DEVIL'S TOWER

 Devil's Tower is located in Wyoming. But, it is only about an hour and a half drive from us. We made the drive to see it. 

Devil's Tower is a butte composed of igneous rock in northeastern Wyoming.  Its summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.  Its claim to fame is that it is the first National Monument in the United States.  Theodore Roosevelt established it on September 24, 1906. The monument's boundary encloses an area of 1347 acres. The name Devil's Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a native name to mean "Bad God's Tower". All information signs in that area use the name "Devils Tower", following a geographic naming standard whereby the apostrophe is omitted.

In November 2014, Arvol Looking Horse proposed renaming the geographical feature "Bear Lodge" and submitted the request to the United States Board on Geographic Names. A second proposal was submitted to request that the U.S. acknowledge what it described as the "offensive" mistake in keeping the current name and to rename the monument and sacred site Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark. The formal public comment period ended in fall 2015. Local state senator Ogden Driskill opposed the change. The name was not changed.

Today, hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rocks of Devil's Tower each summer. The difficulty of these routes range from relatively easy to some of the most challenging in the world. All climbers are required to register with a park ranger before and after attempting a climb. No overnight camping at the summit is allowed; climbers return to base on the same day they ascend.

The Tower is sacred to several Plains tribes, including the Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa. Because of this, many Native American leaders objected to climbers ascending the monument, considering this to be a desecration. The climbers argued that they had a right to climb the Tower, since it is on federal land. A compromise was eventually reached with a voluntary climbing ban during the month of June when the tribes are conducting ceremonies around the monument. Climbers are asked, but not required, to stay off the Tower in June. According to the PBS documentary In the Light of Reverence, approximately 85% of climbers honor the ban and voluntarily choose not to climb the Tower during the month of June. However, several climbers along with the Mountain States Legal Foundation sued the Park Service, claiming an inappropriate government entanglement with religion.

We did the hike around the tower and saw climbers all the way around.

The tower looks different from different angles and sides. 

We had wanted to go to Sturgis to shop and eat dinner, but were running out of days.  We decided tonight was the night.  By the time we got there, a lot of the shops were closed, but we didn't have trouble finding a place to eat. This place had out of this world onion rings, but the rest of the food was terrible.  Or, at least mine was. I'm not quite sure what I thought Sturgis was going to look like. But, I was pleasantly surprised.  Great town and a lot bigger than I thought.