Devils Tower National Monument

 

Devils Tower is located in Wyoming, about 2 hours away from Rapid City, South Dakota. There are some restaurants and shops outside the Monument but it is kind of isolated from many other things. Many people build this stop into a trip to South Dakota or as they are travelling through Wyoming on their way to other places (like us). 

The sun coming up over devils tower 

History of Devils Tower 

Devils Tower is a National Monument not a National Park. It was the first National Monument in the US and it was designated by Teddy Roosevelt. There is a NPS stamp located at the base of the Tower though!

Devils Tower is considered a igneous intrusion in the geology world. This is when magma from underneath penetrates the existing rock above and crystallizes. It crystallizes in a characteristic hexagonal or pentagonal structure

From this view you can somewhat see the characteristic crystallization

 

It is considered a scared space by the local indigenous tribes. Because of this people are asked to refrain from climbing the tower in the month of June. You can also see prayer cloths in the trees around the monument

General Information

Devils tower is 5,100 ft tall (above sea level) 

Many people climb Devils Tower- it is neat to watch people climb it while hiking the trail around the tower. They ask that people refrain from climbing it in the month of June- but we were there in mid June and there were people climbing the tower. 

There is one campground within the Monument 

It costs $25 for a 7 day pass to visit the monument. The National Parks Pass works for this monument as well. 

There is not a lot parking within the Monument and they only let people in based on how many parking spaces are available Because we were driving to Montana this day we got up early and got to the Tower around 8am. We got in no problem but when we were leaving there was a HUGE line backed up down the street. Boy did we dodge that bullet. When in doubt come early. It was also nice to walk around the Tower without a ton of people there as well 

There is a visitor center but it was closed because of Covid while we were here. I was really disappointed by this because all of the other visitor centers were open during the time we were travelling. 

 Devils Tower from the parking lot of the visitor center 

Hiking 

The most popular hike in the monument is around the base of the tower (no surprises there)  It is called Tower Trail and it is 1.3 miles total around the entire tower. 

There are four other trails Joyner Ridge trail (1.5miles), Red Bed Trail (2.8miles), South Side Trail (0.6 mile) and Valley View Trail (0.6 mile) if you wanted to do multiple small hikes. 

Look upwards at Devils Tower on Tower Trail

A deer in the woods next to the tower 

The beautiful view of the landscape around the tower

Posing in front of the tower 

Overall 

We would recommend visiting the Monument- it was really neat to see and learn about how it was formed. It's a good little excursion off I-90 but plan on either staying in the campground or travelling on through Wyoming or a day trip from Rapid City.