In the heart of the reservation lies a unique opportunity to experience the rich culture and wonders of the land held in stewardship by the Tsistsistas, the Morning Star People, or the Northern Cheyenne.
Come visit the tipi ranch …where the Indians ARE the cowboys.
Although we offer day tours of the reservation, by vehicle or on horseback, the reality is that once folks get here, they don't usually like to leave, so we offer you the best opportunity to spend some time learning about our culture and history.
Stay in our tipis and opt for various outdoor activities; horseback riding, roping, hiking, and fishing, but this is much more than an Indian Dude Ranch - Cheyenne arts, language, powwow, history, we do it all!
Come and relax with us, eat with us, share our stories, ride our horses, listen to our music, watch our dances; stay in our tipis we'll tell you some of our traditions, & about our modern-day lives.
Our guides are educated tribal historians, many speak their Cheyenne language and live the traditional lifeway, so they feel a responsibility to tell the stories of their ancestors the best way they can - with truth and integrity.
Please bear in mind that if you would be as happy on a tour bus listening to a generic spiel we probably aren't for you. We aren't the cheapest, and we don't aim to be. But if you want depth, heart & truth, choose us for experiences that you and your family will never forget.
Opportunities to learn and share Cheyenne culture are listed below, then are fully described (in the same order) right below this list.
1. Cheyenne Encounter One day and night camp
2. Essence of the Tsistsistas Two days, two nights camp
3. Tipi Sunrise Three days and nights camp
4. Many Horses Camp Trails (Horse rides of 3, 5 or 8 hours with tipi stay)
5. Cheyenne horseback rides (no stay)
6. The Home of the Morning Star People (family experience)
7. Wacipi Tipi (dated events only)
8. Evening powwows
9. Reservation tour (no stay)
1. Cheyenne Encounter - Reservation tour w/ overnight tipi stay
A foray into the historical and contemporary. Explore and enjoy the reservation landscape, learn the story of ‘Charging Horse Hill’, see the Two Moons Monument and hear of the critical part played by the Cheyennes in defeating Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Think Indian Casinos are the ‘new buffalo’? Learn the real story.
Enjoy the unique experience of a comfortable night star gazing through the ears of your tipi. With the moon often comes the song of the coyote in this traditional camp environment.
2. Essence of the Tsistsistas (the Cheyenne People)
2-day rez tour w/ two night tipi stay
Days full of culture, nights full of stars and stories. This two day, two night visit to the Northern Cheyenne reservation offers experiences you just can't find elsewhere. After your first day’s reservation history & culture tour, day two adds to the mix a little horseback adventure and some relaxation, creating an idyllic couple of days at the tipi ranch on the rez.
3. Tipi Sunrise – three days and nights of Cheyenne culture
Some people just don't want to leave! Who can blame them with culture days, starry nights, tribal history, and experiences you just can't find anywhere but here in the heart of Indian Country. Take this chance to relax and unwind, to broaden your horizons, to learn the realities that aren’t found in books, and to move into a world you didn't know still existed.
Your third day brings a visit to one of the most sacred sites on the Northern Plains – the Deer Medicine Rocks where Sitting Bull’s vision of victory at the Little Bighorn is carved in stone, then to the hallowed ground where victory against Custer belonged to the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho.
4. Many Horses Tipi Trails The Reservation on Horseback
Here is an unmissable opportunity to see the reservation the old way – on horseback - with one of the best wranglers in Montana doubling as your historian and ethno-botanist. Learn about how the reservation came about, hear the stories of life in the old days, and see for yourself how life has changed for the Tsistsistas – the Northern Cheyenne.
4a. 3 hour evening ride and tipi stay
Arrive late afternoon to settle in your tipi in the daylight hours. Then embark on this exploration of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation which offers a unique opportunity to view Custer’s Last Camp, Davis Creek, and the Crow’s Nest from the best vantage point – horse-back. Riding in the shadow of the Wolf Mountains, Sarpy Hills and, on a clear day, even the Bighorn Mountains, you cross Rosebud Creek and pass the old wagon road from the reservation to Sheridan. This is an easy trail for all abilities, and frequent stops are made for riders to pick and sample traditional Indian foods such as chokecherries, buffalo berries, and wild plums. You may even test the medicinal qualities of bitterroot and western yarrow. If you look hard enough, you can add your name to our ‘Eagle Eyes’ list of past guests that have found arrowheads.
4b. tipi stay and 5 hour morning ride
Arrive early evening to settle in your tipi in the daylight hours. Next morning, you’ll be glad your Cheyenne pony is doing the climbing on this steeper ride to one of the high points on the reservation, from where you get a panoramic view of the Valley of the Rosebud, you are able to see the Crows Nest and you can also view the trail Custer’s men followed to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This is a moderate trail, and you need to bring water.
4c. tipi stay and 8 hour ride.
Arrive early evening to settle in your tipi in the daylight hours. Next morning, armed with a pack lunch, you take the 5 hour trail, then continue on to the Hidden Springs; it’s a great opportunity to further explore the ethno-botany of the reservation and to ascend the rugged peaks that sun and shadow paint in different hues as you overlook the vastness of the reservation. You will be immersed in a Cheyenne landscape largely untouched by the hands of outsiders. A further opportunity to see rock art and eagle pits can be opted for.
5. You may do these same rides without a tipi stay.
6. Home of The Morning Star People – Family Experiences on the Reservation
Intended for families only, weekends at the ranch are relaxed affairs, full of fun for the kids in an environment where they can learn history, cultural diversity, outdoor skills, horseback riding – they can even raise a small tipi… and sleep in it too.
