horse – the monument is truly great even though it’s still under construction, the museum and cultural center are the biggest, best and most authentic I’ve seen anywhere, and although you’ll pay dearly to see it all, at least you can know your contribution will go to support Native Americans completing the Crazy Horse project.

After all this purple mountains majesty above the fruited plains, I headed up U.S. 85 to see what North Dakota had to offer.  On my return trip through South Dakota I focused on Native America reservation tourism, which I will describe in a separate blog post that treats the Sioux Nations as something separate from either South or North Dakota – because they deserve special treatment.

 Great Smokey Mtns. Nat. Park:

An update with good news!

Mingus Mill, Great Smokey Mtns. National Park

From the 50 State Visitor Guide (North Carolina):

N.C. Gen. Stat. 2019 Art. 27A, §§14-208.5 through 14-208.45

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 business days for initial reg. and updates.  §§14-207, 14-208.9. New residents: w/in 3 business days of establishing residence, or whenever present in the state for 15 days, whichever comes first (“residence” not defined). §14-208.7.  “Employed” means more than 14 days or more than 30 days in a calendar year.  §14-208.6

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: 1,000 ft. of school or child care center, with exceptions.  §14-208.16.  NC law includes a very expansive definition of “child care” that includes e.g. Boys & Girls Clubs. §110-86. However, “school” does not include “institutions of higher education” or “home schools” as defined in §115C-563.

Presence restrictions:  For offenses involving a victim under 16 and other offenses, may not be present on “place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors,” or w/in 300 ft. of such a place if it is located on another property such as a mall. Also may not be present “where minors gather regularly for scheduled educational, recreational, or social programs.”  Various exceptions for parents on school business, or in need of medical care. §14-208.18.  

Duration & updates:

30 years to life. Petition to remove – 10 years. Tier III updates every 90 days; all others every six months. §§14-208.7A, 14-209A

From the 50 State Visitor Guide (Tennessee):

Tenn. Code Ann. 2019  §§40-39-201 through 40-39-306

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

48 hours for initial reg. and updates, but “within 48 hours” is defined to not include weekends and holidays.  §40-39-202(32).  

Visitors must register “within 48 hours” of entering state. Per Tenn. SOR office, the 48 hour clock starts upon crossing the state line but will be interrupted from midnight to midnight on weekends and holidays. Also, per SOR office there is no limit on number of repeat visits per week, month or year.

“Primary residence” established after 5 consecutive days. “Secondary residence” means any residence for 14 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or 4 or more days in a month.  “Residence” means physical presence. §§40-39-202, 40-39-203.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence & Employment Restriction:  1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, or the offender’s victim or victim’s family. §40-39-211.  In 2019 TN applied new restrictions to residence with any minor; these restrictions are under a Temporary Restraining Order pending trial (see NARSOL Digest 8/19 p. 5).

Residence restriction:  Violent offenders and those with convictions against minors may not reside in on-campus housing of any institution of higher education. 

Presence restriction: 1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, with exceptions. §40-39-211.  Tennessee libraries have authority to restrict access by Registrants.  §40-39-216.

Per Tenn. SOR office, these restrictions DO apply to visitors during the 48 hour grace period.

Duration & updates:

Life.  Petition to remove – 10 years from end of probation.  §163A.125.

Violent offenders update quarterly; all others annually.  §40-39-207

Clingman's Dome Observation Tower

Most recent visit: June 2022

I’m writing this special update about Great Smoky Mountains National Park because of concerns I raised in my previous blog post (July 7, 2022) about whether you need to fear being arrested for a Tennessee registry violation (a felony!) for the crime of entering Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  See TN Residence/Presence restrictions above. 

In my July 7 post I promised that when I updated all my research this summer I would call the Tennessee SOR office and ask specifically about national parks and historic sites. 

Now I am pleased to report that:

(a) I have completed all my state-by-state research and updated all my charts and graphics. Yey! I will be updating all the charts and graphics on my main page by the end of September, once I get back from my road trip to the Dakotas for which I am leaving later today (!).

(b) As part of this research update I did in fact call the Tennessee SOR office to ask specifically if I can visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park without committing a crime.  Of course, being the idiots that they are they had no idea.  Instead, they suggested I call the Sevier County Sheriff Department.  Sevier County has the largest amount of the National Park of any Tennessee county.  

So I did call and asked to speak to the Sex Offender Unit Supervisor.  I was transferred and an officer answered promptly.  I asked, "Am I as a registered offender allowed to go to the National Park?" The officer replied, "Of course you can. It's a national park, not a public park." 

With that happy answer in hand I decided not to pursue the philosophical question of whether a national park is public or not.  I did want to make sure this guy really meant what he said so I asked, "So should I understand from what you said that because it's a national park it's not in your jurisdiction?" Answer: "Yes."

Yey!  So my message today for all of you fellow registrants is - Go enjoy our great national parks and forests!  Peak leaf color in North Carolina is mid-October, just a month away. Have a good time!