Hello Wyoming, land of the sunlight clear!
Hello road trip week! So this road trip is one that I had been dreaming about and I am so glad I get to virtually drag you with me through Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska!
On Day 0, I flew into the Denver International Airport (at way to late at night) and stayed in a hotel near the airport rental car center. Turns out the hotel was having some issues which made wish I had chosen to camp.... A busted AC, a constantly running toilet, and a ton of lobby noise did not make for a night of blissful sleep.
Day 1 of my trip came after a night of tossing and turning, and I was ready to kick off my journey with a six hour drive north from Denver to Hulett Wyoming! Along the drive there were cool rock formations like Red Butte (below on the right) and other unnamed but cool geographic features (below to the left).
What is in Hulett Wyoming you might ask? Well you can see below that it is a cute town. But that is not a draw for me to make the six hour journey.
Devils Tower National Monument! I have been dreaming about going here since the 7th grade when I saw a photo of the geological structure and became mesmerized! And the first vista's of Devils tower confirmed all that my childhood self had longed to gaze upon.
Seeing this structure up close made it easy to understand why it was named as Americas first National Monument. It was established on September 24, 1906 by Teddy Roosevelt. However, this place has been protected long before its modern label. Many indigenous populations viewed this land as sacred. The Arapahoes, Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Lakota, and Shoshone all have ties to this land and have a variety of names for the sacred spaced such as "Bear's Tipi", "Bear's Lodge," "Bear's House," and "Bear Peak." Even to this day ceremonies take place. Prayer satchels dot the base of the monument and visitors are asked not to touch, remove, or photograph the satchels. [ 0 ]
The bolder field, at the base of the Tower, is as far as you can rock scramble before needing a climbing permit, And for those who know me ya'll know that is more adventure than I care to pursue. But the hike around the base offered a variety of scenes and explained that the 13-acre field of boulders, that compose the base, were created by weathering and eroding. There are absolutely massive rocks at the base! [ 1 ] Other signs explain that the Tower is composed of a rare igneous rock called phonolite porphyry. The tower is the largest example of "columnar jointing" (aka 5 sided rock caused by how magma and lava cool) in the world! [ 2 ]
Oh and I forgot to mention I found this very curious magpie that decided to pose for a photo!
The sunset was breath taking. I sat along the trail and drank in the view until it was dark out and the moon began to bath the Tower. I simply did not want to take my eyes off of the wonder. Luckily enough for me, I got to camp at the foot of the structure in the KOA.
Turns out this was an adventure for me because the KOA and surrounding area did not have jetboil sized fuel, since it was the off tourist season. I had not brought my converter for standard sized fuel so I had to have a dinner of my normal lunch tuna fish meals instead of my hot bowl. But lesson learned! Bring your converter!
The next morning I woke to the once again mesmerizing monument. With no jetboil there was no coffee easily at hand. I left the KOA as the suns rays lit the monument, and headed for the nearest coffee shop of Kaffee Klatsch in Newcastle Wyoming. Ya'll they had traditional chia and a delicious breakfast sandwich! Fully caffeinated, I headed out again to South Dakota to see the caves, trees, and formations that make up the Black Hills!
[ 0 ] https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/historyculture/reverence.htm
[ 1 ] https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/nature/geologicformations.htm
[ 2 ] https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/nature/tower-formation.htm
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