Day 7 Devil's Tower

 It was an hour's drive from Deadwood to western Wyoming to see the first designated (by Teddy Roosevelt) National Monument in the U.S. As we drove in we asked the ranger about the hike around the base. She said it was steep only at the beginning of the 1 1/4  mile hike. Sounded like a piece of cake to us and it was easy, beautiful and worth it to see this enormous igneous rock formation from every angle.





There are three theories about its formation but it was probably formed underground and cooled to form  4,5,6,and 7 sided columns as long as 600 ft. Several Native American tribes have legends about the formation and consider it a sacred place.


 The entire tower is about 1267' tall and it stands as a unique feature in a landscape that was once red rock and has been completely carved away by the Belle Fourche River. There were several groups of climbers on their way up. However, one did not need to go to extremes to appreciate Devil's Tower. As we returned to the parking lot several people stopped us to ask if the hike was worth it. We replied absolutely!



Back to the plane in Spearfish to our next destination Lawrence, KS and Jane. It was a hot 3 hour flight over bleak landscape until the farms of KS became visible. Jane was there to meet us and tomorrow we get to explore another college town.