Devils Tower in the dawn

Arrival

Departure

I expected a feature as prominent as Devils Tower to be visible for miles in any direction. 

Granted, I looked for it in the thin light before dawn, in a part of Wyoming I scarcely knew. 

Boulder field at tower base

But the topography prevents distant views. The tower is not alone, not with the Little Missouri Buttes poking up nearby.  Devils Tower manages to hide among the tucks and folds in the Bear Lodge Mountains, Wyoming’s section of the Black Hills. the road to the first national monument gives only fleeting glimpses as it descends into foothills. 

 Only in the last miles before the monument entrance does the tower come fully into view. The tower stands 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River and 867 feet above its sandstone base. The stack of different geologic layers makes the tower even more awe-striking. Heading north through Hulett, it would disappear just as quickly, with a few scattered appearances before the Black Hills turned into high prairie. 

The land surrounding Devils Tower feels special since it must be experienced up close. Move more than a few miles away, and the tower fades from sight. 

 A road traverses much of the base, climbing to park headquarters near the popular trails and the massive boulder field before the core tower. A short spur road leads to the Joyner Ridge trailhead, a loop that offers more stunning views of the tower, with fields of deer for perspective. 

At the main parking lot, I counted four cars at 5:30 a.m., Dawn had only begun to cast the tower’s east face in stunning colors. By the time I left the Two loop trails around the tower – one flat, one more challenging – combine for a 4.1-mile hike. 

I almost congratulated myself until I saw the elevation at the visitor center, 4,250 feet above sea level, almost 2,000 feet lower than where I live. Multiple Native tribes consider the tower sacred. 

Along the Tower Trail, many prayer bundled and other items were tied to the trees by Native American visitors. The meaning of the shawls is particular to the person who hangs it in the sacred place. Along with cloth and beads, I spotted photos attached to some bundles. These items in the forest below the tower reminded me of the natural spring at Chief Plenty Coups’ house on the Crow reservation. 

That spring and Devils Tower, despite their differences in size, are both held sacred to Native peoples. Ancestors of the tribes near to Devils Tower have have many stories of the tower, known in some cultures as Bear Lodge. My favorite is that the columnar rocks were grooved by the claws of a giant bear trying to catch people who fled to the tower's top. That’s a hard image to best. 

The forested hills revealed a healthy population of white-tailed deer grazing in the dawn. They seemed acutely aware of the "no hunting" signs posted around the monument, some even standing on the edge of the road, barely concerned at the few early cars.

The most memorable noises at Devils Tower came from myriad bird species inhabiting the forests and the crags. Woodpeckers drilled for insects in dead trees and guarded their nests, sometimes fighting other woodpeckers. A wide range of other species, from bluebirds to robins to sparrows, all busied themselves around the tower’s base. 

Worry-free turkeys

Above them all soared the peregrine falcons, their screeches blotting out all other noises whenever they spoke. Turkey vultures also stuck to the heights near the summit. The top draws thousands of climbers annually to a flat acre with scrubby vegetation that is home to small rodents and even nonvenomous snakes. 

Below the tower the trails meander past any number of other residents. A trio of turkeys wandered along the Tower Trail. I slowed and watched them, only once did one fling out his wings in a defensive pose. Their warbles fit the morning, at times sounding akin to drips and bubbles of water. 

Other sounds accompanied fleeting sights. Along the eastern flank of the tower, a stiff mountain wind blew through the pines. At times it roared as I watched the rising sun light up the tower. The Window, a square spot on the tower where columns have broken off and give the appearance of a window. On the Tower Trail, I passed one person and saw two others head out.

East face at sunrise

The Window at sunrise

On the Red Beds Trail, I passed none. It was not entirely surprising; the trail is heavily exposed on its lower portion, although hiking counterclockwise returned me to a shaded path for the last mile. 

The Red Beds are sandstone formation that form the base upon which Devils Tower sits, and form a sharp contrast with the tower's rock. The crimson cliffs rise above the thin ribbon of the Belle Fourche and the nearby valley. The trail cuts across a few high mountain meadows before taking some steep switchbacks up to the flat ground at the tower trail. 

Red Beds along the park road

Red Beds above the river

Devils Tower has an intimidating feel, a skyscraper carved by time. Its mass looms prominently over the region, but the tower is part of a whole – the sandstone formations, the cutting river, the rich green foothills hemming the valley where the tower stands. 

 That Devils Tower was the first national monument seems appropriate, since it is the centerpiece of a beautiful tract of protected lands. 

Red Beds trail view of the Belle Forche, foothills