Hardin, MT 491 km

Yesterday we had a very enjoyable ride through the Black Hills. It is obviously a very popular recreational area with many campgrounds, etc. Lots of different activities like hiking, fishing, ATVing and horse back riding. It also has great motorcycle roads.

Today we were in three states (SD, WY and MT) and at one point thought we may be blown into a 4th. The US Weather Service warned of 40 mph gusts and they were at least that - very scary crosswinds at one point. However we persevered and managed to stay upright to visit Devil's Tower. Originally thought to be an eroded volcano it is a now though to be a laccolith - guess I taught that one wrong. . . Regardless it is a neat mountain that you can see for miles.

We then re-attacked the wind gusts and eventually arrived at Little Bighorn Battlefield (Custer's last stand). Norma made the mistake of saying between wind gust attacks: "at least it isn't raining too" when a light drizzle began. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes but she knows better to invite the curse!

We sat through a ranger talk on the events of the battle then walked around the site seeing the markers where soldiers and Indians had fallen. Besides the monument honouring the soldiers they recently have added a monument to honour the Native American people who lost their lives.

Native American Monument

Tonight we find ourselves in Hardin, MT where about half of the population is Native American.