SPRING/SUMMER/FALL PACKAGES

$849 per person double occupancy - 3 days, 4 nights

The Explorer Adventure begins when you arrive at the Sheridan County Airport and pick up your SUV. The GPS tour guide will take you up the mountain and give you hints on where you might see some of the abundant wildlife. So enjoy the ride and take in the sites. Dinner will be at the lodge when you arrive.

Day 1 Breakfast at the lodge ATV trail-ride. Choose the area from 600 miles of trails via GPS guide Boxed-lunch where ever you decide to stop Hike to Bucking Mule Falls Dinner at the Lodge
Day 2 Breakfast at the Lodge Horseback trip into the Cloud Peak Wilderness Lunch on the trail Fishing, hiking, or relaxing by one of the many crystal clear lakes Dinner at the Lodge
Day 3 Breakfast at the Lodge Medicine Wheel Hwy 14A to the Bighorn Recreation Area Three-hour boat tour down the Bighorn Canyon Cliffs rise over 1,000 feet from the water’s edge Devils Canyon, Barry’s Landing, and back to Horseshoe Marina Box lunch Wild Mustang and Big Horn Sheep Dinner at the Lodge

Come, enjoy a relaxing getaway with your partner - Only $255.00

Package Includes: One night stay in a one king or two queen room Complementary gift basket with snacks, Champagne or Sparkling Cider Meals provided at the Coppermine Restaurant Two breakfasts for two lunch for two dinner for two

The Little Bighorn  (One  - Three day guided tour)

Come with us inside the village site along the Little Bighorn River as we experience the Lakota and Cheyenne perspectives, standing where Crazy Horse crossed the Little Bighorn River to meet Custer’s 7th, and then following the battle as it unfolded. We follow the story across the battlefield, learning not only of the fate of those who fought for their respective nations, but the lasting results of the battle into modern day times for the Lakota and Cheyenne peoples. Today you go beyond the stock offerings of historians whose versions of events show they have probably never experienced the actual terrain for themselves.

As an extra option, you have a unique opportunity to actually horseback ride on the Little Bighorn Battlefield itself, to truly see the terrain as these legendary warriors on each side saw it on June 25, 1876

The Medicine Wheel

Atop Medicine Mountain in the Bighorns is a stone formed Medicine Wheel. Many locals say it is a ‘great mystery’, but we know that’s only if you don’t know whom to ask! We discuss the Massaum Ceremony, “the medicine dance of the ancients,” a beautiful aspect of traditional Cheyenne culture in which the wolf, and the “Wolf’s Lodge,” is essential to creation, to life, and renewal in the spiritual and physical. This tour involves some walking – please wear comfy shoes and take water.

This guided tour is enjoyed best in conjunction with a stay at the Passage Resort in the mountains where you may enjoy fine dining, outstanding night skies and great accommodations amidst the domain of the four-leggeds and wingeds of the air.

The Wild Mustangs

With the coming of the reservations, Indian people found themselves imprisoned on small tracts of land, forbidden to hunt and provide for themselves and needing permits to leave. How do you hold a nation of horse people down? Take their horses! The army planned to kill Cheyenne and Crow pony herds but unable to allow that to happen to their ‘friends’ warriors instead took them to the Prior Mountains freeing them to live wild. The descendents of those very herds still roam today, and although they are shy we usually find them for you. Hear their story!

The Fetterman Miscalculation

An outstanding historical site, preserved to look almost exactly as it did that day of Dec 21st, 1866 when Captain William Judd Fetterman piled his company of 81 men over Lodge Tail Ridge in pursuit of Crazy Horse, the decoy who skillfully engineered them into a battle with the waiting Lakota and Cheyenne. Hear about the background to the fight, about the Cheyenne Contrary who foretold the result of the battle, and understand the historical details from both cultural perspectives. The site’s river-rock memorial inscription states there were no survivors, but that is not true – there were hundreds – they just happened to be Indian. Hear their stories!

Crazy Horse v Crook at the Rosebud

Looking across the vast sweep of the field, and viewing the terrain as Crazy Horse and Crook saw it that June day, learn the military and tribal stories of the precursive battle to the Little Bighorn. June 17 went down in Cheyenne history as one of outstanding bravery – hear the story of the Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother; an inspirational event which still resonates in the present day culture of the Cheyenne people.

