Devils Tower National Monument

 

Visited: March 2018

Nearby town: Sundance, WY; Hulett, WY

In the northeastern corner of Wyoming a unique, majestic, and somewhat eerie butte rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River.

The tower is very prominent and dominates the horizon. As you approach the National Monument, the moment the tower first comes into view is unforgettable and breathtaking. Even though the wintry weather slightly obstructed the view, it was still very impressive.

Devils Tower has a very unworldly appearance that contrasts with the surrounding countryside, its as if it fell from the sky and landed here. 😀 It's no wonder that Steven Spielberg used this location as a pivotal setting in his alien flick - Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Native American tribes have a number of legends and stories to explain the origin of the Tower. The Lakota tradition tells of seven little girls who were playing in the area, when a giant bear began to chase them. The young girls climbed to the top of a rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit caused the rock to rise towards the heavens so that the giant bear could not reach them. The bear tried to climb up the rock, but could not do so because the rock was too steep. The bear's claws left long grooves on the side of the tower - these distinct marks are still visible today. The girls eventually reached the sky and were turned into the stars now known as the Pleiades. The Lakota, Kiowa, Sioux, and Cheyenne tribes consider the Tower sacred.

Native Americans called the Tower either "Bear's House," "Bear's Lodge," or "Bear's Lair." The first non-natives to discover the Tower were scouts on an expedition led by Col. Richard Irving Dodge in 1875. Apparently, his interpreter inadvertently misinterpreted the native name to mean "Bad God's Tower" and thus the name "Devil's Tower" was bestowed on the now iconic landmark. The name stuck and Devils Tower National Monument was established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Devils Tower was the very first designated National Monument in the United States, created under the then-recent Antiquities Act. In 2005, many tribes introduced a proposal to officially refer to the tower as Bear Lodge Butte, but the attempt was unsuccessful.

The Tower is made up of igneous rock, specifically porphyritic phonolite. Geologists agree that the Tower was formed by the intrusion of igneous material, but they are not sure exactly how that process occurred. Some theorize that the tower is all that remains of an ancient, extinct volcano, others insist that it is a remnant of a laccolith - a large mass of igneous rock which is intruded through sedimentary rock beds without reaching the surface, but instead makes a rounded bulge (the tower itself) in the sedimentary layers above. 

The long, vertical hexagonal columns (columnar basalt) are about six feet in diameter. This columnar basalt rock formation is also found in Devils Postpile National Monument in California, and Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The columns are incredible. 

Be sure to stop at the Visitors Center, and then do the loop trail that goes around the base of the Tower. It offers great views of the Tower from all angles. It's only about a mile. Our visit was in late March, so we had snowy, wintry weather. But it was still an enjoyable hike.

We stayed the night in the tiny town of Hulett (they had a great pizza restaurant - of course, it was pretty much the only restaurant in town). Devils Tower, miles away but still very prominent and visible on the horizon, looms over the town.

Climbers love a good challenge, and Devils Tower presents a great challenge for climbers. The first known ascent was by local ranchers, William Rogers and Willard Ripley, in 1893. They constructed a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. Some of these wooden pegs are still intact. Many Native American tribes regard the Tower as sacred ground, and consider climbing the tower a desecration. This has caused some tension, however, a compromise was reached - there is no climbing of the Tower in the month of June. The month-long prohibition on climbing is not necessarily enforced, but almost all climbers respect it.

In 1941, George Hopkins parachuted onto the top of Devils Tower as a publicity stunt. He had intended to descend the Tower by use of a 1,000 ft rope - but the package (containing the rope, a sledge hammer and a car axle to be driven into the rock as an anchor point) that was dropped after his jump did not land on top of the tower. Mr. Hopkins was stranded. Hopkins was stuck on top of the Tower for six days until he was rescued by a climbing crew. Hopkins did gain publicity - and some notoriety - in the media at the time.  

