This morning, we traveled back to Billings and ate a late breakfast at the Hog Wild Café. This was small local restaurant, and I think the majority of the customers were “regulars”. Friendly service, hot coffee, and another good breakfast had us ready for our final adventure of the trip – an hour’s drive southeast to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

From the NPS website: This land is a place to honor and reflect on the sacrifices made here on June 25 and 26, 1876, when Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors fought against a deliberate attack by the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Custer, who sought to enforce policies that threatened their traditional way of life.

A new Visitor Center is under construction, so the site is currently only open Friday-Sunday. Luckily, our schedule had us there on Friday. There is a small temporary building currently in use, primarily as a gift shop.

While there are some walking trails, the site is best seen driving the 4.5-mile Tour Road which has pullouts with signs explaining the various stages and strategies of the battle from both the 7^th Cavalry’s and the Native Americans’ perspectives. There is also the option for cell phone audio at the various stops.

There are white markers showing where each soldier fell and brown markers where the Native American warriors fell. The markers have the names of the soldiers and the warriors, if known. The park service has a good chronology of the events leading up to the battle and its aftermath available here.

I think what struck me the most this visit (we’d been here before), were all the quotes from the Native Americans that they were surprised that Custer attacked because their warriors (1500-2000) vastly outnumbered the approximately 750 soldiers under Custer’s command. From what I read, Custer was in a hurry to attack because he’d lost the element of surprise. Thus, he did not properly scout how many (7000-8000 estimated total) were congregated at the Little Bighorn River encampment, therefore not realizing that it was one of the largest gatherings ever of Plains Indians.     

Back in Billings

When we finished touring the battlefield, we headed the hour or so back to Billings to check-in again at the same hotel we used when we arrived at the beginning of our trip conveniently just a couple of minutes from the airport. For our final Montana dinner, we had reservations at Jake’s Downtown. We’d definitely go back there. It’s a nice steakhouse with bison and elk entrees, in addition to steakhouse staples. We’d been seated near a large group that was getting pretty rowdy, so asked our server if there was somewhere quieter that we could be seated (even though we could see the restaurant was pretty full). He moved us to an adjacent “room” with just a couple of other tables of diners which was perfect – and he stayed on as our waiter. The food and the service was excellent.

Headed Home

Both couples had flights the next day in the late morning and early afternoon, so we had a leisurely morning at the hotel’s breakfast bar. Keith and Paula took the hotel shuttle and we followed a couple of hours later to return the rental car, a Kia Sorrento, which worked well for the trip and got excellent gas mileage considering Dave drove a total of 2,057 miles!

Our flight from Billings to Denver provided final views of the interesting Montana landscape as we passed over Bighorn Lake in Bighorn Canyon created by the Yellowtail Dam near Fort Smith, Montana.

However, our flight from Denver to Houston was delayed several hours due to a very late arriving plane. Once onboard, everything was fine, but consequently we didn’t get home until after midnight.

Trip Wrap-up

So, yes, it’s been a month since we got home and I’m just now finishing up my blog posts! I had too many photos to process (including Dave’s, Paula’s and Keith’s) and thoughts to collect on everything we saw and experienced. Luckily, there were no illnesses or other incidents by anyone on this trip (IYKYK).

If I were to do this trip again, I’d want to get over to the east side of Glacier National Park to the Many Glacier and Lake Mary areas. There was a lot of construction there this summer with road closures, except for shuttles, so we didn’t even attempt it. In Yellowstone, I’d make Midway Basin a priority and try to get there early. I think maybe it was extra crowded when we were there because a bison had fallen into one of the pools the week before, so everyone wanted to gawk at that. I’d also like to spend more time animal watching in Lamar Valley. Otherwise, we timed everything pretty well to see almost all major sections of the park.

All-in-all, we had a great trip with good friends, some fabulous food, and awe-inspiring views.