Friday, November 2, 2007

Devils Tower

More in the continuing saga of our trip out west this summer.

- - - - - - The Next day we went to Devils Tower. Though this is still technically still in the Black Hills it is in Wyoming and required a longer drive than we anticipated. We drove north along the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. The Spearfish river flows north through Spearfish Canyon toward the Belle Fourche River. The canyon is very narrow and the small river flows right along the road. There were places to stop and see waterfalls and lush growth of wildflowers. But eventually there is a small dam that takes the water away for irrigation and power production and the river is reduced first to a trickle and then to a dry, rocky, river bed that gives evidence of the river's potential when there is not a drought.

It was a HOT day. When we finally reached Devil's Tower at about 5:00 P.M. it was 104* We walked the 1.3 mile trail around the tower very slowly in the heat, seeking the shade of the very tall Ponderosa Pines that grew all around its base. Occasionally we saw American Indian prayer bundles or cloths tied to trees. In spite of having seen lots of pictures and knowing the geology actually seeing the tower was an amazing experience. In Michigan our volcanoes are so old that they are just big hills covered with forest. Here was the core of a volcano exposed by eons of erosion and cracked into huge six sided columns of rock 600 feet tall. Thinking back on that walk I don't really remember the heat, but the awe at the great columns of basalt that make up the structure of the tower and the rubble field at its base. There were great hexagonal pillars lying on their sides among the trees where they had been dislodged by frost and gravity. Because of the heat and mostly the late hour the large crowds had dispersed and we were mostly alone on our walk. Large birds constantly circled above the tower and around its sides. Turkey Vultures nest on the top and on larger ledges high up on the tower and were flying continuously about it. As we came around the tower the moon came into view through the trees with the Vultures circling.

More pictures of Devils Tower can be seen here.

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