Devils Tower

Leon only had three specific things on his list that he wanted to see on our sojourn and today we visited one. The man who was sent to confirm reports of gold in the Black Hills in 1875 named the towering laccoliths that the Indians called Bear Lodge.


The Indian legend was that a boy and his seven sisters were playing when a bear appeared where he was so the sisters ran to the stump of a great tree. As they climbed the tree it rose into the air but the bear scored the bark all around with his claws. The sisters became the stars of the Big Dipper.


The tower rises 867 feet and covers 1.5 acres at the top. We enjoyed a 1.3 mile walk on the asphalt path around the base. The small plants that grew among the boulders at the base provided some color.


Several folks were climbing it as about 5,000 do each year. What! You don't see the orange shirt about half way up? A ranger a few days ago set a record by climbing to the top in 17 minutes.


The Tower became a meeting place for the area ranchers in 1896 and they still convene for Old Settlers Day on Father's Day.Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed it the first national monument in 1906. Black-tailed prairie dogs live near the entrance to the monument.


Since it was early afternoon we decided not to camp there in their campgrounds. What if the aliens landed! The 91 degree temperature may have influenced that also. As we were leaving I spotted this deer trying to escape all the tourists.