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Adventure in the North Dakota woods
Adventure in the North Dakota woods
Rope & Oak Children’s Nature Park opens in rural Cass County
When Dixon Schwan was a kid growing up in Fargo, North Dakota, his life hadn’t yet been touched by social media or other digital endeavors. He spent his summers outside, playing sports with friends or hunting and hiking with family. Now, at 34, he wants to create a space where kids can ditch screens and get back in touch with nature.
“You can see we have bridges over there, and the jumping nets,” he said, pointing across 12 acres of wooded land 15 miles south of Fargo. “We have sand play equipment here. In the back, that’s the rollercoaster, and over here are the racing tubes.”
These forest surprises are all a part of Rope & Oak Children’s Nature Park, a new destination in Cass County Electric’s service territory in rural Hickson, North Dakota.
“It’s a space for families to just be outside and explore the outdoors in a real old-growth forest,” Dixon said.
Rope & Oak opened May 27, featuring a half-mile gravel walking trail that threads through more than four dozen experiential activities and learning stations. Along the way, families learn all about the Peace Garden State, from its farming history to its hunting tradition.
The nature park’s unique attractions, from a larger-than-life eagle’s nest that kids can play in to a rock quarry where they can dig up “dino bones,” were primarily designed and built by Dixon himself, with some occasional help from family and friends. His ideas came from several places, including research from children’s museums, nature preserves, and pumpkin patches from around the country. Every element of the park has a fun factor, but it’s important to Schwan that visitors take away more than outdoor memories.
“Hands-on learning seems to be what really moves the needle in education, so all the learning pieces have some sort of touch or feel or action,” he said. “That was a part of the design process.”
Creating a new experience
The story of Rope & Oak started at the end of 2025, just a few weeks after Dixon married his wife, Toria. He brought her to a wooded plot of land that was for sale, the price reduced due to a flowage easement for floodwater storage. Then, he popped the question.
“I told her, I know we just got married, but I really want to invest our money into this crazy idea. And she was like, ‘Okay. I’m in.’ That’s how we started,” he recalled.
Snow was still coating the forest floor when Dixon began designing, with a plan to open the nature park the following summer. When he wasn’t working through schematics and landscaping, he was also putting thought into how he would get the word out about this hidden, middle-of-nowhere learning hub. He began building a presence on social media, posting videos of his plans and progress.
The simple marketing plan worked. Rope & Oak now boasts nearly 6,000 followers on TikTok and an additional 12,000 followers on Facebook.
“That’s what gets kids and parents excited – when they can see things,” Dixon said. “There are truly one-of-a-kind things that you can only find at this place, and I think that made me feel more comfortable making the videos.”
In its early months, Dixon admits that the nature park is still a work in progress. There are some rough patches that need additional leveling and wayward limbs that need trimming. He asks for grace as he refines the park’s features and processes.
Ultimately, the goal is to have a space that can serve as a blueprint for others wanting to make a difference in their rural communities.
“If we can build something cool and show that it can be done, I think it can be done elsewhere,” Dixon said. “And if we can get kids interested in wildlife and nature and the outdoors, well, that’s the whole mission to me.”
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