Devil's Tower, WY

Thursday, August 13, 2009
(high 98, low 44, bright sun)

We headed west on I-90 to Wyoming and the Devil's Tower National Monument. Along the way we encountered Wyoming's version of a rest stop.

The Devil's Tower is a spectacular rock formation used in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The Devil's Tower KOA is located on the filming site of Close Encounters. Every site has a direct view of the Tower.

The monument was designated as a national monument in 1906 by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. The rock is a sacred place for Indians. It rises 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.

The most popular legend says that 7 Indian women and their brother were walking along when the brother was turned into a bear. Fearing the bear, the women climbed onto a rock and the rock grew higher and higher, out of the bear's reach. One can see the claw marks on the sides of the rock as the bear tried to reach the women. The rock grew so high that the seven sisters reached the sky and became the stars of the big dipper.

Here are some pictures of the Tower from a distance...

...and some from/of our campsite (we have SHADE!!)...

...and one at 8:50 p.m.

On any day climbers can be seen on the mountain. The fastest time the rock has been climbed was 18 minutes.

We did not climb up the steep part, it was about 98 degrees according to our car thermometer. I'm including lots of pictures here as all are so spectacular.

The countryside around the Tower is also remarkable. The red soil are called Red Beds. These red beds are in stark contrast to the yellow sandstone of adjacent areas, sometimes the two occurring in the same ravines.

We also passed several more prairie dog towns.

Molly was enjoying the Wyoming sun. Good thing we left the air conditioner on for her today, the recording thermometer in the sun read 104.4

Note: I am now caught up with my blog. August 8 and August 9 now have their pictures uploaded. Yippee!!!