Traveling West

Today we were up early and ready to start a new adventure. However, we couldn’t leave until we had our hugs from Geri and Larry. Thanks guys for a great time and for providing a nice park. Okay, time to roll. For today’s journey to Devils Tower, Wyoming,

Jim was the designated leader. We took the more scenic drive and these were

the signs we had to follow. But, what a pretty drive it was. For a little over 100 miles we saw

fences that were build to hold back snow drifts from getting on the roadways, and

old barns, and

farms that were all along the foothills. Then is wasn’t long until we got our first glimpse of

Devils Tower. This beautiful rock formation rises up 867 feet against the sky and is 1,267 feet above the river. It was named the first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1906. The park is open year round and offers camping, hiking, and climbing.

We continued on to the

KOA where we were quickly registered and settled in

to our sites. We had a great view of

Devils Tower right out of our living room window.

With a combined effort, we put together a lunch of grilled trout, rice with broccoli, fresh veggies with dip, and watermelon. After lunch, we piled in Jim and Ellie’s car and headed up the road to the monument park where we planned to hike the 1.3 mile loop around the base of the tower.

This is the look

from the visitor’s center. As we headed up the trial, one of the first signs we saw read

This area around the tower is a very prayerful and sacred place to the Indians. And, all through the park we saw the

prayer cloths hanging in the trees.

As we walked around the trail we also saw

were the porcupines rub the bark off of the trees trying to get to the sweet layer underneath. And, then we saw

pretty flowering plants. And, at one spot on the trail, you could see far below the

Belle Fourche River which carved most of the landscape that exposed Devils Tower. In the 1700’s French fur trappers named it the pretty fork river.

As we circled the tower, each side

had a different look. And, if you looked

really close and really high, you could see all these people climbing the rocks. Crazy!

As we made our way on around the trail, we finally came to the

where Mark and Jim

took a short rest. Come on guys we still have another half to go and

these clouds don’t look real promising. Thank goodness the wind blew them right on over and we stayed dry.

We finished the hike with no problem and even took a short rest once we got back to the visitor center. Then as we were leaving the park, we stopped by to see

the Black-tailed prairie dogs that live in their own little town near the monument entrance. There were hundreds of them popping up everywhere. They were really cute, but the sign warns….don’t feed or approach the prairie dogs, they can bite!

Once we were out of the park, we made a stop

at the trading post where Mark and Jim treated themselves to ice cream while Ellie and I looked at all the t-shirts and trinkets. Then it was on to the RV Park which was just across the street.

We looked through the KOA’s general store and then settled in back a the motor homes. We sat outside for awhile just relaxing and discussing the travel plan for tomorrow.

What a fun day this has been and I am so glad we took the time to stop here even just for the day. So, for now, I will say

“see ya” tomorrow from Hardin, Montana where we are going to visit Little Big Horn Battleground!