From Last Stand Hill to Devil's Tower

Although we didn't quite make it to the 8:30 movie, we did manage to get back to Little Bighorn in time to hear the ranger talk.  This ranger was a retired history teacher for high school and college level students and both Denna & I agreed that we would have paid much better attention in history class if he'd been our instructor.  He told us that he wanted to "dispel the myths and distorted history" of the battle and he did a great job of doing just that with documented and factual accounts from soldiers and Indians.

Along the Deep Ravine trail &
looking up at Last Stand Hill

Following his talk we explored the museum and then walked along the Deep Ravine trail.  It took us past numerous tombstones of fallen soldiers that graphically told the story of how they desperately tried to retreat back to the Last Stand Hill as the Indians swarmed the hillsides.

Of course, we had to stop and
geocache along the way.

We then got on the Warrier Trail, otherwise known as Highway 212, to travel the sparsely populated range land on our way to Devil's Tower. 

Eventually, Denna just knew we would see the tower over the next rise and she was right.  It's a tremendous landmark in a landscape of low rolling hills.  We got set up in the KOA campground, which advertises a view of the tower from every site (and they're right!), and just sat and enjoyed the sun setting behind it.  Tomorrow we'll head out for the 9:30 tower walk and ranger talk :)