Living in Spearfish is cool not just because Spearfish is cool but because it's so close to so much cool stuff. Yesterday we piled into the Bug and drove 62 miles on Old U.S. 14 and Wyoming 24 to see one of America's natural wonders: Devil's Tower.
Wow.
Wow wow wow.
No need to add aliens to make me say wow. I nonetheless include the cropped little humanoid at bottom as homage to the slide Dad showed us when we were little that had just Uncle Les's eyes at the bottom. Dad said Uncle Les was going to jump up and say boo. The thought of that slide still gives me a minor case of heebie-jeebies.
We got in free for National Public Lands Day. The Park Service even served visitors cake to celebrate the 105th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt's declaration of Devil's Tower as America's first national monument, under the President's expanded interpretation of the powers given him under the Antiquities Act. Government does something right again!
Our Lakota brothers call the tower Mato Tipila, Bear Lodge. The Cheyenne call it Na Kovea, Grizzly Bear's House. Early wasicu maps called it Bear Lodge, but then the Army came marching through with bad translators and applied the misnomer Devil's Tower. Government goofs again!
Readers are welcome to draw their own conclusions about what the Devil's Tower National Monument tells us about the benefits and bumblings of government. But for Pete's sake, put on your hiking shoes and come see this geological wonder of the great American West!
The name Devil's Tower has to bring in more tourists.
Imagine how that one guy felt up on top stranded.
Somethin tells me you ain't never comin back.
A funny Nemec family story centers on the time my 10 year old little brother visited the Tower twice in one summer. The first was on a short trip with some cousins and the second on a family trip with the rest of us. Since he was the self appointed family expert due to his prior trip he ran ahead as we hiked around the base. He missed the turnoff at the end of the loop and did a second lap. When the rest of the family got back to the parking lot he was nowhere to be found. About the time the park rangers had organized a search party he completed his second lap and showed up. I think they actually closed the park exit in case a child abductor was trying to escape with him in the trunk.
Two laps! Fine story, Nick!
John, I am learning never to say never. To translate an old song into a more morally palatable version, if you can't be in the place you love, honey, love the place you're in!
...but just to liven things up, I think South Dakota should try annexing Crook County, Wyoming.
Cory,
On behalf of the great state of Wyoming, and citizens of Crook County we respectfully decline your invitation to join South Dakota for the following reasons:
We don't want video lottery
We don't want our property taxes to double
We don't want our teachers to take a 40% pay cut
We don't want to pay sales tax on our groceries
and we don't want crappy South Dakota roads!
Devil's Tower is also one of the best-smelling parks in America, thanks to constant breezes, lots of wild sage, and no cars anywhere near the trail. Just to sit there, breathing, watching the hawks and eagles, is worth the trip.
You know, Mark, Highway 24 was really nice. And dang: I should have stopped in Hulett for groceries!
Eve: yes, yes, yes. The loop closest to the tower is just 2 km, a 20-minute walk at normal speed. But I could spend all day stopping at different vantage points, breathing, watching, channeling the great geological past and future.