For my birthday this year, I wanted to spend the day somewhere beautiful and spend as little time in the car as possible. As kids, my family had car-camped many times through Montana and Wyoming, but I had never heard of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area until I saw it on the map while planning this road trip. The National Parks website called it “some of the most beautiful scenery in the west,” so it seemed like a good bet.

The day before my birthday, we headed to the northern entrance to the park, which is in south-central Montana. We were hard-pressed to find a canyon there, and there was just one campground, beside a resevoir–even though I had read that there were at least three car campgrounds in the park. After talking to a very sympathetic park ranger, we learned that the “most beautiful scenery in the west” and those lovely, secluded campsites in the canyon were in the southern district–and not at all accessible from where we were (except by boat).

We spent the night in a totally decent gravel campsite, and early on my birthday morning headed back out of the park, and made a big loop down to the southern entrance of the park.

Wow, were we glad we did! Here’s how we were greeted, upon arriving in the southern district of Bighorn Canyon:

And oh yeah, we saw wild horses. Incredible. My pictures of the horses aren’t the best–but you can imagine. They look like horses. Only wilder.

So we camped for free (it’s free to camp in national recreational areas) in a lovely canyon, next to a pristine little stream–and there was almost no one else around. I don’t love superlatives, but I’m awfully inclined to say it was my best birthday ever. Definitely way up there, and highly recommended.

We camped for free (camping in national recreational areas is free) in a lovely canyon, next to a pristine little stream–and there was almost no one else around!