National Parks, Monuments, and Memorials

Big Hole National Battlefield is a memorial to the people who fought and died here on August 9 and 10, 1877. About 750 non-treaty Nez Perce were fleeing from US Army troops charged with enforcing the US government's demands that all Nez Perce move to a reservation a fraction the size of their traditional homeland. In doing so, the Army was enforcing a national policy of placing all American Indians on reservations to make way for States.

Byway Basics
The Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway, U.S. 14/16/20, follows the North Fork of the Shoshone River through scenic Wapiti Valley to the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The 27 miles of paved Scenic Byway start about25 miles west of Cody at the Shoshone National Forest border. Normal driving time from the forest boundary to the Park is approximately 45 minutes. The byway is open to traffic year round, but the East Entrance into Yellowstone closes the first Monday of November.

The oldest standing building in all of Idaho is found here, in the Coeur d’Alene’s Old Mission State Park. The Mission of the Sacred Heart or Sacred Heart Mission was constructed between 1850 and 1853 by Catholic missionaries and members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

Byway Basics
The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, Wyoming 296, links the town of Cody with the Beartooth Highway and the Northeast Gate of Yellowstone National Park. The route crosses the Shoshone National Forest through the Absaroka Mountains to the Clarks Fork Valley. The 47 paved miles of the Scenic Byway run from the junction with U.S. 120, 17 miles north of Cody, northwest to their connection with U.S. 212, the Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth Mountains and the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River lie to the north of the road, and the Absaroka Mountains and North Absaroka Wilderness are to the south.