Devils Tower

For a couple of nights, we stayed in a national forest campground just outside of Sundance, WY. It was so dark at night that when I turned out the lights, I thought I was going blind. Fortunately with my tinnitus (ringing in the ear), I didn't have a problem with the quiet.

In the northeast corner of Wyoming, about 30 miles from Sundance, is my favorite natural monument - Devils Tower. Here's the monolith rising from the surrounding land.


Of course I took too many pictures - here's my favorite. You can really see all the amazing flutes that make up the landmark.


What created this tower, you ask? Rather than copy the sign, I'll just post it. (You might have to click on it to read it.)


Here you can also see the base and rubble. We understand that small rocks fall fairly often, but it's been a long time since a large chuck fell.


All the sides look different. This one seems to have even more fluting and is more intact, but here the trail is farther away from the tower. I wonder if they're expecting it to crumble soon.


Hum. I think I see where this piece came from.


There is a charming Native American legend about the formation of the tower. Seven little girls were playing one day when a bear began to chase them. They climbed on a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock to save them. The rock grew upwards pushing them out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, leaving the marks you see today. The rock continued to grow and the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they became a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades.)


Devils Tower is very popular with climbers. Would you believe that Ron climbed up to get this shot of one of them?