The morning started off well enough.  We’re learning to be more efficient with packing up, hooking up and preparing for the day out.  Today my mind is in other places…that I’m not there for my sister today on her special day, and my heart is with friends that are in need of prayers.  I’ve been trying to stay off social media, but when I peek on it is easy to be consumed with the lives of others especially when they are dear to you…

We left the Black Hills in South Dakota and headed out to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.  We spotted a couple signs along the way that caught our eye!  We stopped at the welcome center and took advantage of some of the fun photo ops there.  The drive wasn’t too bad and it was cool to see the tower off in the distance as we traveled closer.  You have to unhook your trailer to go up to the tower, and we were happy to do so.

The kids got their Junior Ranger booklets and got straight to work.  The tower is comprised of igneous rock left from a forming volcano where the surrounding layers of earth have eroded away.  It is also a highly sacred place for the indigenous Indians, and it was easy to understand why.   They actually refer to it as Bear Lodge, Bear’s Hat, Bear’s Tipi or Bear’s Home but the settler’s naming of Devil’s Tower (poor punctuation included) have stuck.

We walked the trail around the base of the tower, listened to the wind in the trees, the sounds of the animals, and took in the stunning views.  The kids scaled giant rocks all around the base, and we watched some climbers for a bit.  There was a big cloud rolling through and we could hear the thunder rolling in the distance.  It’s kind of crazy that the view is literally as far as the eye can see all around you, and we saw a storm coming.

Thankfully, we made it around the trail and the rain passed us by.  When we got back to the camper, we quickly grilled some hot dogs and hooked back up.  On our way out, we saw more prairie dogs and stopped to watch them a while!  It was still a long haul to Yellowstone, so we decided to skip making camp at Devil’s Tower and cover some ground before dark.  It was a gorgeous sunset and we made it as far as the Walmart in Gillette, Wyoming where we acquired a couple necessities, including a “poop stick”.