5 Best Sights in Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge, Billings, Little Big Horn, and the Montana Plains

The Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, at the main entrance to Bowdoin, provides information on refuge conditions, species lists, a variety of mounted birds and mammals, and instructions for a drivable tour route.

The Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, at the main entrance to Bowdoin, provides information on refuge conditions, species lists, a variety of mounted birds and mammals, and instructions for the auto tour.

Surprisingly sophisticated given the location, this great little museum is right next door to the Phillips County Historical Museum. The station houses some of Montana's finest fossils and includes a fossil preparation laboratory that visitors can view. Specimens on display include Roberta, a well-preserved Brachylophosaur, and Leonardo, which has been celebrated as the best-preserved dinosaur fossil ever discovered. Both specimens were unearthed near Malta. Other gems include rotating exhibits of fossil collections and a great kids' education program. The station includes a gift shop. Amateur dino hounds can sign up here for a guided dig.

This museum, and the Dinosaur Field Station next door, is an official repository for fossils found in the Judith River basin. The highlight of the dinosaur display is a reconstructed albertosaur skeleton, which towers above the rest of the collection. There are also exhibits on outlaws who spent time here: Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, the Tall Texan, and other members of the Wild Bunch gang. Ask about tours of the H.G. Robinson House and gardens next door. The house, ordered from a Sears & Roebuck catalog and erected in 1900, is an example of frontier simplicity.