After the Crazy Horse Mountain Memorial in South Dakota, it was a 2 hours and 40 minutes drive to Devils Tower in Wyoming. We all had little sleep the night before. Sonya, Clara and myself dozed off while Justin drank a bottle of chicken essence and drove off to Devils Tower. When I woke up, we were still on the road and surrounded by lush green fields.
A little further on, we started seeing cracks or areas that had caved in in the fields and then later on, from signs on the road, we realized that there were actually landslides not too long ago. Some parts of the road were even affected by the landslide.
Still further, we started seeing these rock faces and then there were little black dots among the grass. The black dots turned out to be cattles grazing.
The GPS indicated that we were getting close to Devils Tower and we started looking out for it. We thought that it would probably stand out as the surrounding lands were rather flat. Do you see the fin-shape mountain at the bottom left-hand corner in the photo below? Well, that is Devils Tower!
The photos above were taken from outside the monument grounds. After we went into the park and got to see the mountain up close, we realized why it is so special.
In the photo below, you can see that the sides of the mountain were covered with vertical ridges. The scientific explanation is that "about 50 million years ago, 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..." (extracted from NPS brochure)
The Kiowa people say, "Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws and his body was covered with fur Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran, and the bear after them. They came to the stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them to climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper." (extracted from NPS brochure)
The Kiowa people say, "Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws and his body was covered with fur Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran, and the bear after them. They came to the stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them to climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper." (extracted from NPS brochure)
Thr birds that you see flying at above Devils Tower are prairie falcon. I tried to zoom in and get some close-up photos but they were just too far away. The tower is 876 feet from its base and its diameter is 1000 feet!
Sonya and Clara were still sleeping when we got to Devils Tower. I went for a toilet break and toured the visitor's center and when I came back, they were still asleep.
Justin decided to take a little nap too.
Finally, Sonya and Clara were awake. Clara was happy but Sonya was grouchy as usual and didn't want to take any photos.
We drove to another part of the compound where the brochure promised spectacular views of the tower. There we spotted a deer!
And then, on the other side, there were five wild turkeys feeding in the fields. I saw one of them by the road but it was not possible for Justin to stop the car. When he finally managed to turn the car around and go back to the spot where I saw the turkey, it was gone.
The view of the tower was much more spectacular here, as promised.
This is a photo of the car we rented.
Sonya finally agreed to take a photo from inside the car and I had to "bao" (carry) her like how I carried Clara.
On our way into the compounds of Devils Tower, the ranger told us about the prairie dogs. A whole field was filled with them. Clara was delighted, as with all other animals. Sonya was excited but when they got too close to her, she ran back into the car to hide.
We stayed overnight at a small town called Hulett. The town seemed right out of a Hollywood movie set. We called them cowboy towns and there were quite a few of them that we passed through over the next few days. Some of these towns are in the middle of nowhere and had a population of less than 50!
Sonya was happy once again when we got to the hotel room. See her smile :)
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