Devils Tower is a great place to visit and pair up with a trip to Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota (although the Tower is in Wyoming, it's close to the border and only about a 2-hour drive from Mt. Rushmore). Devils Tower is an iconic, beautiful and unforgettable landmark. More info here: https://www.nps.gov/deto/index.htm

Scotts Bluff National Monument

Visited: March 2018

Nearby city: Scottsbluff, NE

Although not the highest point in Nebraska, Scotts Bluff is one of the most prominent peaks in the state. It is located in the extreme western edge of the state (in the Nebraska Panhandle).

These bluffs were a very important landmark on the long trails to the West - (Oregon Trail, California Trail, Pony Express Trail, Mormon Trail, etc.) They signaled to these pioneers that the flat, featureless plains they had been traversing were finally coming to an end...and the Rocky Mountains were about to begin. This was a great place to stop and prepare for the upcoming, arduous leg of the trek. Scotts Bluff is the second-most referred to landmark along these trails in the journals and diaries of these pioneers.

Towering over the North Platte River, the Native Americans referred to these bluffs as Me-a-pa-te - meaning "the hill that is hard to go around." The first non-natives to see the bluffs were fur traders traveling along the North Platte River in 1812. The most prominent bluff was named after Hiram Scott, a fur trader who died in the area during the expedition. The other bluff is named South Bluff. The gap between the two bluffs is known as Mitchell Pass.

Between 1843 -1869, over 250,000 emigrants passed along Scotts Bluff on their trek westward. 

The first non-native permanent settlement in the area was the town of Gering, founded in 1887. The town of Scottsbluff was established in 1900, across the bluffs on the other side of the North Platte River.

Due to the historical importance of this landmark, Scotts Bluff National Monument was established in 1919.

This is an interesting roadside stop and is worth spending an hour or two. Your first stop is the excellent visitors center at the base of the hill, with lots of information of the Oregon Trail, and all the other trails that passed by the bluffs. Spend some time here and then walk around the grounds for great views of the prominent bluff.

You can take a trail up to the top of the bluffs, or you can drive your car up to the top. This gives great, expansive views of the surrounding area.

The town of Gering.

Off in the distance, you can easily see another prominent landmark along the Oregon Trail: Chimney Rock. More on that below.

The bluffs are slowly eroding. This marker was placed on the bluff in the 1930s. When it was placed, the top the marker was level with the bluff. As you can see, in a little under a hundred years, the bluff has eroded several inches.

The town of Scottsbluff to the north.

The road that leads up to the top of the bluff.

Fun fact: the tunnels along the road to the top of the bluff are the only road tunnels in the entire state of Nebraska. 😀 *There is a railway tunnel in the state, but it has been abandoned since 1982.*

Learn more about the site here: https://www.nps.gov/scbl/index.htm

Bonus #1:

Chimney Rock National Historic Site

Just a few miles down the road is another prominent landmark along the Oregon Trail: Chimney Rock. 

Rising 286 ft above its surroundings, this beautiful, craggy peak, is made up primarily of brule clay, intermixed with volcanic ash and Arikaree sandstone.

Chimney Rock is designated as an NPS unit, however it is managed and administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society. There is a small museum at the site.

 Bonus #2:

Carhenge

About an hour's drive from Scotts Bluff, is one of my favorite quirky roadside attractions. Carhenge!

Just outside the small town of Alliance, you will find an exact replica of Stonehenge...but instead of being built with giant stones, it is made out of a variety of cars painted grey (and some partially buried in the ground).

An eccentric farmer and artist, Jim Reinders, constructed this homage to the ancient landmark in 1987.

There is also some other eccentric junkyard art to check out. It is pure Americana. I love this place. It's worth going a little out of your way to see.

a fish

dinosaur

"The Fourd Seasons" - representing the growth and death of corn

a covered "wagon"

If you find yourself in the Nebraska Panhandle - be sure to check out Scotts Bluff, Chimney Rock, and Carhenge.