This park is only 6 miles south of Billings, located in the Bitter Creek River Valley. The drive into the valley was on a nice county road, and when we dropped into the grass covered valley, you could almost imagine the wandering herds of buffalo of hundreds of years ago. The caves were used for thousands of years by native people. The excavations have shown various skill levels in tool making and construction, and the last occupancy of the cave was perhaps 200 years ago, as indicated by the use of metal tools, and the painting of seven rifles on the wall. The paintings have faded and the darker colors barely show at all from the viewing area, and the camera doesn’t show much.
Our van in front of the interpretive Center
The Pictograph Cave on the right, the Interpretive Center, and the grass plains beyond.
The Pictograph Cave
The seven rifles are the easiest to recognize, the damp staining of the walls has faded the darker colors.
The red paint shows the best. This is is to the left of the rifles.
The interior of the cave is quite large, and the professional archaeological excavations that took place in 1937 has removed several feet of material from the floor of the cave. The level of the cave floor in 1937 is marked on the wall in black dashed lines. Anne-Marie on the right.
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