Custer's Last Stand

Our longest travel day of the holiday. Really just a moving day, so less to report than normal. From Gardner at the north entrance to Yellowstone we drove an hour north to the I-90 and then turned east. Spent the better part of the day driving east on the interstate towards the next set of National Parks we are to visit.

Stopped mid morning in Harden to get petrol, and then it was only a short drive further on to Little Bighorn where, in mid summer 1876, Lt Col George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry on a charge at an overwhelming number of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors who were going about their traditional lives quite peacefully, in an effort to force them to move to a reservation in a neighbouring state. Custer didn't expect the ferocity of the defence and Custer, his officers and 260 of his soldiers were wiped out on a hill in what is now known as Custer's Last Stand.

Although the Lakota won the battle, it was the beginning of the end, as the US military sent an overwhelming force to retaliate, and Sitting Bull fled with his people into Canada. Their traditional lands, allotted reservation and herds of buffalo were all confiscated, and settlers grabbed the gold from their hills.

Whilst having our lunch, we spent a short time listening to the history and climbing the last stand hill to see the graves.

Then a few more hours driving, with a stop in Sheridan to stock on groceries for the next few days in parks, before finally arriving at Devils Tower National Monument about tea time. Brendan wants his sole piece of trivia recorded - that a clerical error in registering the site meant that the apostrophe was omitted in Devil's, and so it is properly referred to as Devils Tower even today.

After dinner we drove to the foot of the tower, and walked the 3km trail around the base, stopping at a number of viewpoints for different photo angles. Saw at least 6 people at various heights climbing the tower, and I've included some photos to see if you can pick where they are. It's no mean feat - the tower is pretty sheer and 400 metres high, and a 5.7 grade climb. In an irony for the day, the tower was also the spiritual centre of the Lakota's land.

Late at night, as we wandered around the campsite, we were enchanted by the twinkling of the climber's lights high up the peak, so night climbing must be a common activity.

We have finally found a peaceful, quiet and pretty campsite after the craziness of Yellowstone, free of crowds, tourist buses, coffee shops, and mosquitoes, and it's just lovely. There are about 50 tents and campervans dotted about the grassy campsite, and the first thing we noticed was that we no longer have bear proof rubbish bins. Amongst all this peaceful communing with nature, however, we were a little surprised to see the prominent sign on the ladies toilets banning guns from being carried inside. I've heard of protecting your virtue, but really ....