Devils Tower National Monument

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After a four day stay in Hill City and having seen the gorgeous Black Hills and Badlands National Park we departed and headed for Wyoming. The day began with the usual activities. Pack up the car, fill it with gas, clean the previous days bugs from the windshield, make note of our mileage for the previous day, get out Jeeves (the GPS), put the maps and the log book in the passenger side door slot, clean the camera lens and make sure the camera is on the appropriate settings. We were in North Dakota but close to the Wyoming border. Our route out of South Dakota was to be once again the most scenic available. Frank had done his research and had marked all the scenic routes on the maps for each state. We prefer to travel as many of the scenic routes as possible and stay away from the interstate highways. We set out on Route 385 heading for Spearfish via Deadwood. It was another fabulous day with a nice weather forecast. We have been lucky with the weather so far. Temp today started out at 80 F with blue skies and the occasional wispy white cloud. It is so fresh and clean out here. No city air pollution and just wide open spaces. When one stops along the roadside there is nothing to be heard but the wind in the trees and the occasional bird call. On the open prairies, you can hear the little yip of the prairie dogs. I held the tape recorder out the window with hopes of capturing their yips and we did record some of their "conversations".
The first photo stop for the day was at the Pactola Reservoir. Pactola Lake is the largest reservoir in the Black Hills of South Dakota. At the bottom of Pactola Lake is the submerged town of Pactola, an old mining camp and site of several military bivouacs during the original settlement of the Black Hills in the mid-1870s.
The lake provides the water supply for the Rapid City Metro Area. We had passed it in the late afternoon on the previous day and although we had stopped to take a photo, it appeared to be just another lake. Today because of the gorgeous lighting, it look really nice so I took another shot. This was Sunday of labour day weekend and the lake and surrounds were a buzz with activity. There were many boaters out on the lake, ATV's off trail and lots bikers on the roads. For many people in the northern climates, labour day weekend is usually considered the last weekend of the summer.
We continued onward and turned at Route 14A which travels through a canyon complete with a couple of picturesque waterfalls. The canyon was quite steep with a swift running creek on our right. We dropped down into the canyon for quite a while and suddenly the creek bed was dry as if it had been diverted somewhere upstream. We never found out where or why.
We pulled into Spearfish and stopped for lunch at the Seven Grill Sandwich and Soup Shack. I think I have the name right. It was another local restaurant with really good food. If you are ever in Spearfish and want some good food, this is the place.
After lunch we took I 90 for a few miles into Wyoming and made our first stop at their welcome center. It's always good to stop at the official welcome center for each state and load up on information of things to see and do. We had left the Black Hills of Dakota behind us and it was once again prairie land, rolling hills and wide open spaces.
Our objective for the afternoon was to see the Devils Tower National Monument. Devils Tower was America's First National Monument and rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River and the summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.. Once hidden, erosion has revealed Devils Tower. The name Devil's Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Col. Richard Irving Dodge when his interpreter misinterpreted the name to mean Bad God's Tower. This was later shortened to the Devil's Tower.
This 1347 acre park is covered with pine forests, woodlands, and grasslands. Deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife are found throughout the park The tower is also known as Bears Lodge, it is a sacred site for many American Indians. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument in 1906. The columns that create the Tower can be 4, 5, 6, or 7 sided. Some geologists believe the last column fell 10,000 years ago. It's a popular place for rock climbers and there were several there this afternoon. There was a trail around the base of the tower for those who wanted to see all sides. I walked up the steep path to the base to take photos and that was enough for me. Not only was the path very steep, but I'm out of shape and the elevation is over 5000 feet above sea level. I live at sea level and the air was a little thinner than usual for me. Well it sound like a good excuse anyway. Let's face it, I'm out of shape !!!! Signs along the path said that the area was held sacred by many American Indians and not to disturb the prayer bundles and prayer cloths.
Just as a side note, the tower was used in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If you saw the movie then you would have recognized the tower as being the monolith that the main character kept seeing in his mind as he heard those five very familiar musical notes.
It was late afternoon when we left the monument and because we had several hours of driving ahead of us, in the interest of time we went back to the interstate highway to head for Buffalo Wyoming. Because this is labour day weekend, we called ahead to reserve a room at the Comfort Inn in Buffalo. It was 8pm and dark when we arrived. The eventual high temp for the day had been 92 F. Hot but tolerable due to the lack of humidity. Tomorrow we will head further into Wyoming.

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Photos

Devils Tower Monument
The people in the bottom of the photo give you an idea of the size of the monument