Devils Tower

Sturgis, SD - Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Woke to sunny skies with temperatures predicted to be in the 70’s, so it’s off to Devils Tower National Monument in  WY. Hope to do a little hiking. First we took a little side trip to Belle Fourche, SD. Their claim to fame is that they are the geographic center of the nation. We just had to see how a city so far north and west could be at the center of anything. The sign below explains how it happened.

 

They also had a very nice Tri State Museum there. After our little side track We took the back way to Devils Tower. Great scenery. Then all of a sudden this is what we saw in the distance.

We thought that was impressive until we got to the park. We took the Tower Trail that goes all the way around the base. We saw some climbers who were just getting to the top around 3:30pm. One of their Mom’s was watching and said they started at 8:30 that morning. Pretty impressive as it is a shear, straight up climb of 867’. 7 hours to get to the top.  We wonder how long it’ll take to get back down.  The Tower is definitely one of Mother Natures unique gifts.

Next stop in the park was Prairie Dog Town. We took the Valley View Trail that wound around their dens. It was so much fun watching them. Off in the distance they went about their business playing and eating, but the ones up closer to where we were walking would start to send out a warning “bark”. Then as we got closer they would pop back into their hole and the next one up the line would start.

 

“

Another adventurous day and back to BG.

BG Miles Today	0	BG Total Miles	2576
Eat Out total $	195.01	BG Total Fuel $	1271.39
Entertainment total $	44	Total Camping $	369.22
E Miles Today	261	E Total Miles	941.5
E Total Fuel $	169.19