Garryowen, Montana

We took the back roads from Sundance to Garryowen, Montana.  We started on I-90 W out of Sundance, turned onto SR 14/16 near Gillette, went through Prospector Village,  Spotted Horse, Arvada, Clearmont and Ucross on the way to rejoining  I-90 in Sheridan.  On this route, starting early in the morning, we came across hundreds of pronghorns, near the road and on the road, in fact we had to come to a stop twice to wait for them to get off the road.  What we did not see again was vehicle traffic, sometimes going for miles without seeing anyone.  I can’t emphasize the benefits of leaving very early.  We arrived in Garryowen, which is not really a town, but the home of the Tomb of the Unknown (Montana) Soldier, which is on the original site of the Warrior encampment on the Little Bighorn River. We stayed in a very nice RV campground, right off the Little Bighorn river and three miles from the battlefield.

We spent two days at the site and walked many of the trails in and around the battle field(s), attended a one hour ranger talk, describing the events and timeline of the battle, and broke down and actually paid to take the guided tour of the park, led by two members of the Crow tribe.  We received a different perspective of the events leading up to and the battles themselves. The shear size of the battlefields surprised us, spreading out over five miles.  We usually only hear about “Custer’s Last Stand” which was just the last of a series of battles.

The newly added combined tribes Indian Memorial was outstanding, with individual sections for the tribes and personalities involved.  It opens into a “gateway” leading to the Last Stand Monument.

 

The often photographed “Last Stand HIll”, the site of the final, of a series of battles at the Little Big Horn.  The marble markers represent the site where bodies were found after the battle.  Some are marked and some are anonymous for obvious reasons.  The black marker in the center is where Custer was found. All of the remains of the soldiers were moved to a mass grave under the Last Stand Monument pictured above through the Indian Memorial gateway.

An example of the walking trails that wound throughout the open areas, markers dotted the fields for miles with both Calvary (in white marble) and Warriors (in red granite) represented.  All in all, about 260 Calvary and 100 Warriors died at these battles.

Free range horses owned by the Crow nation:

I did manage to sneak in a run, starting at the main entrance gate at 0800, (could not convince the rangers to let me in early) and (supposed to be) ending at the Reno-Benteen Battlesite, a little over five miles away, all uphill at a 3-4% steady grade. Reviewed the road the day before and due to the grade, almost decided to run back to the gate, which would be an all downhill run, but  decided that would be WEAK. Cathy waited at the visiter center for the prearranged time then came to pick me up in the truck.  I had finished the run and was 2.5 miles back into the Crow reservation when we decided it was time for breakfast.  I had cherry pie and Cathy had banana cream at the trading post just outside the park.  Good breakfast after a run (ha ha). Note to self: don’t eat cherry pie after a strenuous run.

Left at 0600 in the morning for Great Falls.  Again, we stuck to the back roads and had a good drive.  Turned off of I-90 at Big Timber, headed north to Judith Gap,  Hobson, Stanford, Geyser, Belt, and a few others before arriving at Great Falls.

Saw numerous wildlife, including pronghorns, and stopped at the “Schingler Roadside Cafe” :

and had lunch with a great view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No traffic in either direction for as fas as you can see:

Tomorrow we will be heading into St. Mary, the East entrance to Glacier National Park, where we will spend six days hiking, biking, running and relaxing.  We may even break out the smoker and fix some ribs

Note for those interested:

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