The Deer Medicine Rocks

Visit one of the most important cultural and historic sites on the Northern Plains where the Great Sundance was held at the Deer Medicine Rocks just days before the impending Little Bighorn Battle. Ignore Hollywood scenes – this is your chance to learn the truth about the Sun Dance, and how Sitting Bull offered of himself and sacrificed for his people. See for yourself how, high above any man’s reach, Sitting Bull’s vision of victory at the Little Bighorn is carved in stone - the soldiers with no ears depicted in the rock, falling upside-down into the camp; signifying how they should have listened to the warnings of the Cheyenne.

Disaster at the Wagonbox

Experience Powder River Country and examine Red Cloud’s War to close the Bozeman Trail. You have opportunity to see the site and understand what happened to create such problems for the Lakotas and Cheyennes as they engaged in warfare against a totally unknown enemy – repeating rifles! They may have lost the Wagon Box Fight, but they won the war and the Bozeman Trail was closed – the only war the US government concedes it lost.

Northern Cheyenne Reservation culture

Includes a foray into the historical and contemporary! You will visit the Chief Dull Knife College Cultural department and will also have chance to tour St Labre, a reservation mission school founded in 1886 whose visitor center, museum and Ten Bear Gallery are all wonderful showplaces of Cheyenne heritage and art. As you explore and enjoy the reservation landscape and panoramas, learn the story of ‘Charging Horse Hill’ site of the last act of Cheyenne defiance against the US government, see the Two Moons Monument and after visiting the site of Custer’s last camp, hear about the critical part played by the Cheyennes in defeating Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Lunch will be taken either at the College or the Charging Horse Casino. Think Indian Casinos are the ‘new buffalo’? Learn the real story

Courage Whispers on the Wind

Immerse yourself in three days exploration of the cultural and historic events leading to the cataclysmic wiping out of Custer. Hear the Lakota and Cheyenne stories and perspectives, and visit important surrounding sites such as the sacred Deer Medicine Rocks, the Rosebud battlefield (known to Cheyennes as 'The Fight Where The Girl Saved Her Brother') the Crow's Nest, the Morass and the Indian village.

Day 1 > Arrive Billings MT (BIL) or Sheridan WY (SHR) STAY Billings/Sheridan

Day 2 > Meet your guide approx 10am to explore the Deer Medicine Rocks STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Day 3 > Travel 45 mins to the site of the Rosebud Battle then either onto the Crow's Nest, or a horseback ride on the battlefield. STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Day 4 > Beginning at the site of the Cheyenne Village, this day the full scale of what happened at the Little Bighorn is revealed STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Tour dates: May through October. Sometimes winter months are possible - weather dependent
Starting point: The area you are touring is equi-distant from Billings (BIL) on Sheridan (SHR)
Finishing point: Same (airport code BIL or SHR)
Transport: your own with room for step-on guide (or packaged with GPS system from the Passage Resort)
Hotel accommodations: The Passage Resort package 

Spirit Mountain

Spend four days invigorating your mind and body in the Bighorn Mountains. Go in search of the Wild Mustangs in the mountain heights, hear tribal history at the foothills site of the Wagon Box in beautiful Story, WY, explore some of the 600 miles of unbeaten mountain trails with a unique GPS system tour to see the stories of those who went before carved in stone at ancient sites, then atop Medicine Mountain, witness the awe and beauty of the Medicine Wheel.

 

Day 1 >  Arrive Billings/Sheridan

Day 2 >  Meet your guide at 10am for the beginning of your quest to see the descendents of the Crow and Cheyenne pony herds   

STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Day 3 >  Descend the mountain to picturesque Story, WY to learn a cultural and historic story that will forever stay with you.

STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Day 4 >  The day is yours to enjoy wherever your heart leads you among 600 miles of trails. Enjoy the silence, feel earth beneath your feet and share your space with the four-leggeds and wingeds of the air… and our GPS tours of ancient and modern Native sites.

STAY The Passage Resort, WY

Day 5 >  The Medicine Wheel, to some a great mystery, but to tribal people this is part of the dance of the Ancients.

STAY The Passage Resort, WY

 

Tour dates: May through October. Sometimes winter months are possible - weather dependent

Starting point: Fly into Sheridan WY (SHR) or Billings MT (airport code BIL)

Finishing point: travels west to the Northern Cheyenne country. (airport code BIL or SHR)

Transport: your own, or packaged with the Passage Resort

Hotel accommodations: Your own choice but our best advice here

Hotel accommodations: The Passage Resort package