Showing posts with label Devils Tower National Monument. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devils Tower National Monument. Show all posts

Friday, July 4, 2014

Scenic Hikes around Devils Tower

Views from Tower Trail:
View of the Belle Fourche River:
Hike: Tower Trail
Trails Used: Tower Trail
Distance: 1.58 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.3 mph
Overall Time: 41 min.
Total Ascent: 402 ft.




Pictures from the Joyner Ridge Trail:



One of the many turkey vultures that fly around the tower:

That is a Spittlebug at the bottom of the plant.
Spittlebug, a common name for members of a family of plant-feeding insects, the nymphs of which cover themselves with a protective frothy material that looks like human spittle. Spittlebugs, like their relatives the aphids and cicadas, suck plant juices with their needle-like mouth parts.
Hike:  Joyner Ridge Trail
Trails Used: Joyner Ridge Trail
Distance: 1.51 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.2 mph
Overall Time: 41 min.
Total Ascent: 340 ft.




Inyan-oka-la-ka (Montana) and camping at Devil's Tower (Wyoming)

Left Theodore Roosevelt National Park this morning and started the trip home.  We missed a couple of small campgrounds in Montana so we stopped at Medicine Rock State Park (Montana) then headed towards Devils Tower, Wyoming.  The State Park was actually pretty neat since these rocks rose up out of nowhere.  



 This was one of the campsites in the park.  Would have been neat to stay here had it been closer to home and a bit cooler.
The graffiti was neat but also sad.  Some of it was so old that I thought it'd be cool to come back now and see your family's name (when people didn't know better than to do this) but also sad since there were some more current names (when people should know better.)

This outing turned into a typical husband event.  He kept thinking we could have lunch around the next corner where there would be shade (it was 90 degrees).   Well you can tell what the terrain looked like; mile after mile of this and the sweet clover:
There were no trees, no hills, no shade, no corners (straight as an arrow)!  Matter of fact there were no cars until we had to pull over to go the bathroom!  Go figure... We finally had to settle on an improvised lunch in the car.
We pulled into the Devils Tower Campground in mid afternoon with the temperatures still soaring. We decided to put the tent up and hang out in the shade.  We saved the hiking/exploring for after dinner when it was cooler.
Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly (the heat) the campground wasn't full on the 4th of July.  
Our site (B22-had shade and decent views of the Tower):

Let me tell you nothing beats a campfire when it's ninety degrees out!  It was necessary in order to cook our dinner.

The kids were finally up late enough to catch some fireworks.  The KOA down the road put on a pretty good show that we could see right from our campsite!
The next morning the kids weren't in the mood for photographs.  
 I thought these nifty breakfast treats would put them in better spirits but the hubby and I ended up eating all but one of these!