June 29, 2013: Belle Fourches, SD to Reed point, MT

We left our still empty campground, driving scenic route 212 across hilly grazing lands and occasional red cliffs with views of Devils Tower in Wyoming, then back to grazing lands in Montana.  We went over a couple of passes around 7,000 feet.

 We stopped for what we thought would be a quick 15 minute tour of Custer's Last Stand Memorial at the Little Big Horn National Monument, but an hour later, we were leaving without seeing everything.  We walked up the hill to the large monument etched with the names of the fallen men, only a few steps from where Custer actually died in battle.

From atop the hill, there were 360 degree views of the beautiful surrounding countryside.  The area has had an unusual amount of rainfall, so everything is much greener than we had seen on previous trips.

 A second memorial was built in the early 2000s by the Native Americans to honor those who participated in the battle.  They had a metal sculpture with storyboards explaining the battle from the Native American viewpoint.  Interestingly, they also honored the Indians that fought with Custer. 

We all learned about Custer's Last Stand in school, but we either forgot or never heard the details.  The visitor center exhibits and movie explained that Custer had 600 men that he split into three attack columns against 1,500 - 2,000 warriors (more than 6,000 men, women and children were in the camp threatened by Custer).  Custer's column of 250 men were the ones who died, while the other two columns suffered limited losses.  The remaining Calvary returned to the battlefield, marked the spots where Custer and his men fell and buried the dead.  Although the Crow and Sioux won the battle, they lost the war and were eventually resettled onto reservations.

We temporarily rejoined the beaten path and had an early dinner at an Olive Garden in Billings, Montana.  We stopped west of Billings for the night.