Growing up in Colorado with family in Billings, Montana meant driving north through Wyoming on many occasions. To get to Montana, you drop your foot to the floor and point ‘er north from I-25 onto I-90. Sorry Wyoming, but the drive is not stunning.
In fact, my younger sister typically made this annual trek until about 2 years ago and I think she got a speeding ticket nearly every time! She and I took this road trip together in the early 2000s and when the officer pulled us over he asked 2 questions – the typical, “Do you know how fast you were going?” (which we did not) and the uh-oh, “Do you know how long I was behind you?” (which we did not).
Until this RV trip with Doug in late August of 2020, my indelible impression of Wyoming was that of a long, straight ribbon of highway with miles and miles of dusty golden scrub on either side. What I didn’t realize was that Wyoming has a big secret. The least populated state in the Union has some of the best scenery the US has to offer.
Our first stop? A spot made famous in the 1977 classic, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
SIDE NOTE: If you’ve never seen Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece, see it! Particularly before reading any further, as there are unforgettable sounds and images from the movie that I don’t want to spoil for you. (Click here for trailer)
The movie’s idea that “they’re out there” is explored using small encounters in different parts of the world.
On the edge of madness after Richard Dryfus’ character has had a close encounter with a UFO, he piles spoonful after spoonful of his wife’s mashed potatoes on his plate and uses his fork to sculpt an image he’s become obsessed with – Devils Tower. He’s never been there but knows he must go. With this one scene, Spielberg drives home the impact that such an encounter might have on ordinary people.
Another woman haunted by the same image draws the Tower over and over and over again before she’s visited by the UFO and her son is abducted.
A continent away, a haunting five-note sequence (click here to listen) heard during an encounter in India is then sent into space by scientists who receive back a confusing sequence of 5 numbers. Ultimately, they learn that these numbers are the coordinates to Devils Tower and all those hoping to make contact are drawn there.
Don’t try to make sense of how the obscenely large spaceship manages to sneak up on the world’s best scientific minds or how it manages to hide behind Devil’s Tower until it makes its grand entrance. Just enjoy the spectacle of what happens when humans make first contact with other beings!
A first glimpse of Devils Tower feels like your own close encounter. As you’re driving down the highway it seems to magically appear, standing so tall above its surroundings that you feel like you too are being drawn towards it.
There are several RV campgrounds in the area including Belle Fourche River Campground and a KOA campground that’s about 5 miles from the monument. Added bonus, the KOA website says they show Spielberg’s movie nightly, but we didn’t stay at either.
Just past the KOA, a winding 2 lane road passes some beautiful red rocks and then the National Monument comes into focus.
From the parking lot there’s a paved 1.3 mile trail that winds its way around this natural skyscraper. Although Devils Tower looks like a volcano, it’s not. It is called an “igneous intrusion”, meaning it formed underground from molten rock or magma and then pushed up into sedimentary rock about 50 million years ago. Then between 5 and 10 million years ago, the surrounding sedimentary rock eroded leaving the Tower behind.
The monolithic structure rises 1,267 feet above the tree-lined Belle Fourche River valley, is about 1000 feet in diameter at the bottom and about 275 feet in diameter at its flat top. Surprisingly, each side of it offers a unique perspective, so I highly recommend the walk.
Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the nation’s first National Monument in 1906 but for 19 or more generations it has been a sacred site of worship for many Native Americans. The colorful prayer flags tied to trees surrounding the Tower add to the spirituality felt as you walk beneath its large shadow.
Multiple tribes have petitioned to change the Devils Tower name which they find offensive. They claim that it was only named Devils Tower following a bad translation that confused the Lakota words for “bear” and “bad god”. The Lakota and the Kiowa tribes have similar legends about the Tower’s formation. Young girls were out picking flowers/playing when they were chased by bears and they prayed to the Great Spirit to save them and the Great Spirit listened by raising the earth beneath their feet. The bears tried to climb the mountain but could not and left only their claw marks along its sides. The tribes using this site for sacred ceremonies have several different names for the Tower but have settled on calling it Bear Lodge.
Those opposing the name change say it will confuse visitors, but just as Mount McKinley was changed to Denali, I hope the name does get changed to Bear Lodge as no matter what it’s called, this natural wonder will simultaneously pull you close and remind you that you’re but a tiny spud in the cosmic bowl of mashed potatoes.
