DEVIL'S TOWER
DEVIL'S TOWER
near Hulett, Wyoming is a volcanic neck located in the Black Hills. It rises dramaticalllyat 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain. Film director Steven Spielberg used the location in the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Our first sighting didn't impress Dan or me much---thought it may have been a wasted trip...
On getting closer, however, we began to understand the awesome enormity of it.
Dan and I hiked the perimeter trail around Devil's Tower which was a little awe-inspiring at times--
Climbers were also scaling it while we watched...with two arriving at the top.
About the time I thought we were getting to the end of the 1.3 mile hike (it was warm that day in the 90's and the trail was a little hilly) we came across the sign that revealed we were only half-way! It was fun though, and I'm glad we made the trip.
We also stopped in Deadwood and did a little gambling staying at the Holiday Inn Express there...Dan met a friendly Tatanka (Buffalo from the Black Hills).
HAPPY SO. DAKOTA/WYOMING TRAILS!
near Hulett, Wyoming is a volcanic neck located in the Black Hills. It rises dramaticalllyat 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain. Film director Steven Spielberg used the location in the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Our first sighting didn't impress Dan or me much---thought it may have been a wasted trip...
On getting closer, however, we began to understand the awesome enormity of it.The Tower is held sacred by many American Indians. According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa and the Lakota Sioux, some girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears who began to chase them...in an attempt to escape them the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees and began to pray to the Great Spirit to save them--upon hearing their prayers the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears in an effort to climb the rock left deep claw marks in the sides which had become too steep. Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devil's Tower. When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the star constellation Pleiades.
Dan and I hiked the perimeter trail around Devil's Tower which was a little awe-inspiring at times--
Climbers were also scaling it while we watched...with two arriving at the top.
About the time I thought we were getting to the end of the 1.3 mile hike (it was warm that day in the 90's and the trail was a little hilly) we came across the sign that revealed we were only half-way! It was fun though, and I'm glad we made the trip.
We also stopped in Deadwood and did a little gambling staying at the Holiday Inn Express there...Dan met a friendly Tatanka (Buffalo from the Black Hills).
HAPPY SO. DAKOTA/WYOMING TRAILS!
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