Oglala National Grassland: Warbonnet Battlefield and Montrose Church

This morning, I made the drive north into Sioux County to visit the remote Warbonnet Battlefield and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in what is basically a ghost town called Montrose, Nebraska. The drive was scenic, especially the southern stretch of Pants Butte Road after turning off of Highway 20. I even drove past the turn off for Sowbelly Canyon and Coffee Park.

As I approached the location of Montrose, long abandoned homes made appearances along the road.

At the sign for the town,

I parked near the church to have a look around.

Then, it was time to explore the Warbonnet Battlefield site, right across the street. 

There are two monuments at the site. After passing through the gate, the monument to the right marks the site where Buffalo Bill Cody is said to have killed Yellow Hair. 

(Yes, this is the second battle site where Buffalo Bill was present that I've been to in the past week.) 

From the Yellow Hair monument, I made the trek up the hill to check out the Warbonnet Monument.

More information about the "battle" can be found here.

After exploring the site for a bit, I returned to the car for the drive to Fort Robinson State Park. Along the way I passed numerous birds, coyotes, deer and cattle.