Have you ever seen that 1970s movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind? You know, the one where the guy built the mountain out of mashed potatoes, and then out of clay in his living room? Did you ever think that place really existed? I certainly didn’t!
Not until we were planning our route from Fargo, North Dakota to Yellowstone National Park a few years ago. On the map we spotted the name Devils Tower (no apostrophe). And a quick internet search revealed that we absolutely HAD to go there.
My first glimpse of Devils Tower gave me goose bumps. A circular cliff, 1,267 feet high and about 800 feet in diameter at its base, standing proud of the rolling, snow-covered hills like a giant tree stump made of rock.
The body of the tower actually formed underground. Magma most likely pushed (or ‘intruded’) its way into pre-existing layers of sedimentary rocks, although some scientists believe the rocks of the tower originally formed a plug within the neck of a volcano. In either case, as the crystalline rock (phonolite porphyry) of the magma slowly cooled, it arranged itself into regular columns, with anywhere from four to seven sides. Then, as the surrounding material gradually eroded away over millions of years, the much harder magma wore away a lot more slowly, and Devils Tower gradually rose into the sky.
President Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed that, in 1906, he made Devils Tower the United States’ first National Monument. And climbers flock from far and wide to scale the parallel joints between the columns.
Remains of the wooden ladder constructed during the first documented ascent of the tower on July 4th, 1893
It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it!
We pulled into the empty parking lot at the base of the tower. Clearly we were the first visitors of the day. Hardly surprising, as it was the middle of February.
We set off to hike the 1.3 miles around the tower. In front of us was virgin snow, which we left broken by our tracks as we passed. On more than one occasion, we took a wrong turn in the boulder field at the base of the tower and had to backtrack slightly, brushing away the snow with our feet in order to find the trail.
The hour and a half it took us to circumnavigate the tower was out of this world. We ploughed forwards through the deep winter snow, the jointed cliff face of Devils Tower always looming hundreds of feet into the snow-laden skies to our left.
We returned to the parking lot, our faces glowing red from the cold, to find our car still standing alone. As we drove gingerly back down the hill towards the Visitors’ Centre, a lone vehicle was making its way up to the parking lot. I guess it was their turn to have the spectacular and eerie Devils Tower all to themselves.
This post was inspired by two of Cee’s (from Cee’s Photography) challenges this week. Firstly, the current theme for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is Joints and/or Things You Enjoy. Secondly, this post also fits well with Cee’s Which Way Challenge.
When you’ve finished contemplating the uniqueness of the Devils Tower, why not sign up and follow my continuing Journeys here at Jaspa’s Journal (on WordPress or Bloglovin’), or through my website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr?
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Looks cool with the snow, but how cold was Wyoming in the winter?
Pretty bloomin’ cold, Ben. But very cool (sorry for the pun!), and fantastically free of crowds!
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Great images, Jaspa! Well done.
Thanks very much, Kongo!
I grew up in Wyoming, so yes, I know of Devils Tower. I passed it often during my four years of driving between home and college in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It doesn’t usually have “the” before its name. Beautiful photos with the snow!
Your comment about the ‘the’ is interesting. I’ve heard that sort of thing before. Apparently saying ‘the Ukraine’ is like saying ‘the England’, for example. I’ll have to go back and correct my post! Thanks!
I’m not positive it’s correct, but I’ve never heard it referred to as “The Devils Tower,” which may explain why there is no apostrophe. I remember wondering the same thing about the Yukon.
I finally got around to eliminating the erroneous ‘the’ from my post, Randee. Thanks again for the advice.
I also discovered that the missing apostrophe was dropped when ‘Devils Tower’ was designated a geological formation. Apparently, official geological nomenclature doesn’t use apostrophes.
Well, that’s interesting! I know I have wondered about such things in the past and with other place names.
That must have been an impressive place to visit. I’ve only see it on TV or the movies. Great closeups.
It’s definitely worth the drive, Cee!
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