Black Hills: Devils Tower

Aight, time for an update... Sunday I drove east to the famous Black Hills, a mighty purdy area. My first destination was the famous Devils Tower, which in 1906 became the first National Monument in the US. The iconic shape is easily recognizable, and maybe its most famous use was in the movie "Close encounters of the third kind", where an obsessed Richard Dreyfuss modelled it in mashed potatoes if memory serves me right.

There are several Indian legends about the mountain, usually along the lines of seven girls being chased by a bear. They climb a rock or a tree which then grows to take them to safety, and the long lines down the side of the mountain is said to be the bear's claw marks. The seven girls are often then made into stars, some legends make them out to be the Big Dipper, others the Pleiades. The most common Indian name is Bear's Lodge, "Devils Tower" is resented as being negative and may even be based on a misunderstanding or mistranslation.

The tower is an amazing structure, and the surrounding countryside is also quite nice. One amusing bonus is the large colony of prairie dogs that can be seen along the road up to the mountain. Call me silly, I think they're fun to watch.

I got goosebumps seeing this from a distance.


Close up.


Very nice surroundings.


A praire dog using his Jedi powers to make people feed him.


Resorting to "stick 'em up" instead.


More pics here.