Grapevine Campground, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Fort Smith MT

Since we were this far south, and I had seen some pictures of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, we decided to do a side trip there on our way to Yellowstone National Park. I knew that the Yellowtail Dam Visitor Center closed on Labor Day, but we figured we’d at least be able to see the dam and the large canyon area. (See below for more on that.) There’s a ranger station as we got to Fort Smith, but that is open only 3 days a week, and we didn't hit the right day. I had called last week to see if our rig would be able to fit into Afterbay Campground. He said we probably can’t fit in that one, but the one across the river should work, Grapevine Campground. We were able to pull in a spot and unhook the jeep. There were two other campers there and five across the river at Afterbay.           

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We weren’t able to get close to the Yellowtail Dam; it was gated shut. We drove 10 miles to Ok-A-Beh Marina the next morning. There is some different landscape along that road. Nearing the marina, you can see the back side of the 525 foot high dam. The canyon is deep, but I don’t think you can get the real dimension unless you boat through it (which we didn’t do). There weren’t any other roads that we could drive along the canyon to see. According to the map, if you go through Wyoming, there is a visitor center near Lovell and you can drive back in to Montana with more access sites.
                   

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes a major battle fought on June 25, 1876, between Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, against the United States Army. We learned in history that General Custer died at the Little Bighorn, but when you actually go to the area and see the river, ravines and hills that they were fighting in, it makes more sense. That’s one thing I like about going to monuments, battlefields, etc. now is that history makes sense that way. (More than it did in school!)  There is a visitor’s center with a film to watch, some self-guided trails, monuments, cemetery, and a 4.5 mile drive to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield. There is RV parking by the visitor’s center, but I would suggest unhooking if you have a tow vehicle and use that if you want to stop along the way. I believe there’s a tour bus in the summer also. Traffic was consistent the day we were there, after Labor Day; I can’t imagine what it’s like in summer.

There is a re-enactment of Custer’s Last Stand the last week of July, but it’s not at the Battlefield.
          

                     
      
             
              
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Red Shale Campground, Montana

Red Shale Campground is a forest service campground in between Broadus and Ashland, Montana, right off of the highway. It is free. The road and sites are gravel. There’s a couple large sites. We were there 7 days and usually had one other camper in the evenings. We figured it would be busy over Labor Day weekend, but we were by ourselves on Saturday, and then it was almost full Sunday, with most of them taking off Monday. What’s weird is that there is a lot of traffic through the campground; just driving through, or stopping to use the vault toilet. No electricity or water; 3 vault toilets (one in the picnic area), picnic tables and fire rings. It’s about a 1.2 mile loop around the campground. There are no other trails, but Curt did walk the fenced area.

We had an excited neighbor (down the highway) come over one afternoon, saying that they had a bear go through their back yard. She had called 911 and they were sending the game warden. Curt happened to be walking that afternoon, but didn’t see it. We did see some deer one day but otherwise no wildlife, not even squirrels. A few woodpeckers. There was a fire through here about 3 years ago. The loop (2 loops) we were in was further from the highway, but you could still hear the traffic. It’s a very busy with semi trucks, but was really a very peaceful place.

We had a storm one evening with hail. It was kind of scary, noisy. They were about the size of marbles, some the large marbles. We had damage to the air conditioner covers on top, and there were pine needles all over the rig and the jeep.