Gribblenation

Today was Rapid City to Cheyenne via Devils Tower National Park.  The weather was definitely much colder than it was the first half of the trip - and the wind didn't help either. Route: I-190, I-90, US 14, WY 24, US 14, I-90, WY 59, I-25 Photo Set on Flickr: Devils Tower National Monument Devils Tower as seen from US 14. Outside the entrance to Devils Tower National Monument at Wyoming State Highway 110. If Rocky Mountain National Park amazed me, Devils Tower National Monument inspired me.  From the moment it first came into view on US 14 - and during my hike around the tower - I continually was in awe of it. Devils Tower rises 867 from its base and 1267' above the Belle Fourche River. Native American names for Devils Tower include Bear's Lodge or Bear's House. Devils Tower is the United States' first national monument.  The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the President of the United States "to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic a...

After joining I-90/US 14  westbound in Spearfish I headed into Wyoming.  My next destination was Devils Tower National Monument in Crook County. Part 9 of this blog series can be found here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 10; Devil's Tower National Monument My route to Devil's Tower was via US 14 after the split from I-90 in Sun Dance, WY 24, and WY 110.  From a distance on WY 24 Devil's Tower first comes into view from the highway. WY 24 is a mostly east/west highway but has a minor northward jog towards the Belle Fourche River and WY 110.  Devil's Tower is accessed from WY 24 by taking WY 110 into the National Monument Boundary about 3 miles in a loop to the Visitor Center. Devil's Tower National Monument is a 867 foot butte made of laccolith that for a lack of a better word "towers" over the surrounding the terrain.  Devil's Tower is thought to have been formed by volcanic intrusion forcing igneous rock through sedimentary ...