Today we went from the campground over to the Devil's Tower Visitor Center where we began our hike around Devils Tower. It is an amazing sight to see, even more so when you realize the top of this (80,000,000 ton) rock was once covered by over a half mile of earth. All of the earth was eroded over time by the two massive rivers that scoured the earth away leaving only the 'hard' rock standing; all the other 'soft' rock was worn away.
Course, it didn't happen overnight. It's hard to get your mind around how how long a million years is, yet alone 50 million years. That's a long time and a lot of water 'under the bridge' (just kidding, there was no bridge).I'm not the only one to feel this is a special place. Some 22 different tribes of Native Americans felt this was a special and spiritual location. There is a history of people visiting this tower that goes back thousands of years. Many still leave prayer clothes tied to trees to honor this location.
Walking around the 3/4 mile hiking trail at it's base is pretty easy. The hard part is seeing where you are going since your eyes are continuously drawn upwards to look at the tower. Plus the rock climbers; we saw three teams of two climbers however I'm betting even more were there today. Of course the hardest part is dealing with how sore your neck gets from staring up at the tower for several hours.Rock climbing here is a bit controversial. The Native Americans feel it is an insult to the sacredness of the location to have people climbing the tower. The tower had a history of being climbed when it was made a National Monument in the early 1900's (in fact it's the US's first National Monument).
Two men decided to climb the mountain in the late 1880's. They drove oak stakes into one of the cracks to form a ladder to the top. Then they went to all the towns within 100 miles of the tower a left posters inviting everyone to see this momentous occasion on July 4th of that year. No admission was charged however by some lucky coincidence they happened to have a lot of ice cold drinks and sandwiches available for sale during the event. Apparently they made a small fortune for all of their effort as they became the first men to climb the tower.
It worked so well that two years later the wife of one of the men did the same thing; she advertised the event as a chance to see the first women climb the tower. And she did so. Of course, there were plenty of sandwiches and cold drinks available that day as well.
Despite the Native Americans wishes that climbing be banned, the Park Service allows climbing because the tower had a history of being climbed prior to becoming a National Monument. The Park Service does ask the climbers to voluntarily avoid climbing in June due to various religious ceremonies and events.
So I told you how I feel the tower is a very special and spiritual place. Beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing.
How does Mary Lynn feel about Devils Tower?
MLA's assessment is: drive by, take a few pictures and then head on down the road to Yellowstone where some 'real' beauty awaits us. She let me know it was worth seeing from a distance but didn't think it was necessary to hike around the tower. And it certainly wasn't worth me taking over 50 pictures of the big rock tower.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted...See Ya!
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