We awakened in our beautiful campground at Devil’s
Tower to sunshine and a little cooler temp.
The Tower looks different in morning light. We have about 100 pictures of it when we are
done. We drive up to the Visitors Center
about 2 miles away, 4400 ft. elevation.
It is the original WPA log cabin with fireplace and beamed
ceilings. There is a second cabin that
is for climber registration. We’re early and almost no one is there. We hike the path around the Tower. There are incredible views of this monolith
and broad Belle Fourche valley vistas.
We spot two sets of climbers, climbing straight up the lava
columns. Can’t imagine the guts it takes
to do it. The old 1893 wooden ladder
used by early climbers is still in place.
Wouldn’t use it today. About 5000
climbers come here a year. The month of
June is a spiritual month at the Tower for Natives. We see prayer ribbons and shawls in hanging
from branches. On solstice they hold a
special ceremony. The hike is through a
pleasant Ponderosa pine forest. There are large burn areas. The Park started a controlled fire last
Wednesday and it got out of control. It
was obvious that it was recent. We found
out that the buffalo chasing the horse was from their anxiety from being
displaced from their pasture due to the fire.
The buffalo had a calf and was the leader for 3 long horn steers. The horses had colts so they were all
nervous. The Tower has the highest lava columns in the world. They are all either 4, 5, 6 or 7 sided. Australia has Ayers Rock, we have Devil’s
Tower.
Driving
on to Montana winding through red rock and black pine on two lane Rt 112. We climb to a massive plateau and the land
changes to buttes, dry whitish soil and desert type plants. Think High Plains Drifter. Lots of sheep, deer and cattle and very
little water. We enter the Northern
Cheyenne Reservation, passing small villages, little houses and always
horses. Some horses are tethered by the
stop sign in town for grazing. We then
enter the Crow Agency where the Little Bighorn Battle ground is located. It is a national monument. What is most amazing is the huge expanse of
open land. Lots of people died here
where Custer made his stand. It is with
mixed emotions reading about it. It is a
national cemetery for US soldiers. The
Natives have added their dedications to their dead and the outcome of the
battle. There are prayer ribbons in one
of the bushes. We don’t have time to
take the 10 mile drive but we think we have a good sense of it. There is snow on the mountains in the
distance. We join up with I90 West
again. We are ever climbing toward the
continental divide. We arrive at
Billings, Mt. It is a fairly large city
with two big refineries. Exxon/Shell and
Conoco are the main companies. We are
pleasantly surprised to find the Yellowstone River runs through here. We stayed at the mouth of the river in the
Yellowstone Park two years ago. We camp
at the local KOA. It is a happy
coincidence that this is the original KOA in the US established in 1962. It is an incredibly nice campground. We have water and electric and WiFi and
laundry facilities. Best of all we have
individual private showers/bathrooms nearby.
We have a quick walk bay the river.
It is rushing by with a lot of sand from the bluffs. We know this is coming from the upstream
melt. We spy two deer drinking by the
river. A fellow is fishing.
We got up into the mid 80’s today. The good thing is that it cools down at
night. We will get to 47 degrees
tonight.
Long but interesting day. Good night.
Miles: 273
Hours: 6 hours
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