Flexibility is one of the key features of a modern traveler. Sometimes your carefully planned trip gets relentlessly disrupted by vicious external forces, and you have no other choice than adjust it. Devils Tower wasn’t part of our plan. Devils Tower wasn’t even on our bucket list. Actually, I have never even heard about it before. And yet, my fingers are dancing on the keyboard eager to tell you about my unforgettable experience there, in the middle of nowhere.
Unplanned trip to Wyoming
“Well, we have several hours to kill, let’s go to Devils Tower” – Tyler told me. I nodded my head – let’s go. After all, at least it will be a new state for me since I’ve never been to Wyoming before. It didn’t take long to realize that we entered the least populated state in the US. In more than half an hour we saw just one bigger town. For miles, we were surrounded just by endless meadows. Some farms were spread out in the endless fields. A perfect place for farming. Wyoming looked beautiful but felt so isolated at the same time. “Gosh, if part of the Yellowstone National Park wouldn’t be in Wyoming, there would be no reason to go there at all” – I caught myself thinking.
Devils Tower is located in the Black Hills, the northeast side of Wyoming. The Belle Fourche River flows right next to it, and its valley used to be a perfect place for cattle. I spotted Devils Tower from miles away. It looked so weird like someone took it from another place and just transferred it to the middle of the valley. For some reason, I thought that it wouldn’t be possible to drive up close to Devils Tower. Luckily, I was wrong. The closer we got, the more majestic it looked and felt. Once we reached the visitor center, it became clear that I can even touch it if I want. This is how close we were.
The origin of the name
At first, I thought that tower’s name originated from its weirdness, of that impression of being transferred from one place to another by some evil spirit. The truth is simpler. In 1875, an interpreter misunderstood Native Americans during an expedition and changed the tower’s name from “Bad God’s Tower” to simply “Devil’s Tower.”
Different Native American tribes call this tower in various ways. Some of these names include Bear’s House, Bear’s Lodge, Home of the Bear, etc. Other names are Tree Rock, Aloft on a Rock, Brown Buffalo Horn, Great Gray Horn, to name a few.
The geology of Devils Tower
I’m far from a geology expert, but I’ll try my best to explain the formation of Devils Tower. Of course, like most geological processes, it started millions of years ago. In this case, about 50 million years. Back then, hot magma was forced into the sedimentary rock above and cooled underground. As the temperature of magma dropped, it contracted, forming distinctive columns. Within time, erosion of sedimentary rock uncovered Devils Tower.
Devils Tower rises 867 feet (264 m) from its base. It is also 1267 feet (386 m) above the river level and 5112 feet (1558 m) above the sea level. The area of its top is 1.5 acres (6070 m2), the diameter of its base is 1000 feet (304 m). Impressive numbers.
Devils Tower in Native American culture
This place is significant to Native Americans. First of all, stories of the formation of Devils Tower appear in their folklore. Despite their variations from one tribe to another, the presence of a bear is significant. Kiowa and Lakota tribes tell a story about girls playing together until several giant bears started chasing them and wanted to eat them. In an attempt to escape the bears, the girls jumped on top of a rock and started praying to the Great Spirit to help them. The Great Spirit heard their prayers and made the rock rise from the ground to the sky so bears couldn’t reach them. The hungry giant bears tried to reach the girls and left deep claw marks on the tower sides that can be seen even today. This is how nicely native tribes explained a geological phenomenon.
Also today, many personal or group ceremonies, for example, sun dances, are held near the Devils Tower. However, the most popular ritual is prayer offerings. There are a lot of colorful clothes tied on the branches of the trees surrounding the tower. It demonstrates a personal connection to this place. These ceremonial objects represent a request, a person making an offering, or left as a sign of remembrance of something or someone special. As an analogy in western culture, we could compare this to a candle lit in a church or a coin thrown in a fountain.
Climbers
The most popular tail around the Devils Tower is the so-called Tower Trail that circles for 1.3 miles (2 km). At a slow pace, it will take less than one hour to walk around it. The trail is paved, perfectly maintained, and has several rest areas on the way with beautiful panoramic views of the Belle Fourche valley. Walking down this trail, you will be as close to the Tower as possible. Unless…
Unless you decide to climb it, you need to register and get the authorities’ permission. I was astonished when I learned that people really do that? The Tower looked for me too steep, too dangerous, and all these cracks don’t make it look any safer. And yet, crazy adrenaline junkies do this. When we walked down the Tower trail, we saw four climbers who wanted to reach the top of the tower to see the July 4th fireworks. Back then, they probably didn’t know that the fireworks were canceled due to wildfire hazards. Anyway, even looking at these miniature moving white helmets, my head spun. Don’t get me wrong – I have enormous respect for such people because I could never do this myself.
Devils Tower in a nutshell
There is just one thing to say: if you’ll be not far from there, visit Devils Tower.
