I recently visited Devils Tower National Monument. This enormous rock formation was made famous by the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The site was on the route I used during my road trip to see the eclipse, and I planned a brief detour. It was well worth it.
There's a paved path that circles the formation. We saw several mule deer while walking along the path.
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| Mule Deer |
The basalt columns are much larger than the similar rocks I've seen in Sedona and at Yellowstone National Park. The hexagons at Devils Tower are more like 10 feet thick. There's a huge rubble pile that circles the base of the tower. The rubble consists of boulders that fell from the tower.
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| Devils Tower |
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| Popular Climbing Route in Shadow |
There were at least three groups of rock climbers on the tower.
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| Rappelling Down Devils Tower |
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| Tiny Climbers (Lower middle) Ascending Devils Tower |
Like so much of this part of the US, prairie dogs are common. There was a town along the road in the park.
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| Prairie Dog |
This place turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. The trail around the base was a nice walk after a long day of hard driving.
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