DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT (WY)

THURSDAY - Well if you haven't guessed by now, today we are headed over to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

Devils Tower was our nation's first National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Still 15+ miles away, we got our first glance of Devils Tower while traveling north on WY-24.

Our next clear shot at seeing Devils Tower was about 5-miles outside of the park.

Here is a zoomed in shot from the same location.

This is not the campsite we ended up camping on.
We were waiting for the tent campers on Site B2 to finish packing up...

...so we could camp right next to Rod and Sharon who were already setup on Site B1.

After getting all unhooked and catching up with our friends on what they've been up to since we last camped with them in the middle of May at Capitol Reef National Park, we all hopped into their Jeep and headed up to the Visitor Center to get my Passport Book stamped and get our closest look yet at Devils Tower.

The view from the front porch of the Visitor Center.

After our short trip to the Visitor Center we returned to camp where the conversation eventually turned to, "What are we having for dinner?"

As always, when we camp with Rod and Sharon, we pool our food options together and end up with a delicious shared meal.

Rod grilled up some boneless pork chops and we contributed the green beans, garlic mashed potatoes and brownies with cream cheese icing baked fresh at Walmart from the day before.

For all you movie fans of Steven Spielberg's 1977 blockbuster film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", starring a then 30-year old Richard Dreyfuss, you may (or may not) appreciate our attempted parody of the mashed potato towers.

FRIDAY - This morning we all piled into the Jeep and headed for The Tower to begin our hike by 8:00AM.

We wanted an early start, before the crowds and before the temperatures would eventually reach the upper-90°Fs later in the afternoon.

We plan to hike the 1.7-mile loop trail around the base of the tower. It's about as close as you're going to get without applying for a permit to actually climb upon the tower.

HIKING DEVILS TOWER

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Here we are ready to begin our hike around The Tower.
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Every once in a while we would catch a glimpse of The Tower through the trees.
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Occaisionally there would be a short side trail to get you inside of the tree line.
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Every opening would give you a different perspective of The Tower.
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It's far from being a "round" tower as most believe.
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Boy was I happy when I saw this sign on the edge of the trail.
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This 300' wide area where the columns have cracked and slid off is called "The Window".
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Here's a closeup of "The Window".
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This is the South Face where most of the climbing is done.
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Most days there are a dozen or more climbers on The Tower.
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Today was no exception.
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Again, a different opening, and you get a different view.
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This side looks like a giant water slide doesn't it?
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This is the main boulder field and the trail goes right through the middle of it.
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Outside the campground is this large stone sculpture called "The Circle of Sacred Smoke".
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The white stone comes from the same quarry as Michaelangelo's marble in Italy.
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That's not quite the angle I was looking for...
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...that's it! Perfect!

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