Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Day 16
Drive to Devils Tower National Monument, WY

Today we left South Dakota and Custer State Park for Devils Tower in Wyoming. I now know that the name is spelled “incorrectly” without the apostrophe due to some type of clerical type-o when the park was designated. It was never corrected, so it’s Devils Tower, not Devil’s Tower.

Rising some 867 feet from its base to its top, the tower is such a unique site to see. It is so stark and barren in appearance with extremely straight sides and appears grooved due to massive rock columns. The mountain was formed when about 60 million years ago magma upwelled beneath the crust of the earth and did not break through the surface. Instead it cooled and formed the rock that is now Devils Tower. The rock is called phonolite porphyry and is a rare type of rock in this part of the world. The columns were formed as the rock cooled and contracted, causing it to fracture. Over millions of years, erosion carried away the softer sedimentary rocks that were above and around Devils Tower and exposed it. The rock Devils Tower is made of is igneous rock and is much less susceptible to erosion.

Neat, huh? And this was America’s first National Monument. In 1906 Theodore Roosevelt declared Devils Tower the first National Monument under the Antiquities Act. Wyoming is also home to the first National Park, which we will be visiting in a few days, Yellowstone!

The kids got another Junior Ranger Badge here, and it was a challenging one to obtain. The hardest yet! But they learned a lot, and so did we. We also hiked the 1.3-mile trail around the base of the tower, which was harder than it seemed it would be, even though it was a paved trail. It is very hot here today and much of the walk was in the sunlight. We are camping right in the National Monument Campground for only $12.00, even though the KOA down the road was looking pretty appealing with its pool, etc. We are trying to save money where we can, and the experience of really camping (even though we are using the generator and the A/C) is a good one!

Tonight I am cooking SPAM for the first time in my life! Actually, Rod is frying it over the campfire. Last night we had beans and hotdogs and the kids made their hot dogs on a stick right in the campfire. Thanks for that tip from one of my old roomies, I think it was Nina, but I’m not sure! We also made roasted corn over the fire last night. Tonight is Mac and Cheese with SPAM (purchased at the SPAM museum).

Tomorrow we are on our way to Yellowstone, but stopping half way there at Bighorn National Forest.