It was 57 degrees and sunny with clear,blue sky as we pulled out of Spearfish, SD. We drove 70 miles to the far Northwest portion of the Black Hills National Forest, in an area known as the Bear Lodge Mountains to see Devils Tower National Monument. In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt named the tower the United States’ first national monument.
Devils Tower sits across the Wyoming state line. Driving north on highway 14, we could see The Tower looming in the distance. It appeared as single, stump-shaped granite formation. As we got closer, it got larger and larger…that was because it rises up 867 feet from its base, but 1,267 feet above the tree-lined Belle Fourche River Valley. The stone formation is about 1,000 feet in diameter at the bottom and 275 feet at the top and that makes it the premier rock climbing challenge in the Black Hills.
Once we arrived at the monument, we walked on the paved path that encircles Devils Tower. We only spotted one rock climber as we circled the monument. On the path, we encountered signs to remind us that the monument is a sacred site of worship for many American Indians. Native Americans leave colorful prayer cloths tied to trees near its base.
Before leaving, we stopped by the visitor’s center so I could buy my souvenir magnet. After all, Devils Tower was the movie location for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
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