Killdeer Mountain and Medicine Hole

The Killdeer Mountains rise out of the North Dakota badlands and hold Medicine Hole, a narrow crevice that Lakota and Mandan tradition treats as an entrance to the world below, with a story that people escaped through it during the 1864 battle fought here between the US Army and a large Lakota and Dakota encampment. Cavers have gone down; it goes some way and then closes. The battle itself is thoroughly documented and was a disaster for the people camped there. Both the sacred site and the battlefield are real, and the ground is a mix of state and private land, so ask before you walk it.