Post by The Brez Man on Jul 6, 2010 12:48:55 GMT -5
We visited Devils Tower on July 5, 2009 and to this day is still the most single impressive site I have seen.
Driving towards Devils Tower there are a number of pulloffs for picture taking at a distance.
There is a nicely paved trail that will take you from the small Visitor's Center up to Devils Tower and goes around the entire base (1.3 miles total). Normal walking speed, it will take around an hour to walk around the entire base. Chances are very good that you will see people climbing the tower (weather permitting.)
The Ranger talk that we listened/watched was in a small covered area between the Visitor's Center and Devils Tower and the topic was climbing the tower. At that time, our Ranger had made 3 climbs. He had his climbing gear and explained it's usage as well as some history about the Tower and climbing it. Here's a bit of trivia for you as told by our Ranger - back in the 80s a well known climber by the name of Todd Skinner climbed Devils Tower in 18 minutes using NO EQUIPMENT and climbing SOLO! This is still the record time for the ascent of Devil's Tower.
Here's some very cool pictures of Devils Tower that I took:
This next picture is looking at the same part of Devils Tower, just zoomed in with my point and shoot Kodak camera. It gives you a good sense of the sheer size of it.
Alas, try as I might, I could find no traces of any alien landing strip as seen in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", but then again, they've had 30+ years to hide it!
If possible, I highly recommend watching "Close Encounters" prior to visiting Devils Tower. One thing you'll notice after you watch it and visit it in person, when the characters are approaching the tower on foot, they are being filmed approaching from almost all sides of the Tower! Something you probably wouldn't notice until you've been there and seen it in person.
Just outside of the NPS entrance is a little 'Trading Post' store where you can buy t-shirts, magnets, and other souvenirs as well as some food and drink. They had excellent bottled rootbeer!
Devil's Tower was about a 1 hr 15 min drive from Deadwood, SD which is only about a 50 min drive from Mt. Rushmore (just in case you plan on visiting the area.)
Driving towards Devils Tower there are a number of pulloffs for picture taking at a distance.
There is a nicely paved trail that will take you from the small Visitor's Center up to Devils Tower and goes around the entire base (1.3 miles total). Normal walking speed, it will take around an hour to walk around the entire base. Chances are very good that you will see people climbing the tower (weather permitting.)
The Ranger talk that we listened/watched was in a small covered area between the Visitor's Center and Devils Tower and the topic was climbing the tower. At that time, our Ranger had made 3 climbs. He had his climbing gear and explained it's usage as well as some history about the Tower and climbing it. Here's a bit of trivia for you as told by our Ranger - back in the 80s a well known climber by the name of Todd Skinner climbed Devils Tower in 18 minutes using NO EQUIPMENT and climbing SOLO! This is still the record time for the ascent of Devil's Tower.
Here's some very cool pictures of Devils Tower that I took:
This next picture is looking at the same part of Devils Tower, just zoomed in with my point and shoot Kodak camera. It gives you a good sense of the sheer size of it.
Alas, try as I might, I could find no traces of any alien landing strip as seen in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", but then again, they've had 30+ years to hide it!
If possible, I highly recommend watching "Close Encounters" prior to visiting Devils Tower. One thing you'll notice after you watch it and visit it in person, when the characters are approaching the tower on foot, they are being filmed approaching from almost all sides of the Tower! Something you probably wouldn't notice until you've been there and seen it in person.
Just outside of the NPS entrance is a little 'Trading Post' store where you can buy t-shirts, magnets, and other souvenirs as well as some food and drink. They had excellent bottled rootbeer!
Devil's Tower was about a 1 hr 15 min drive from Deadwood, SD which is only about a 50 min drive from Mt. Rushmore (just in case you plan on visiting the area.)