This time of year...

This time of year the weather can be somewhat problematic and given the spring weather so far this year I can't say I was too surprised when waking up this morning in (still windy) Cody and checking the forecast for our intended route through Yellowstone to Flagg Ranch to find there was a winter weather advisory for the area including highs in the low 40's and a probability of snow. Almost all of the campgrounds along the way are also still closed.

If you've driven from Jackson Hole to the south entrance of Yellowstone Park you have flown by Flagg Ranch. During a bike trip several years ago my wife and I camped at the campground there. There is a dirt road that apparently is we'll maintained that goes from the main road into Yellowstone and cuts west into Idaho just to the north of the Tetons. This road is also part of the Continental Divide mountain bike route that meanders from Banff, Canada to its terminus at the border with Mexico so I was really looking forward to biking this section but I have a lot of respect for mothers, especially one called Nature. So a re-route appeared to be in order to avoid all this nasty weather.

I think I have one of my former coworkers, Mike, to blame for all this. As a fellow bicycling enthusiast he had been curious bout my intended route and during one conversation he had broached the subject of "Gee, Dave, don't you think your pushing the weather envelope starting out so early in the season?" So thanks Mike for putting the curse on me weather wise! Of course I know what's likely to happen - I'm going to go from bone chilling and windy to hot and sweaty and yes I'll complain about the heat when it finally arrives. Right now I could go for some nice 80 degree days but I know I should be careful for what I ask for as I might just get it.

So where to head in northwest Wyoming if you're not going to Yellowstone? The Beartooth highway from Cook City to Red Lodge is a route to rival Trail Ridge road in Rocky Mountain National Park but the plows coming at the snow drifts from the south and north hadn't yet met in the middle (yup, still closed due to snow) so I had to come up with a plan 'C' as we were done with the hurricane winds of Cody.

Pulling out the dog-eared map I spied another National Monument just across the border into Montana. For all the western history buffs out there you probably already know the spot on the map that beckoned. Harken back to 1876, specifically the two days of June 25th and 26th when 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, died fighting several thousand very angry Lakota and Cheyenne warriors trying to protect their rapidly vanishing way of life. In 1879 a stacked log memorial was erected on Last Stand Hill to honor the 7th US Calvary. It wasn't until June 2003 that an Indian Memorial was dedicated to honor all of the tribes defending their way of life at the battle of the Little Bighorn. Relations are still tense to this day - Colorado just had a commission debating whether to keep or eliminate Indian mascots for schools. This site is another of the "someday" sites we have repeatedly driven by so I'm excited to finally take pause to visit and pay respect to those who gave their lives on both sides in passionate belief of what they felt was right all those 140 years ago on these quiet prairies.