Day 20 Devils Tower National Monument, Sundance, Belle Fourche Campground, Wyoming

Captain’s Blog
Monday
June 22, 2009


We drove the seventy miles to Devils Tower

enjoying the beautiful landscape and wild animals everywhere.

We stopped at Sundance a small town nestled beneath Sundance Mountain in the Black Hills. Within the town are a replica of the jail that held the Sundance Kid, the old Sundance bank and a monument of the Sundance Kid.

We opted to stay inside the National Park at the Belle Fourche Campground adjacent to the Belle Fourche River and tower. Yes, we just left Bell Fourche SD and the river runs through both SD and Wyoming. The campground is beautiful and is adjacent to Devil’s Tower. We chose not to do much today but did get to the visitor center to view the tower up close.

June is the summer solstice and is when the Native Americans have their religious ceremonies around the tower. Out of respect for the American Indian traditions climbers have been asked to refrain from climbing during the month of June. About 85% of climbers honor that request but some still climb.

When we walk around the campground we are in awe of this monolith towering into the sky. It is different then any of the other rock formations of mountains in the area.
We attended an evening ranger program and learned about how varying cultures view the tower. Tomorrow we will take a guided tour around the tower on the one and one-quarter mile trail.

NOTE FROM r0n, jewel stepped on a prickly barb so she was limping after Deb and I fussed over her for about an hour Deb propped her rear leg up on a cushion and that is where she stayed for about a half hour when I left the camper she came along and was miraculously cured running and skipping (no limp) maybe all that Indian folk law really works? Side note I had mentioned to Deb my foot hurt and her reply was look out I need to get to the M and Ms.

FOTOS FROM BUFFALO JUMP