We ventured into Wyoming today, a state I had previously not been in, to see Devils Tower. Almost immediately after the entrance is a Prairie Dog Town, where the black-tailed prairie dogs live and play. These communal animals have always been one of my favorites, although, like groundhogs, cause damage in fields and aren’t favorites of farmers.
Once at the Visitor Center, we took the Tower Trail, a 1.3 hike around the Tower. It looks different from each angle and at least in three places we spotted climbers working their way up the 867 feet. The tower stands 5,112 feet above sea level and the area of its teardrop-shaped top is 1.5 acres. The diameter of the base is 1,000 feet.
About 50 million years ago underground molten magma was forced into sedimentary rocks above it and cooled underground. As it cooled, it contracted and fractured into columns. Over millions of years, erosion of the sedimentary rock exposed Devils Tower.
In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument, making Wyoming the home of both the first national park (Yellowstone) and our first monument. It’s claim to fame, though, might be its role in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
Some words that came to mind when describing Devils Tower were: ominous, mysterious, multi-dimentional, spooky, other worldly, and awe inspiring.