Yesterday we headed West again taking US-16 out of the West side of Custer State Park, catching US-85 North to Wyoming 585 and eventually hitting I-90 just long enough to exit on US-14 and head for Devils Tower National Monument. This took just over 2 hours in the RV and the scenery was incredible (I have a feeling that I’m going to be stating this frequently for the rest of the trip).
At Devils Tower we were fortunate to arrive early enough to get RV parking up close to the Visitor’s Center, so we didn’t have to unhook the car and drive in from one of the remote RV parking locations. We grabbed two bottles of water and headed off to hike the trail around the massive hunk of rock. When we got to the trail entrance, we realized that we had forgotten our camera and went back to get it. The first hill from the entrance to the beginning of the trail circling the monument had a fairly steep grade and had us gasping for oxygen, but after that it wasn’t bad at all. It’s an amazing site from up close (and a distance) and well worth the 1.3 mile walk around it. At just under half way around we got to the side that the climbers like. Those people are crazy. We didn’t think we’d need our big camera lens so we didn’t bring it along, but if you zoom in on a couple photos you can see the little spots (one wearing an orange shirt) climbing the rock. Even if you haven’t watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this National Monument is well worth the visit.
View from Visitor’s Center 
Closeup from Visitor’s Center 
Zoom to See Climbers 
Brian and a Huge Boulder 
Another View 
South View of the Valley 
Beth at Devils Tower
We wanted to eat lunch before we left the monument, but didn’t want to consume a valuable RV parking spot, so we moved to a scenic pullout on the road out of the park next to a Prairie Dog town. They were fun to watch while we ate our lunch and we thought our cats would be very entertained, but they seemed more interested in what we were eating for lunch.
Prairie Dog Town
After lunch we worked our way back to I-90 and continued West through Wyoming and into Montana. We stopped for two nights at 7th Ranch RV Park not far from the Little Bighorn battlefield where Custer made his last stand. It was 93 degrees when we pulled into the campground, but it was definitely a dry heat and didn’t feel bad at all. This will likely be the last hot day we experience for the next few weeks. This was a nice campground with 50 Amps and sewer hookups at every site. All sites were pull through and the bathrooms were immaculately clean with wonderful showers.
Today Beth elected to stay in the campground and get caught up on laundry while I visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument located at the next exit. This park was interesting and after watching a very theatrical presentation by one of the park rangers (I swear he almost broke into tears at one point), I took a drive along the 4.5 mile tour road to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield (where a secondary battle occurred). The drive was very scenic and I actually got to see a couple of local ranchers herd a large group of horses across the road in front of me (the tour road travels through privately owned ranch land).
After touring the monument I drove about 16 more miles into the town of Hardin, MT to stock up on groceries at the local IGA. This shopping experience required a call home to discuss the nearly infinite selection of cat foods available to the consumer. I also fueled up the car so that we wouldn’t have to worry about it in Yellowstone. I will neither confirm or deny any accusations regarding a pit stop at McDonald’s.