Day 1 Meet at the ranch for your first horseback ride, then try your hands at roping (lassoing). Spend the afternoon on a nature hike learning about plants and animals of the area (don’t forget your cameras) then after dinner, make your own S’mores at the campfire, listening to Cheyenne stories.
Day 2 Up early because most kids like to help care for the horses, then after a hearty, healthy breakfast, fishing is your first activity. Spend the afternoon learning to raise a real tipi, then after dinner another chance to ride in the cool evening air.
Day 3 Today you head out on a tour of the reservation, hearing stories about the old days, how people used to live, and seeing how they live now. You will get to visit the culture center and see beautiful Cheyenne arts on display. Back at the ranch, the evening holds a special treat as young local Cheyennes expo their traditional dances for you.
7. Wacipi Tipi.
Visitors to the powwow enjoy the wonderful celebration of Native culture and pride, wrapped in a cascade of colors from traditional dress, song and dance. Anyone’s first visit to the powwow is an unforgettable experience, but because each dance is rich in symbolism; some expressing the harmony of the universe, others imitating the movements of an eagle, a porcupine etc, attending a powwow with a broader understanding of each of the contest dances most certainly will make the experience more powerful.
Wacipi Tipi offers four days of cultural and historical exploration, and nights filled with demonstration, explanation and visits to experience, with understanding and joy, the Northern Cheyenne People’s Powwows.
Each Wacipi Tipi experience is date specific: May 23-27, July 3-7
8. Evening powwows
Through the summer we hold family powwows at the tipi ranch where you can listen, learn and maybe even join in with a round dance (social dance) or two. These nights, young local dancers come to share their cultural beauty as the Drum, the Heartbeat of the Nation, pulses with ancient tribal rhythm. Dances and songs are explained, Indian Tacos are the fare of the night, and you have a unique window on the Northern Cheyenne traditional world
Note: If you know camping beneath the stars is not for you, you can do these tours from a hotel in Sheridan, WY.
Tipi stays can be ONLY between one and three nights. We do not offer extended stays at the tipi camp, but you have the option to stay longer in the area extending your experience, and we are able and happy to create a specialized itinerary for you.
Tour dates: Our season starts late May and finishes at the end of August. Outside of these times, the nights can get too cold for a comfortable tipi experiences.
Camp days begin around 8am and the camp goes quiet at 10pm.
Also Accessible from the Tipi Ranch are the following day tours (details below)
1. Sacred Deer Medicine Rocks (tribal history and culture
2. Crazy Horse and Crook at the Rosebud (tribal/western history & culture)
3. The Medicine Wheel (culture)
You can opt for any of these three tours and stay at the Tipi Ranch the previous night to, or at the end of, your tour.
More detail of each tour as follows:
1. The Deer Medicine Rocks
Visit one of the most important cultural and historic sites on the Northern Plains where the Great Sundance was held at the Deer Medicine Rocks just days before the impending Little Bighorn Battle. Ignore Hollywood scenes – this is your chance to learn the truth about the Sun Dance, and how Sitting Bull offered of himself and sacrificed for his people. See for yourself how, high above any man’s reach, Sitting Bull’s vision of victory at the Little Bighorn is carved in stone - the soldiers with no ears depicted in the rock, falling upside-down into the camp; signifying how they should have listened to the warnings of the Cheyenne.
2. Crazy Horse v. Crook at the Rosebud
Looking across the vast sweep of the field, and viewing the terrain as Crazy Horse and Crook saw it that June day, learn the military and tribal stories of the precursive battle to the Little Bighorn. June 17 went down in Cheyenne history as one of outstanding bravery – hear the story of the Fight Where the Girl Saved Her Brother; an inspirational event which still resonates in the present day culture of the Cheyenne people.
3. The Medicine Wheel
Atop Medicine Mountain in the Bighorns is a stone formed Medicine Wheel. Many locals say it is a ‘great mystery’, but we know that’s only if you don’t know whom to ask! We discuss the Massaum Ceremony, “the medicine dance of the ancients,” a beautiful and integral part of traditional Cheyenne culture in which the wolf, and the “Wolf’s Lodge,” is essential to creation, to life, and renewal in the spiritual and physical. This tour involves some walking – please wear comfy shoes and take water
Can’t make these times? Not necessarily a problem. Please CONTACT US - we have an outstanding winter experiences based either in the Black Hills of South Dakota, or in the Bighorn Mountains near Sheridan Wyoming, and can create a seasonal itinerary for you with our team of all-indigenous guides.
Don’t like outdoor sleeping? We can still take you out and about, you may still horse-ride, but we also have great deals negotiated with local hotels in all the areas we work and we’ll be happy to give you our booking codes so you can make your accommodation bookings and you pay your hotels direct. We can make suggestions on car rentals and will also give flight advice based on our great knowledge of the areas you’ll be visiting.
Or for full service journeys, with accommodations all arranged and included please take a look at our journeys: Lakota Moon, Bear Medicine, Strong Hearts, Wisdom Keepers, and Dog Soldiers.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Horse rides start at $120 for a three hour ride
Tours start at $300 per day up to four people
Tipi stays start at $350 (remember this includes a culture/history tour day too)
Family weekends are $2190 based on family of 2 adults, 2 kids.
Each extra child - $350.
Extra adults $695.
Also see tour packages in:
USA
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Native Americans
Camping
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