Sheridan, WY to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to Spearfish, SD

289.68 Miles | 4:38 Riding Time

It’s Monday, July 22, 2024, and it’s Day 103 of my cross country motorcycle trip.

I started today early, and rode a little over an hour to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. As is often the case, I discovered that I knew very little about the battle of Little Bighorn and it’s significance. Basically, I remembered it as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

When I arrived, a ranger was just about to give a talk. I sat in, and was captivated listening to his animated—almost theatrical—story of the battle, and it’s significance from a variety of perspectives. I think this excerpt from the National Park Service website is a good summary of the aftermath of the battle.

The battle was a momentary victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne. The death of Custer and his troops became a rallying point for the United States to increase their efforts to force native peoples onto reservation lands. With more troops in the field, Lakota hunting grounds were invaded by powerful Army expeditionary forces determined to conquer the Northern Plains Indians. Most of the declared "hostiles" surrendered within one year of the fight, and the Black Hills were taken by the US government without compensation to the Lakota. (Read more - https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/battle-story.htm)

I walked around for a bit and took some photos. It was creepy that there was a small monument where each Army soldier fell. And creepier still to see that most of them are actually buried in a mass grave under the memorial. The Custer National Cemetery is also on-site, and contains the graves of about 5,000 people. It’s a sad and humbling experience to see and think about the scale of these national cemeteries.

The ride from Little Bighorn down to Spearfish was, in a word, hot! It was mostly straight, with a bunch of hills, and almost no trees to provide a break from the sun. I covered up, slathered on the sunscreen and rode about 3 hours down to Spearfish. A much-needed shower, and dinner at the hotel restaurant rounded out the day.

The Route