Day 11 Sturgis to Little Bighorn Battleground MT

The 302 miles to Little Bighorn starts with cleaning the windshields, so there's not so many bugs in the pictures. Then a 9:15 departure.

10:00 AM and we are in Wyoming. After a fuel stop and another 45 minutes, there's Devil's Tower.

Devils Tower is a monolithic igneous intrusion, or in other words, it is the core of a volcano exposed from erosion. It is located in the Black Hills in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.
 

 Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres

Pam and Lon took the 1.3 mile trail around the tower. Pets are not allowed on the trail, so Gail, Heidi and I didn't have to go.

                                                     Heidi watched for their return.

The Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Tower”) is sacred to several Native American Plains tribes, including the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Kiowa. Many Native American legends have been passed down through time, but this legend seems to be the most popular.
One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance. The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock, "Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us." The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). The marks of the bear claws are there yet. As one looks upon the tower and contemplates its uniqueness, it isn't hard to imagine this legend as fact.

Approximately 5,000 people climb the tower each year. Since 1936 there have only been 5 fatalities, 3 of them on the way down.

Back on the road again about 1:00. A small 2 lane headed for Montana.

                                                                  Really pretty country.

We did make it to Montana, but Pam didn't get the picture of the sign because Lon was driving too fast. Gail missed  it also. Something about a camera malfunction. Whatever.

We made it to the campground at 4:30. Pam made dinner, then cocktails and Montana sunset.

Tomorrow, The Little Bighorn Battleground then on to Great Falls, MT and Dick's RV Park.