Devils Tower

Five tones,... just five tones and this place is famous.

Watch the movie with your family before your close encounter.

Rating:

5 beers out of a six pack that you found in your pantry that you didn't know you had! Bonus beer. This is a unique geologic formation that you won't find anywhere else.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming. This wasn't even on our trip itinerary, but we were in Deadwood, SD, and it was only an hour and a half away. Barbra Jean Jo Barbara and Randy Randerson aren't about to miss an opportunity like that, so off we went.

They keep this national treasure (as they do with most UFO landing sights) out in the middle of nowhere. Your GPS will give you three options and each is about as good as the next in a car, but we were in a 40 foot RV, so we went with the recommended route, I-90 to 14 to 24. It showed some 7% grades but nothing too daunting.

The roads were fine until we rounded over a hill to find that highway 14 had been washed away by a flash flood and the local Department of Transportation had put a temporary road (about a mile long) in its place. They had replaced the highway with what could only be described as "almost a road" made of rock and dirt.

As our rig, Sprinkles, is not Rubicon Trail rated (yet), so we began to get a little concerned as we rolled along this rough patch. With Randy Randerson, manly man, behind the wheel, Barbra Jean Jo Barbara was confident and had no doubt,.. that we would get stuck. Just like the movie "Close Encounters", we powered forward through it with white knuckles, a cold sweat, ignoring any and all obstacles in our path, and always maintaining that it would all be worth it once we got to Devil's Tower. Yes, we sounded crazy, but it was all worth it.

As you get closer to the National Park, please use the turnouts along the way to take photos. They have built them in the ideal locations and it truly is an impressive sight. This is a volcano chimney more than 1200 feet higher than the surrounding ground and it was left standing after its mountain had eroded away. The only rock formation of its kind.

This is the very first national national monument and was established in 1906. This, incidentally, was also the last time they improved the parking at the top. If you don't get there early, you will not be parking at the top. We took up one of the eight RV spots and were replaced by another camper seconds after we left.

Note: A warning to car drivers. At Devil's Tower, RV parking is only for RVs. They have park rangers that strand by the RV spots and hand out $100 fines for cars caught parking in RV spots.

Devil's Tower is enjoyed by people form all over the world as a one of a kind gemological formation, as a rock climbing dream, as a nature enthusiast, or a movie fan. Those of us that grew up in the '80s remember its likeness being molded from mashed potatoes by Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This was our inspiration for visiting this place and it was truly worth it. Being the nerds we are, we couldn't resist donning our silver colander helmets and googly-eyed, mirrored sunglasses for a pic with the tower in the background. Damnit, we are cool!!

Note: The rocks at the base are huge and have fallen from up to 1200 feet from above. They criss cross to create these little caves. DO NOT let the kids climb into a big hole and get out of site. These mini caves can go for quite a distance and are unstable. Kids have gone in and never come out.

There are trails that take you in a circle around the tower just at its base. We found that if you go around the tower counterclockwise, you have some fantastic views for about 3/4 of a mile, after this the view gets blocked with trees. There is a full circle around the base of the tower and it is a 1.3 mile walk around. Barbra Jean Jo Barbara and Randy Randerson were both beginning to sing death camp forced march songs before the end of the trail.

Make it your own adventure and remember to pack a lunch, the view is great for a picnic. We would love to hear your stories and hear what made it special for you.

We made these hats to be silly for photos, but as we were taking the selfie, a bunch of kids came up and wanted to borrow the hats to take photos in too. It was a lot of fun to see them laughing and having so much fun.

Tip:

Get there EARLY - it gets very crowded quick. 8am arrival is recommended.

Price:

Entrance Fee, 1-7 Day Vehicle Pass - $20.00