The drama was less vivid than the Little Bighorn.

The consequences were more immediate and more enduring.

The Canyon In Fall Light

The best time to see Palo Duro Canyon is in October, when the light angles low and the red and orange walls catch the morning sun in ways that are genuinely dramatic.

October 1874 would have been a hard month to experience the canyon’s beauty.

The families who had fled September 28 were somewhere on the plains, looking at a sky that was getting colder.

The smoke of the burning camp had dispersed.