July 11

As we were making our way to Yellowstone National Park, we had a one-night stay in a town called Deer Lodge, MT.  With the one night stay we normally just need a place to sleep but to our surprise we found another hidden treasure to investigate called Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic site.  This ranch preserves the history of the American open-range cattle era, showcasing a 1500 acre working ranch with original buildings, livestock and artifacts from the 1860’s and onward. Its 1866-1920 owner Conrad Kohrs is known to be the first cattle baron in Montana with 10 million acres for cattle grazing (this acreage covered parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming).  Not only do you get to tour the original house, but you also get a history and decline of cattle in the open range.  

Never a dull moment for us when on the road.

July 12-15

Wahoo, we made it to Yellowstone National Park with 2 full days to explore.  We visited Yellowstone last year but with it spanning 3472 square miles across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho there was section we did not get to visit.  That is the North Entrance from Gardiner, MT.  

This entrance is closest to the Lamar Valley, which is supposed to have the premier wildlife viewing areas, often called “Americas Serengeti,” known for its vast grasslands, bison herds and predators like wolves, bears and coyotes.  Lamar Valley was our target.  Day one we took advantage of a slightly cooler morning and did a 5-mile hike, armed with our bear spray to fend off any attack.  Thank goodness we only saw a small snake, a few ground squirrels and a grouse (no bears) and returned with all our limbs intact.

Day two was full of wildlife.  We saw Elk, bears, pronghorns, coyote, deer, chipmunks and of course bison.  Herds of bison.  We spent the day driving through the valley, stopping to eat a picnic lunch on the roadside sitting on the tail gate while watching a bison herd.  Note: never to close to being in danger, we have seen far too many YouTube.  You could clearly see that it was “rut” season (bison mating season) as the bull males were very frisky.  In the herds there were also a vast number of calves just born this spring.  Lamar Valley, awesome!

July 15-16

Hardin, MT, a small town about 50 miles east of Billings, MT was a good place to find a RV Park so we could visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield located 15 miles outside of town.   They call the battlefield a place of honor and reflect on the sacrifices made there on June 25, 1876, when the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors fought against a deliberate attack by the U.S.  Army’s 7^th Calvary led by Lt. Col. George Custer, who sought to enforce policies that threatened their traditional way of life.  Parts of the grounds have walking paths that take you up to the “Last Stand Hill” where Custer and his 210 soldiers met their fate.  A granite memorial now stands there honoring those soldiers that lost their lives.  

Just down from the monument stands a memorial to those Indians that also lost their lives that day.  

With the battlefield covering 765 acres, there is a driving route that takes you on a 4.5-mile drive from the Custer Battlefield to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield.  Along this route there are scattered white headstones marking the original spot calvary soldiers died as their remains had been moved to a mass grave under the granite memorial.

There are also brown headstones marking the location of fallen Indians.  The Indians were able to recover their dead and buried them according to customs. 

The progression of the battle is explained with storyboards along this route as well, which really helps put things into perspective when you are literally looking over the battlefield. Historians and archeologists today are still debating how the battle truly unfolded.