We got an early start and said a poignant goodbye to Yellowstone National Park. We had had an amazing time!
Google Maps estimates the travel time between Old Faithful and Devils Tower at seven hours and twenty-four minutes. For some reason, it took us nine hours.
The Plains Indians hold Devils Tower and the surrounding area sacred. Each Nation had its own story about how it was created, but the Kiowa legend is the most famous. The People believe that seven little girls were out playing and were attacked by a bear. The girls' prayer for help was answered in the form of a rock. The Great Spirit told them to stand on top of it. The rock rose out of the ground and transported them up away from the bear. The bear raked the sides of the rock with its claws, leaving deep furrows. The seven girls still remain in the sky as the stars in the constellation known to us as the Pleiades.
A mistranslation of an Indian name led the early explorers to call it the "Bad God Tower". This was later changed to "Devils Tower".
In 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt made history by establishing Devils Tower as America's first National Monument. He went on to declare 17 more. He also signed legislation that created five National Parks and 150 National Forests.
You can see Devils Tower several miles before you actually get there. There's not a lot out here to block your view.
Note the striations. Steven Spielberg's 1977 move "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" made them famous. Richard Dreyfus's character, obsessed with the Devils Tower formation, uses his fork to imprint them into a mound of mashed potatoes. From this distance, they really do look like fork marks!
We'd seen many desperate signs throughout the west, but this one we found particularly clever. It says, "For heaven's sake! Please stop and eat before we both starve!" Nice try, but we just ate.
In a strange way it reminded me of the simple but witty signs we saw throughout New Zealand.
Wildlife isn't a major draw at Devils Tower, but prairie dogs were ubiquitous. There's a huge "town" of them along the road up to the site.
We'll walk the 1.3 mile Tower Trail which encircles the formation. Like Uluru, in the Australian Outback, each side was slightly different. And its appearance changed even more with the angle of the sun.
From this vantage point, the top appears flat. It is actually mounded and about the size of a football field. You'd find grass, trees, and even squirrels up there. The guidebooks say that it isn't much different than the landscape around us.
Up close, you can see that the striations are actually giant columns of rock. A boulder field surrounds its base. These boulders are actually collapsed columns that have tumbled down from above.
Some of the boulders are quite large and have probably been here thousands of years.
Rock-climbing is a very popular activity at Devils Tower. An estimated 4,000 climbers reach the summit every year. You need a permit to go any higher than I am here. The Native Americans consider Devils Tower to be sacred, and climbing it is a sacrilege. Tribal leaders feel that climbing should be prohibited altogether, but the government cannot outlaw climbing for purely religious reasons. The rangers have compromised, asking rock climbers to stay off the Tower during the holy month of June. The climbing ban is voluntarily. Still, requests for permits drop by 85%.
The first climbers used wooden stakes that acted like a sort of ladder. You can see a remnant of one of the stakes in the middle of this photo. Holes left from other stakes can be seen along the seam up to the left.
There are two climbers in this picture (just left of center). One is wearing an orange shirt, and one is wearing no shirt. It gives you some perspective on how large the tower really is.
The top of Devils Tower is 1,280 feet above the surrounding landscape (roughly a quarter mile). Scientists disagree about the origin of the tower (where did the magma come from? and why does it protrude above its surroundings?). But most agree about how the columns were formed. When molten rock cools, it produces crystals. If it cools slowly, the rock has time to shrink and crack into perfect 120 degree angles. This produces hexagonal columns, just like Sheepeaters Cliff in Yellowstone. Different rates of cooling also formed a few 4-, 5-, and 7-sided columns.
We were the only people to go to Joyner Ridge to view the sunset.
How perfect is this picture? It's a quintessential photo of the American West. All it lacks is a howling coyote.
The full moon was actually unwanted on this night. It prevented Ma from seeing the Perseid meteor shower.
***
We spent the night at the KOA Campground just outside the park's gate. (Literally; their driveway is just a few feet from the entrance.) Unlike all of the other cabins we stayed in on this trip, this one did not have the a sink, or bed linens, or even heat. You get a bare, tarp-covered mattress on a double bed and bunk beds, a central light fixture, and little else. On the plus side, it was clean and in good shape. And it had a porch swing and a fire pit out in front. I was not expecting the no heat-no linens situation. The reviews had said that the provided linens were gross, so you should bring your own. I was prepared to be disgusted, but not cold. Ma had brought a blanket. I hadn't. Instead, I slept in several layers of clothes. For me, it was a long miserable night. Looking back, I should have known better.
