Devils Tower National Monument

After touring the Biltmore, we said goodbye to my parents and Samantha. We headed west and made it all the way to my sister Kathleen and brother-in-law Steve’s house in Oak Grove, Missouri. We stayed overnight but headed out very early the next morning as Kathleen and Steve will be joining us in a few weeks. After another long day in the car, we arrived at Devils Tower National Monument. Bear Lodge is one of the many American Indian names for the tower. Colonel Richard Dodge named it Devils Tower in 1875 and in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt made Devils Tower the first national monument. William Rodgers was the first known person to ascent the tower using a wooden ladder for the first 350 feet. Now, over 5,000 people climb the tower each year.

We had a great view of the tower from our campsite. After dinner, Matt and Eli watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the campground theater while I cleaned up and read for a bit. The next morning we got an early start and hiked around the tower following the Tower Trail. We stopped to watch three groups of climbers on the south and east side. It was a beautiful morning, and we were glad we beat the crowds visiting on 4^th of July. As we headed back to the campground, we stopped at a little prairie dog area as Eli loves prairie dogs.

All of us were glad we stopped at Devils Tower. It reminded me of a giant Devils Postpile, located near Mammoth, California. The area was beautiful, and the tower history and geology were very interesting.