MT – Day 48 – Custer’s Last Stand
For all you history buffs, you will know that Custer’s Last Stand took place at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Little Bighorn Battlefield) in Montana. Whilst we have driven by this several times, this was the first time we stopped. Having talked to the lady at the campground where we spent the night, she advised us NOT to take our rig but to leave it parked for as long as we wanted and just go in the truck. (Thank you!) We are glad we took her advice. From Hardin the battlefield is only 15 miles down I-90 so a quick trip seeing as the speed limit is 80mph!
This national park was busy! Yes, some folks had brought their rigs and there is a designated parking area along the road for them but I would not have wanted to try and park ours there. (If you have a smaller rig or it was on a quieter day I would say, “Go for it!”)
First off, we visited the museum which is full of artifacts and information then we watched the well-done movie. I highly recommend you doing these two things first as it will give you a background on what happened here. From there we took a walk up to the monument (above). Under this monument there is a mass grave for the soldiers that died that day. (The officers bodies were exhumed from their original graves and placed in different locations around the country. Custer is buried at West Point.)
Opposite the mass grave are the original markers of where some of the soldiers fell. The one with black in the center is the exact location of where Custer fell.
There are other places to see and a longer trail but the weather was REALLY hot the day we went and we were not prepared for that so did not do this OR take the 5 mile audio tour that you drive yourself around.
Time to head back and pick up the camper. Being on the road day after day is NO fun. We much prefer traveling a day, staying for two nights or more and then getting back on the road. However, we need to get home in 7 days. Long mileage days are no longer an option as they truly wear us all out so no day on the trip back is more than 280 miles. We love Montana but that trip from Hardin, across to Broadus, along the northeastern point of Wyoming into South Dakota felt like it was never going to end. It probably didn’t help that some of the road to Broadus was SO bumpy I had to slow down into the 30’s! This is also a very bleak/barren part of Montana and not much to see. Needless to say, we were all tired and grumpy and that included Hovis!
Blessings,
Liz
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