Oh, and I should have joined Ma on the big bed. Yes, Ma, you told me so.
Google Maps estimates the travel time between Old Faithful and Devils Tower at seven hours and twenty-four minutes. For some reason, it took us nine hours.
The Plains Indians hold Devils Tower and the surrounding area sacred. Each Nation had its own story about how it was created, but the Kiowa legend is the most famous. The People believe that seven little girls were out playing and were attacked by a bear. The girls' prayer for help was answered in the form of a rock. The Great Spirit told them to stand on top of it. The rock rose out of the ground and transported them up away from the bear. The bear raked the sides of the rock with its claws, leaving deep furrows. The seven girls still remain in the sky as the stars in the constellation known to us as the Pleiades.
A mistranslation of an Indian name led the early explorers to call it the "Bad God Tower". This was later changed to "Devils Tower".
In 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt made history by establishing Devils Tower as America's first National Monument. He went on to declare 17 more. He also signed legislation that created five National Parks and 150 National Forests.
You can see Devils Tower several miles before you actually get there. There's not a lot out here to block your view.Note the striations. Steven Spielberg's 1977 move "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" made them famous. Richard Dreyfus's character, obsessed with the Devils Tower formation, uses his fork to imprint them into a mound of mashed potatoes. From this distance, they really do look like fork marks!
We'd seen many desperate signs throughout the west, but this one we found particularly clever. It says, "For heaven's sake! Please stop and eat before we both starve!" Nice try, but we just ate.In a strange way it reminded me of the simple but witty signs we saw throughout New Zealand.
Wildlife isn't a major draw at Devils Tower, but prairie dogs were ubiquitous. There's a huge "town" of them along the road up to the site.
We'll walk the 1.3 mile Tower Trail which encircles the formation. Like Uluru, in the Australian Outback, each side was slightly different. And its appearance changed even more with the angle of the sun.From this vantage point, the top appears flat. It is actually mounded and about the size of a football field. You'd find grass, trees, and even squirrels up there. The guidebooks say that it isn't much different than the landscape around us.
Up close, you can see that the striations are actually giant columns of rock. A boulder field surrounds its base. These boulders are actually collapsed columns that have tumbled down from above.
Some of the boulders are quite large and have probably been here thousands of years.Rock-climbing is a very popular activity at Devils Tower. An estimated 4,000 climbers reach the summit every year. You need a permit to go any higher than I am here. The Native Americans consider Devils Tower to be sacred, and climbing it is a sacrilege. Tribal leaders feel that climbing should be prohibited altogether, but the government cannot outlaw climbing for purely religious reasons. The rangers have compromised, asking rock climbers to stay off the Tower during the holy month of June. The climbing ban is voluntarily. Still, requests for permits drop by 85%.
The first climbers used wooden stakes that acted like a sort of ladder. You can see a remnant of one of the stakes in the middle of this photo. Holes left from other stakes can be seen along the seam up to the left.
There are two climbers in this picture (just left of center). One is wearing an orange shirt, and one is wearing no shirt. It gives you some perspective on how large the tower really is.The top of Devils Tower is 1,280 feet above the surrounding landscape (roughly a quarter mile). Scientists disagree about the origin of the tower (where did the magma come from? and why does it protrude above its surroundings?). But most agree about how the columns were formed. When molten rock cools, it produces crystals. If it cools slowly, the rock has time to shrink and crack into perfect 120 degree angles. This produces hexagonal columns, just like Sheepeaters Cliff in Yellowstone. Different rates of cooling also formed a few 4-, 5-, and 7-sided columns.
We were the only people to go to Joyner Ridge to view the sunset.
How perfect is this picture? It's a quintessential photo of the American West. All it lacks is a howling coyote.The full moon was actually unwanted on this night. It prevented Ma from seeing the Perseid meteor shower.
***
We spent the night at the KOA Campground just outside the park's gate. (Literally; their driveway is just a few feet from the entrance.) Unlike all of the other cabins we stayed in on this trip, this one did not have the a sink, or bed linens, or even heat. You get a bare, tarp-covered mattress on a double bed and bunk beds, a central light fixture, and little else. On the plus side, it was clean and in good shape. And it had a porch swing and a fire pit out in front. I was not expecting the no heat-no linens situation. The reviews had said that the provided linens were gross, so you should bring your own. I was prepared to be disgusted, but not cold. Ma had brought a blanket. I hadn't. Instead, I slept in several layers of clothes. For me, it was a long miserable night. Looking back, I should have known better.
Oh, and I should have joined Ma on the big bed. Yes, Ma, you told me so.
