D is for Devils Tower

My family will be visiting Devils Tower on Memorial Day.  The name of the tower actually has a grammatical error, which is recognized by the NPS.  During the dedication, they forgot the apostrophe.  Opps.  Minor error.  Bad translating also lead to the name of the Devils Tower.  It is also known as Bears Lodge.

Picture from NPS website

The plan is to leave Custer, SD earlier that day.  Make a few stops in Lead, Deadwood and Spearfish, SD before heading to our hotel in Sundance, WY for the night.


Once we reach Wyoming, the plan is the check into our hotel, grab some dinner at a local joint then head to Devils Tower to experience it at sunset.


The sunset on Devils Tower at 8:35 pm on May 29th.


Devils Tower National Park is open twenty four hours a day.  And it's said half of its beauty is at night.

Picture from NPS website

Devils Tower is a sacred place for Native Americans.  They used to live in the vicinity close to the tower and their ancestors still pass on stories relating to the tower. 


There is an abundance of wildlife at the towers.  Amphibians are one of the native creatures you can find there.  Amphibians have been described as the canary in the coal mine.  Amphibians are highly sensitive to environmental change, you know when they start dying out, the environment is not good.  Over a third of amphibians are in threatened status.  What do you all think of the anthropocene epoch?  It's real.


Our plan is to hike around the base of the tower and possibly go into the boulder fields for further exploration.