Saturday 9-14-24 & Sunday 9-15-24 Hiking at Devils Tower National Monument

 

Where we are headed next may not have cell service, so if we disappear don't worry, we will be back in a few days.

 

Camping at Devils Tower

We were at Devils Tower for the past three nights.

 Saturday 9-14-24  Hiking Red Beds Trails

 

We had an awesome day. 

I woke up at 7:00 and got dressed. Then I made cinnamon french toast sticks for breakfast. Afterwards we got ready to go hiking. We were ready by 8:00.

We did a 4.5 mile hike using the Red Beds Trail (2.9 miles loop). A lot of the hike was out in the open. We started by hiking the trail from the campground through the Prairie Dog Town. We were greeted by some of the prairie dogs. Then we crossed the park's main road. We hiked the trail to the trailhead, which was about a half mile. We climbed 700 feet in elevation. As we hiked we saw beautiful scenery of the surrounding mountains, the red rock mountains, ranches, park entrance, the campground and day area. We saw the river, that flows by the monument. It was very strenuous at times, it curves around the mountainside of Devils Tower. We saw the tower from all sides and it was different. We hiked by a beautiful red rock area. We saw a few hikers at the beginning of the hike and a lot more at the end. When we got tired we rested by sitting on downed trees or boulders. In August they had a big storm come through that knocked down a lot of trees. The rangers cut the trees and removed them from the trail. They did an excellent job. The trail took us to the visitor center. By the time we got to the visitor center it was starting to get hot. It was very small and had a lot of people there. They had a special place for the motorcyclists to park, this was great because they didn't take up parking for the automobiles. We walked through the visitor center and then hiked back to the campground, which was about 1.5 miles. The trail back to the campground was easy because it was all downhill. Everyone was very polite to people and got off the trail to let people around. Everyone was friendly and having a great time. When we got back to the Prairie Dog Town a bus had dropped a group of people off to take pictures. The prairie dogs were all over the place. They were going to have entertainment at the visitor center but it wasn't until 1:00 and it was 11:00 by the time we got back to the Minnie. We were too tired to return to the visitor center for the entertainment.

 

Campground from Red Beds trail

 

A couple of climbers

 

Devils Tower side the climbers we climbing

 

Red mountain and the river

 

Devils Tower Visitor Center (CCC)

 

A doe and her fawn we saw on the way back to the Minnie

 

The rest of the day we relaxed in our chairs and watched people climbing the tower. We continued reading our books. After dinner I walked around the campground for a half hour to get more steps. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group. 

 

Sunday 9-15-24  Hiking The Tower Trail

 

I woke up a little earlier then normal, it was 6:45. We wanted to get an early start. We had a quick breakfast, cinnamon raisin bagels. Then we got ready to go on a hike. 

We started our 4.5 mile hike around 7:30. We started by hiking to the visitor center, which was 1.3 miles up the hill. We hiked by the prairie dog town, where saw prairie dogs, a cotton-tail and a flock of wild turkeys. Then we crossed the main road and took the South Side trail, which took us to the visitor center. This part of the hike was in the open, we had to hike around some boulders. Today this trail didn't seem as tough as yesterday. Maybe because we started a little earlier. When we got close to the visitor center we saw three people climbing the Tower. Once at the visitor center we took The Tower trail, which was a 1.7 mile paved loop trail. As we hiked this trail we went around The Tower and read about the history of the Tower. The Tower was known as the Bear Lodge by many of the Native Americans. The Native Americans still consider it very scared and do a lot of praying there. They tie cloth on the trees around the Tower. At places the trail goes in between big boulders. Each side is different. The Tower was made over 50,000,000 years ago by molten rock coming up from the ground. We were there early and there weren't many people hiking the Tower trail. We saw the three climbers on the Tower through binoculars, this was cool. You can also see them with your naked eyes. The Tower trail was very nice. There were benches all over the place to rest on. After doing the loop we got back on the South Side trial and went back to the campground. There were more people on trail than earlier. I started out with a jacket but when I got up the hill where it Yd off I took off my jacket. It was amazing, that the hike today was the same distance as yesterday's. We had another outstanding hike.

 

Cotton-tail hiding in the grass

Mom and baby turkeys

The side of the Tower the climbers were climbing

 

Two people climbing the Tower

 

Some of the prayer trees

 

We were back at the Minnie early, about 10:00. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in our chairs reading and watching people climbing the Tower. It got hot inside the Minnie (89 degrees) so we spent a lot of time outside.

After dinner I walked around the campground for a half hour to get some steps. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place for the week with 121,709 steps. 

Then I finished an awesome book. The book was called Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It was about scientist / astronaut Dr. Ryland Grace going on a mission to to save earth. A phenomenon is happening where the sun is going dimmer and eventually earth will be destroyed.  While in space he encounters an alien ship with an astronaut named Rocky who is trying to save their planet from the very same thing. The book describes how they become friends and work together. Andy is very talented and makes you laugh through out the book. Andy Weir also wrote The Martian, we don't have that book but we have the movie. The movie is very good and stars Matt Damon. 

We had another great day.