Devils Tower is a
special place for me – one of those places I just had to visit despite that it is
"only" a National Monument instead of a National Park. This stems partly from my
last trip to this part of the world – the grand-tour-camping-trip with my parents in
1964. We had been to Yellowstone and were heading for Mt. Rushmore and we sped across
eastern Wyoming. Out of my window, I spotted some monolith in the distance, but Mom, who
had done a great job of trip planning, didn’t know what it was. Only later, probably
at Mt. Rushmore, did we figure out just what it was. It was too late. But not this time
– it was squarely and irrevocably on my agenda.
The Tower is actually a sacred place for many people,
especially local Indian Tribes. I heard or saw three versions of Indian legends about the
creation of the Tower, all of which involve a great bear. Here’s one I like best:
There were seven young
Indian girls playing one day away from the village when a great bear found them and began
to chase them. The girls ran, but the bear ran faster and was catching up. Finally
exhausted, they climbed up on a small rock and asked the rock to save them from the bear.
The rock began to grow higher, and by the time the bear arrived at the rock, he could not
reach them. The bear tried to climb the rock and leaped against it, but to no avail. All
he was able to do was to leave his giant claw scratches on the sides of the rock. The rock
grew all of the way to the sky, and the seven young girls became the Pleiades – what
we now refer to as the seven sisters constellation.
The true origin of the Devils Tower is volcanic. An ancient
volcano existed here on the plains about 60 million years ago. The magma from that volcano
filled its core until it became dormant and gradually cooled. Within the last half million
years, erosion took place and the softer outer portion of the volcano gradually wore
completely away, exposing the much harder core of magma. It too is wearing away, but at a
much slower rate. The base of the tower is filled with rubble from falling rock, but
geologists estimate that the last major shearing of rock occurred about ten thousand of
years ago. I guess that means you don’t have to hurry out here this year to see it,
but do put it on your agenda to see some day. It’s well worth the 25 miles
you’ll have to go off the Interstate highway to see it up close. When you get there,
treat it with respect – it’s easy to see why this is a sacred place to so many.
By the way, Devils Tower got it’s name because the first
white man to see it was told by the local Indians that it was the tower of the evil god.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made it America's first National Monument. Follow
this link to some of my favorite photos of the Devils Tower. 
I had one interesting encounter with other people at the Tower.
As I was coming down from the Visitor Center (it’s at the rubble base of the Tower,
not at the river plain where the Park entrance is located), I stopped at the Prairie Dog
town and met an older couple wearing bicycle helmets. He appeared to be about 80, and she
was probably more like 65. They asked how steep the climb was to the Visitor Center, and
stated that they planned to ride their bikes up to it the next morning. She told me they
had left home in Florida some time ago with their "Florida" bikes (probably old
coaster bikes), but had found that they did not work well in hilly terrain. So they had
purchased matching Trek mountain bikes somewhere in Oklahoma, which she proudly proceeded
to show me. I’m not sure what kind of vehicle they were traveling in, but it was sure
neat to see people their ages using bicycles at every opportunity along the way.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
