An Hour from the Devils Tower

According to Kiowa and Lakota tribe legend, seven young girls were playing outside when they spotted a sloth of large bears. Terrified, the girls ran and climbed on top of a large rock, where they fell to their knees in prayer, asking the Great Spirit to save them. The Great Spirit took mercy and grew the rock high into the heavens.

The bears furiously climbed and pawed up the rock after their prey, scratching everlasting claw marks deep into the rock, but it was too steep. Eventually, the rock took the girls into the sky, where they became the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, an asterism and an open star cluster. Their sanctuary rock remained as a towering reminder of the Great Spirit’s power.

This legend seems to be true. Scientists agree that the intrusion of igneous material formed Devils Tower, but the process that took place has never been agreed upon. Among other theories, some geologists speculate that it’s a volcanic plug. In contrast, others argue it could be an eroded remnant of a laccolith (a mushroom-shaped mass of igneous rock that intrudes layers of sedimentary rocks but does not reach the surface).

Its significance has been observed throughout history, and in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Devils Tower America’s first national monument. The park is open every day outside of Christmas and New Year’s and is spectacular in any season