2014XC: Day 8, June 19 – Wyoming (Devil’s Tower)
Pretty awesome, and super blessed to wake up in a campground where you open your camper door to one of the National Monuments you traveled to see! Honestly, even though I don’t look like I feel that way in the picture, I am so thankful and so appreciative to be awake….really! So with my camera, Steve and I walked around the campground to get a few morning shots…
The entrance to Devil’s Tower was right outside of the entrance/exit to the campground, so it was a short ride. The monuments’ size is just awesome. And the closer you get to it, the more amazing it is. It was a perfect time of day for the hike with the sun midway in the sky just behind it as we approached it at the beginning of the trail. We chose the easy, paved trail that simply circled the monument. It’s so interesting – even as amazing as the height and size of the monument is, you only really get that when you see the huge rocks at the bottom of the monument that are actually pieces that have fallen off of the monument itself.
We learned earlier that it’s a popular spot for climbing. As we walked the trail around, we were totally fortunate to see two different areas of the tower that each had a pair of climbers. We stood for some time watching the first pair of climbers. If you stood quietly you could almost hear their conversations (notice in the first pic below Steve has his hand to his ear). The climbers are really hard to see in some of the pictures below – again, the size of the monument is somewhat deceptive. The climbers looked so tiny you could hardly see them at all. It was amazing to watch. I don’t think I could ever do this, but I sure wish I could. What an awesome challenge. The trail wasn’t tough to walk, so it’s really that Steve was just happy to have the view and the pines and just nature in general that made him content to lie on that big rock.
On the way back to the campground, we stopped to check out the Prairie Dogs. They are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, and they are SuperCUTE!!! They had a place back in the Badlands where you could hand-feed them, but we weren’t able to make it there. This was close enough for me. They just pop in and out of their holes, and make cute little clicking noises. I wished I could take some home! The entire area around where Gabriel is in the picture is an area set aside just for the little critters.
Starting to think that we could have just dropped the boys off at any pool and called it a day – that’s they thing they are always asking about – “does the campground have a pool?”, and, “when can we go to the pool?”. So, what else to do after exploring God’s great earth? Of course, go to the pool!
Meanwhile, Steve took a hike alone and came across a trail that went up on the red-dirt hill near our campsite. Christian had asked about climbing it when we first saw it yesterday, so when Steve realized the trail led to it, he ran back to the campsite to bring us there. It was a good, quick hike, and I think the pictures came out really good with the colors of the earth and the time of day.
Back to the campsite. Thankful to be able to again enjoy the view from our camper door.