See Little Bighorn and Devil's Tower "on the run"?

To add to my previous post we arrived near the Big Horn Battlefield yesterday and visited today. Spent much of the day there viewing the exhibits and film in the visitor center, taking the self guided tour of the battlefield,(5 mile road), and walking thru the national cemetery. Wow, lots of history!
I did see many RV's parked around the visitor center and quite a few traveling the battlefield road so I guess it can be done as the OP asked. But if one likes history as I do it just takes more time.
We stayed 2 nights in Garryowen in a nice campground and will continue our journey tomorrow.

I enjoyed our two hour visit to Devil's Tower very much. I never expected to want to be there that long. We stopped at the bottom and talked about the parking situation at the top with the person at the entrance. They said there weren't many trailers up there at the moment and we drove up. I had no problem at all navigating the loop and parking with our 34' trailer at the top. Very interesting stop, IMO. If you're driving past, I'd call it "must do". But then, I liked Meteor Crater, Rushmore, and Grand Canyon, also. I'm probably just whacky. Post cards don't do it for me.

spend one night at each place. then you can take your time. there are ranger programs at little bighorn.

been to devils tower 4 times. every time we are out that way. first time we stayed at the koa. the last 3 were at belle fourche in devils tower. no hook-ups but good views, more room, and a lot cheaper.

We spent several hours at Little Bighorn one afternoon, and then spent the night at a little campground nearby. The next morning we drove to Devils Tower and got a great campsite at Belle Fourche Campground in the park. In the evening we drove around to the west side of the Tower and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with the shadows slowly creeping up the Tower. At the same time an almost-full moon arose right over the Tower.

The next morning I got up early and walked over to the east and got some nice photos of the vivid colors of the rocks at sunrise. After breakfast we went to the visitors center and did the walk around the Tower. It wasn't busy that morning and we enjoyed our walk accompanied by a wonderful volunteer guide. It was just the two of us and him, so we got quite a personalized tour and learned so much about the history of the Tower and the folklore surrounding it.

Had we made a quick, drop-in visit, we would have missed so much about this intriguing spot.

WxToad

Depending upon how crowded the area is, there may or may not be room for you to park up near the top in the Travel Trailer parking area.

When we were there last fall, we found it way easier to drop our trailer in the designated lot at the bottom of the hill, and just drive the pick up truck up to the top. (We were there in mid-September and it was still pretty crowded.)
But the campground had several spots and it was a real nice campground within the park. We stayed there to get an early start the next day. There is also a KOA just outside the Park's entrance kiosk. We didn't camp there, but we did buy a cup of coffee and it was the WORST coffee I ever tasted, totally undrinkable (and I've drank a lot of mud in my day). Be forwarned!

I some what agree with Old- Biscuit, only get 2 postcards! You asked!

enblethen wrote:
Depends on what you do at each location.
Devil's Tower has a trail around the base. memeory takes about 1.5 hours.
Bighorn has a driving tour take takes a couple hours plus the visitors center.

emblethen is right on. Both are well worth seeing. If you camp at the KOA at the base of Devils tower that is where Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed. They show the movie in the campground every night.

texasAUtiger wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:

texasAUtiger wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Well you can see Devil's Tower from the hwy and might as well just pick up a post card for Little Bighorn

Does the postcard comment mean it's not worth stopping, or that if I'm going to do it really quickly that it's not worth stopping?

Doing either quickly isn't giving them the respect or personal involvement one should invest to appreciate either.


Kinda like driving down the street past the Alamo and claiming you have been there.

National Monuments deserve time & respect.

Do you sign permission slips to make sure people conform to your personal specifications on how to visit national monuments?

Or do you simply not realize that a simple "I'd give them a half day each at least" is as effective an answer without the smugness?

What about the person that thinks "proper respect" is longer than you spent at those sites?

You asked so you got my personal opinion.

Get the postcard.

Old-Biscuit wrote:

texasAUtiger wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Well you can see Devil's Tower from the hwy and might as well just pick up a post card for Little Bighorn

Does the postcard comment mean it's not worth stopping, or that if I'm going to do it really quickly that it's not worth stopping?

Doing either quickly isn't giving them the respect or personal involvement one should invest to appreciate either.


Kinda like driving down the street past the Alamo and claiming you have been there.

National Monuments deserve time & respect.

Do you sign permission slips to make sure people conform to your personal specifications on how to visit national monuments?

Or do you simply not realize that a simple "I'd give them a half day each at least" is as effective an answer without the smugness?

What about the person that thinks "proper respect" is longer than you spent at those sites?

If you are an old guy there are some interesting things about devils tower. Will Rogers built a ladder to the top. The rangers have those photos but only if you ask to see them. Not much left of the ladder now. Kids in the area back in the 50s could actually climb to the top and get a helicopter ride back to safety. :B OK you would also get a stern lecture. If you read about the Custer battle field and also study how Custer lost then take tue drive it really drives home how taking the high point just didn't work out for Custer. The indians rode through the ravines and shot upward. I thought both were interesting. If you just drive through with no history ther isn't much there except a high hill and monument.