Just some pictures for today - We left our cabin in Gardiner, MT and traveled along the Yellowstone River for quite some time, moving through ranch country. As we left the river, the country became more and more remote. Very rugged. There was a stretch of highway with the following exit names: Dry Creek Road, Dead Horse Road, Crazy Woman Road, and Wild Horse Road. Get the picture? There was nothing out there but the occasional ranch, lots of cows, oil, antelope, and sagebrush. It was remote and beautiful, though. I can't imagine what it's like in winter.
First stop was the prairie dog park. We expected an official state park, but it actually consisted of a sign and a box to drop in your $3 entry fee, and a two block long looping road. Prairie dogs were everywhere, chirping at you. They reminded us of bigger versions of the Uinta ground squirrels at Yellowstone.
Next was Little Big Horn, site of Custer's last stand. We lucked out in that it was a free weekend, with no charge for entry. We enjoyed a very long winded ranger talk. The ranger was very good at telling the story and included a lot of background on the Westward expansion and Indian treaties and conflicts. He told the story of the battle with examples of the weapons used by both sides. It was a pretty balanced presentation. The battlefield itself is interesting in that there are markers where they soldiers fell. They were temporarily buried there, but when they reinterred them a year later, they put markers where they had fallen. Very interesting. Now a local group of park rangers and the tribes involved are working with oral histories to try to ascertain where the Indians who died fell and putting markers in those spots, too. My camera died after the following pictures.
I can't wait for tomorrow! We'll visit Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore. I'm much more excited about the Badlands than I am about Mt. Rushmore, but who knows? Maybe I'll be suprised. My camera is all charged up and the weather is supposed to be sunny!
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