Devil's Tower

You may recognize this odd natural formation from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (filmed here as well as in our hometown of Mobile, Alabama). Devil's Tower National Monument is an igneous intrusion that stands out - or shall I say stands up at 867 feet - in the middle of grassy prairies and hills (and the middle of nowhere) in northeast Wyoming. So of course we had to come and see it, and hike around it.

Native American legend has it that a gigantic bear clawed Devil's Tower into existence. But science says it formed as molten rock cooled just under the earth's surface and as an ocean that once covered this area receded.

We hiked Tower Trail, a paved, 1.3-mile trail that starts in the parking lot of the visitor center. It is steep at first, but leads you to an easy walk along the base of the tower. The tower itself is a marvel to look at. I've never seen anything like it.

This is considered sacred ground, and Native Americans have attached prayer cloths to trees along the trail.

G says: I really loved how it was a rock that just formed out of the ground. It was huge.

L says: I liked how the Native Americans thought it was formed by a bear's claw and how they have prayer cloths on the trees there.