Well, it was 105 miles from our cabin at Blue Belle Lodge in South Dakota, but it was worth every minute of it to get to Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Sid stopped several miles away so I could get this long horizon shot of Devil's Tower and the Little Missouri Buttes nearby. I really like the way it turned out. I could hardly wait to get there. In our travels out west during my youth, we never made it to Devil's Tower. This was soooo memorable.
After checking in at the visitor center at the base of the tower, I stepped outside just in time for the flag to unfurl and create the postcard look above. The visitor center had a some exhibits featuring the Native American Indian legend regarding the formation of Devil's Tower and why it is so sacred to the Plains Tribes. There were also illustrations showing three different theories about the geological formation of the tower. It seems that scientists can't agree.
According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa and Lakota Sioux, two Sioux boys wandered far from their village when Mato the bear, a huge creature that had claws the size of teepee poles, spotted them, and wanted to eat them for breakfast. He was almost upon them when the boys prayed to Wakan Tanka the Creator to help them. They rose up on a huge rock, while Mato tried to get up from every side, leaving huge scratch marks as he did. Finally, he sauntered off, disappointed and discouraged. The bear came to rest east of the Black Hills at what is now Bear Butte. Wanblee, the eagle, helped the boys off the rock and back to their village. A painting depicting this legend by artist Herbert A. Collins hangs over the fireplace in the visitor's center at Devils Tower. I took a photo of that painting (above).
In recent years, climbing Devil's Tower has increased in popularity with about 5,000 climbers each year. The first known ascent of Devils Tower by any method occurred on July 4, 1893, and is accredited to William Rogers and Willard Ripley, local ranchers in the area. They completed this first ascent after constructing a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. A few of these wooden pegs are still intact and are visible on the tower when hiking along the 1.3 mile trail around the base. Sid and I hiked the trail and I took photos from every side of the tower. Even without binoculars, I spotted at least a dozen climbers while we were visiting. How many can you spot in the photo above?
Sid took a turn at climbing himself, but since he hadn't trained, he gave up rather quickly!
We were delighted to see the Prairie Dog Town along the road leading to Devil's Tower. I took a couple of photos on the fly as we passed and was surprised to find so many prairie dogs in each of the photos...how many do you see in the photo above? After an exciting visit, we returned to South Dakota making plans for the rest of our vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment