Devil's Tower
September 21-23, 2026 - stay at Devil's Tower Lodge and hike.
September 21 was a transfer day. The weather was not so good, but we drove via The Badlands anyway and we were glad we did. There were some lovely views, but hard to choose just two of them.
The ubiquitous prairie dogs were also there.
We also went to Wall Drug and saw a bit of Americana. For those who don't know, Wall Drug started as a struggling small-town pharmacy in 1931 and transformed into a world-famous roadside attraction through the simple promise of free ice water. Free water and 5 cent coffee are still available.
I was tempted to get some cowboy boots,
but ended up getting some birthday cake fudge which was pretty darn good.
We also saw a jackalop
We arrived in the Devil's Tower area and were immediately impressed by the monolith. You can see there are also three other bumps to the left. These are called the Missouri Buttes. They were formed in a similar way to Devil's Tower, but are located on private land, so unavailable to the public.
We arrived at the National Park
and got even more views of the Tower
Devil's Tower Lodge is a rather bohemian private B&B.
We have a pretty great room
A bunny came to visit us
and our view is amazing, both day and night.
Most of the guests were climbers and planned to scale "The Tower" tomorrow.
Dinner was surprisingly great - no photos. It was family style and there were about 20 people at the table. We had chicken breast, rice, broccoli, salad and an amazing chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert.
Unfortunately, the moon is a bit bright for star gazing.
22nd:
Sunrise over The Tower.
Breakfast was again lovely: fritatta, pancakes, yogurt and fruit. Here's also an idea of the eating arrangements.
Beautiful weather - breezy, sunny and in the 70s. There are basically 5 hikes in this national park and we hiked the option that combined 4 of them. It was called the "Joyner Ridge, Red Beds, and Devil's Tower Trail. It was about 8.3 miles and around 1000' elevation gain. Coddiwomple score: about 7/10.
A few factiods about Devil's Tower: Richard Dreyfuss never came here during the filming of Close Encounters.
It was the first national monument in the USA - designated in 1906 by Teddy Roosevelt. It features the world's largest example of columnar jointing. Known traditionally as Bear Lodge (or Bear's Tipi/Tree Rock), the site is sacred to over 20 Native American tribes who hold traditional ceremonies there. Colonel Richard Dodge named it "Devils Tower" in 1875 after an interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a Native American name. First ascent: Local ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley made the first recorded ascent in July 1893 using a custom wooden ladder bolted to the rock. Fastest ascent was 18 minutes. Oldest climber was 91 years old and it took him 13 hours. We did not climb it, but most of the people staying at our lodge did.
We ended up walking around the monument 2.5 times during our walk today.
We also walked through the Red Bed area. The trail gets its name from the vibrant red sedimentary rock layers rich in ferric oxide (iron) that sit in the bluffs below the monolith.
There were some lovely rock formations along the way.
But mostly it was the amazing Tower, from all directions.
We did see a few white tail deer who ran away before I could get a photo.
Buni was actively involved
and we also staged a re-enactment of the original bear legend with Buni.
On the way home we passed a huge population of prairie dogs
The diet coke tasted really good after sweating all afternoon
Dinner was macaroni in beef sauce, peas (which I donated to Chris), and salad. There was another wonderful brownie for dessert.
We attentively watched Close Encounters after dinner before calling it a night.
Star gazing was on my list again, but at 2:30am, when the moon was due to set, the sky was too overcast.
Comments