Devils Tower, Wyoming

          Another beautiful day for a drive, and we departed early for our 375 mile jaunt to South Dakota.  The top photo was taken as we drove southeast along I90 with the Rocky Mountains in the background and the Bozeman trail (used by early settlers) down in the valley.  We went through mountain range after mountain range, with a tremendous variety of terrain.  Wyoming was particularly desolate, much like Arizona but with more mountains--and, we were already up in high elevations throughout the state.

       As we approached Moorcraft, we got off the highway and headed north towards Devils Tower.  Jim felt like he could hear the five tones from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when he first saw the mountain!  The mountain towers 5112', coming off a valley that starts at 3850'.  It is most impressive as one drives up to it!
       After entering the park, we passed a huge Prarie Dog city, and probably saw 100 of the rodents running around.  Passed some antelope shortly after that, and kept seeing signs warning us to beware of Big Horn sheep.  Never saw any of them, though!

    

     There is an old Kiowa indian legend (apparently supported by several other tribes, too) on how the Tower came about.  The photo at the left is actually from a huge painting on the wall of the Ranger station, and illustrates the legend.  As told, there were 8 indian children playing, 7 girls and their brother.  All of a sudden the boy started growing claws, teeth, and  turned into a ferocious bear that started to attack his sisters.  They fled to where a large tree trunk called out to them to climb on and it would rescue them.  The trunk started growing, and became Devil's Tower.  The bear grew also, and tried to climb the Tower to get after the girls.  The rough lines running vertically on the Tower were made from his claws, trying to climb.  When the Tower stopped growing, the girls ascended into the heavens and became the 7 stars in the great dipper. 

     We thought this would be a good sight for Katahdin to see, also, so we had him pose in front of the monument.  Becky thought Jim should be in a picture, too, so here are two views of the bear claws on the Tower!

     We drove into South Dakota, and the Welcome Center was having some construction done, though no one was working.  In fact, they also walled off the area for brochures, so we couldn't get any info on the state there!  Driving through the Black Hills was quite an experience, as they were wooded, curvy, and somewhat different from any we had seen before.  One really got the idea you were in the middle of nowhere, and we guessed we were!  We drove through some really interesting looking towns that we will look forward to going back to in the next two days, particularly Deadwood (where Wild Bill Hickok died) and Hill City, where our campground is located.

     The Campground just opened for the season, and there are only 4 RV's here.  The dogs met another golden retriever, and had a great time running around with him!  We're getting used to being in empty campgrounds at this time of year--been to quite a few!