Bighorn Mountain Landmarks

The Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark has been on Medicine Mountain for over 10,000 years and is a sacred place for not only the Shoshone, Crow and other local tribes but today is a sacred spot for over 85 different tribes from all over the US.  The wheel is a circle with a circumference of 245 feet and has 28 spokes made of rock running from a small inner circle to the outer edge. Outside the main circle are three smaller circles where sacrifices and amulets are placed. The park service requires the Native Americans to show proof of their heritage and tribe before allowing them to perform their sacred ceremonies.

We drove on back country gravel roads to get to Medicine Mountain and enjoyed the scenery, the cows, and mule deer.  Many, many people pull their 5th wheels and trailers up here and camp in the back country, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  It’s something we sometimes think of doing ourselves.

After lunch we stopped at Porcupine Falls.  The trail down to the bottom of this 60 foot waterfall is very steep but you don’t realize how steep until you try to walk back up it.  There were 153 wood steps and 88 steps carved from rock and a whole long way of just dirt paths.  But the half mile walk down was well worth the effort as the falls and the surrounding canyons were magnificent.

On our way back to the RV we had to stop suddenly for a male and female Moose to cross the road in front of us.  The picture is not the best but you get an idea of how tall these creatures stand.  We were very lucky to see them.

We also got rained on and some hail fell as well.  More rain came while we napped and then it cleared up.  The bad part is that the rain brought cold weather.  It’s been chilly all day - 52 -63 degrees. Where are my gloves?!