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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument - In 1876 George Armstrong Custer led an ill-advised charge against over 3,000 Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne, losing not only his own life but 265 of his men. Under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse the natives celebrated their greatest and last victory.
Crazy Horse Memorial - Potentially the largest sculpture in the world, this memorial has been in progress since 1947. It depicts the warrior Crazy Horse and will be nearly 10 times the size of Mount Rushmore.
Badlands - A long time ago the Indians who travelled through this area gave the name ‘Badlands’ to this area of 244,000 acres of colourful rock, pinnacles, gorges and earth contortions.
Needles Highway - A stunning 14-mile highway that winds and curves its way through beautiful rock formations and granite ‘needles’.
Mount Rushmore - An epic sculpture that took 14 years to complete. The 60-foot-high faces of Wshington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln look out over the Black Hills – the oldest mountains in America.
Lewis and Clark - In the spring of 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were enlisted by Jefferson to go in search of the Northwest Passage to find a water route to the Pacific. They travelled some 8000 miles in two years, documenting their epic trip in journals. They were accommpanied by Sacagawea, a young Shoshone woman who enabled them to liase with various tribes and avoid many potential conflicts.
Grand Tetons National Park - The jagged granite spires of the Teton Mountains are the centrepiece of the spectacular Grand Teton National Park, where the beautiful Snake River winds its way along the mountains, reflecting the glacier-carved summits 12,000 feet above.
Yellowstone Fires - A total of 248 fires started in greater Yellowstone in 1988; 50 of those were in Yellowstone National Park. More than 25,000 firefighters, as many as 9000 at one time, attacked the fires. 793,000 acres (about 36%) of the park’s 2,221,800 acres were burned. A massive effort was funded by the U.S. Congress to restore damaged facilities and to study the long-term ecological effects of the Yellowstone fires. The effect on many plants and animals are still being studied, although in the short-term most wildlife populations showed no effect or rebounded quickly from the fiery summer. Since 1988, the rain and snowfall combined with the short-term effects of ash and nutrients have made for spectacular displays of wildflowers in burned areas and a regenerated cycle of forest growth has begun under the blackened canopy.
Yellowstone Wolves - In January 1995, after a long and heated debate, 14 wolves were captured in western Canada and brought to Yellowstone National Park. Since then they have reproduced at a fantastic rate. Packs can be spotted all over the park but the best place to spot them is very early in the morning in the Lamar Valley area where you may be able to hear them howling as they search for food.
Itineraries
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