Devil's Tower, Wyoming

We arrived yesterday to Devil's Tower in Wyoming; an enormous rock shooting up from an otherwise ordinary Wyoming landscape. The monument is actually sacred to Native American's, and does seem to have that feel to it, as people tend to keep quiet and respectful as they walk around it and take in its beauty.

We met our travel buddies, Mike and Jessica, here yesterday, camped out last night, and headed up the mountain today for some rock climbing. Mike, Taylor, and Jessica all gave it a shot (as I nervously jammed myself in a little nook to keep safe! We were high up there!) and did a great job! The climb they did was a 5.8+, for all of you who speak rock climbing lingo, and to the rest of us...it was very tall and very scary! It started to hail a bit when we were up there, so we scurried on down, made some lunch, and are now looking to make our way toward Yellowstone!

Something that I found interesting about Devil's Tower was the Native American story of its origin. According to a Kiowa legend, some children were playing a game when one of the young girls, who had recently acquired bear medicine, magically changed into a bear and killed everyone in the surrounding area, except for her little sister. The little girl's brothers returned from a hunt and helped her escape. In their flight from the bear, they were helped by a buffalo, a flat rock, and a tree. The children asked a small herd of buffalo for help. The buffalo agreed, slowing the bear long enough for the children to reach a flat rock. The flat rock told them to go around it 4 times, and stand on top. The rock then began to grow out of the ground. Trying to reach them, the bear raked the sides of the rock all around, leaving deep furrows and breaking its claws. A great tree told them to climb on it and it would save them- then it began to grow toward the sky.

When looking at the huge rock, it is hard not to believe that the lines in the sides were not put there by a huge bear!

 

 

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