We spent four days camped at Devil's Tower. The campground was typical of government campgrounds. No hookups, no showers not even a dump station but what a beautiful location. We were right at the base of the tower surrounded by huge old cottonwood trees. From our camp site you could look through the trees and see the tower. What an impressive view. On one side of the campground was the prairie dog town and almost every evening a deer would come by. In the morning we would sit and watch the rabbits.
This is the first view of the tower as you come over the hill. It's about a mile away from the entrance to the monument. Notice the three hills on the left in the distance. They actually are higher than the tower and in a couple of million years probably will be more impressive than the tower is today. The tower is 867 feet high from the visitor center. Remember this is the main object in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Since that movie was released their number of visitors have greatly increased.
This is one of the first thing you see as you drive in. It is a large prairie dog town. Every time you drive past it you see little heads poked up all over the place.
This is the view from the first pull off in the park.7/31/2007
This is the beginning of the trail around the base of the tower. Any day that you are on the top side of the grass is a good day, but you know some days just are special. Today was one of those special days. We got up early to beat the crowd and to go when it was cooler. The trail around the tower is 1.3 mile and is black topped all the way. It follows the base of the tower just out side the fallen rocks. They have benches every so often, especially at scenic overlooks. It was so quite and peaceful, the views were spectacular, both of the tower and the scenery it just made it special. We took our time and really enjoyed the whole scene and I made it all the way around.
This is the rubble at the base of the tower. These are the remains of the columns that have fallen to give the tower it's distinctive shape. According to the literature no columns have fallen since the tower was made a monument in 1906. By the way this was the first national monument, so Wyoming has the distinction of having the first national park and the first national monument.
This is just one of the views on the trail. It was so quite you could hear the wind singing in the trees.
Even the deer were enjoying the morning. There was another one there also but she was harder to see. I said she because it had no antlers.
This is the north face of the tower. Notice how much more the top is cracked than lower down the sides. The top of course it has been exposed longer and therefore has weathered more. The top of the tower is about one and a fourth acres. It is not flat but dome shaped and rather rugged. Just about every day in the summer some one is climbing the tower. There are no restrictions on climbing it. You do not have to have any experience as a climber, all you have to do is register at the park office. It usually takes about four hours to climb it. The record is 18 minutes according to the literature. One man parachuted on top. He was an inexperienced climber. It took them 4 days to get him down. Needless to say he paid a fine.
This is the beginning of the trail around the base of the tower. Any day that you are on the top side of the grass is a good day, but you know some days just are special. Today was one of those special days. We got up early to beat the crowd and to go when it was cooler. The trail around the tower is 1.3 mile and is black topped all the way. It follows the base of the tower just out side the fallen rocks. They have benches every so often, especially at scenic overlooks. It was so quite and peaceful, the views were spectacular, both of the tower and the scenery it just made it special. We took our time and really enjoyed the whole scene and I made it all the way around.
This is the rubble at the base of the tower. These are the remains of the columns that have fallen to give the tower it's distinctive shape. According to the literature no columns have fallen since the tower was made a monument in 1906. By the way this was the first national monument, so Wyoming has the distinction of having the first national park and the first national monument.
This is just one of the views on the trail. It was so quite you could hear the wind singing in the trees.
Even the deer were enjoying the morning. There was another one there also but she was harder to see. I said she because it had no antlers.
This is the north face of the tower. Notice how much more the top is cracked than lower down the sides. The top of course it has been exposed longer and therefore has weathered more. The top of the tower is about one and a fourth acres. It is not flat but dome shaped and rather rugged. Just about every day in the summer some one is climbing the tower. There are no restrictions on climbing it. You do not have to have any experience as a climber, all you have to do is register at the park office. It usually takes about four hours to climb it. The record is 18 minutes according to the literature. One man parachuted on top. He was an inexperienced climber. It took them 4 days to get him down. Needless to say he paid a fine.
