This past October, I told you my sister Gail and I take a trip together, just the two of us, every five or six years. She lives in Oakland, California and we only get to see each other a couple of times a year during hurried family events. This year we went out West and this is Day Three of our adventure.
At the very end of Day Two we stopped at Mt. Rushmore to see the evening program, which was very moving. The stage is set up at the foot of the monument and lights illuminate the faces. A very patriotic service is held and at the end they ask all those who have served in the military to come up on stage. The microphone is passed to each one — they give their name and what year and branch of the service they served in — and there’s not a dry eye in the house by the end.
After the presentation at Mt. Rushmore (we got back during the day later on our vacation), we drove an hour and a half north to the town of Spearfish, so we would be closer to Devils Tower the next morning. Spearfish is a charming little town that was a place (before the Gold Rush) that Native Americans would spear the fish in the creeks. Once the Gold Rush started the town was founded at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon. Several waterfalls are along a scenic winding road at the base of the canyon wall. Spearfish holds the world record for the fastest recorded temperature change. On January 22, 1943 at about 7:30 a.m. the temperature in Spearfish was −4°. The Chinook wind picked up speed rapidly, and two minutes later (7:32 a.m.) the temperature was +45°. The 49° rise in two minutes set a world record that still holds. The sudden change shattered the glass in windows.
The land is rolling plains in this part of Wyoming, but you can see Devils Tower from 20 miles away. Remember the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Remember Richard Dreyfuss carving out the tower in mashed potatoes in front of his bewildered family? That’s Devils Tower! It’s a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming. It’s 867 feet from summit to base and many mountain climbers climb it every day. We saw several groups climbing.
How the Tower was formed is still a mystery to geologists — there are several theories, including it being the top of an old volcano, to being an igneous intrusion (which is when a mass of rock comes up through the surface) 40 million years ago.
The tower is sacred to several Native American tribes who have ceremonies at it’s base during the month of June, so most climbers honor this and refrain from climbing in June. There are also several Native American legends as how the tower was formed and most involve a giant bear clawing at the sides, forming the ridges cut deep in the rock.
My sister Gail and I took the leisurely hour or so hike around the base and it does look different from different sides. It’s a very striking mountain formation that somehow feels out of place, sacred, and very special.
On the trail I struck up a conversation with a young couple and the guy started talking about bears. I asked if he had seen the movie The Revenant (Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar last year for portraying the character attacked by a bear) which he had not, but after giving him a few details, he was going to make sure he saw it soon, one way or the other.
On the way back we stopped back in Spearfish to see it’s sights. The drive along the canyon wall is beautiful. We stopped at several waterfalls, including the one pictured here — unless you travel down the whole trail, cross a bridge and come up the other side, you would never see if from the top. We saw fishermen along the creek and families picnicking.
Gail and I drove back south to Rapid City where we had booked a room in a very stately old hotel, The Mt. Rushmore. The room had been totally remodeled and was very modern with a mural of Mt. Rushmore across the back wall. The bathroom looked like an HGTV remodel, but the toilet flushed itself in the middle of the night and I couldn’t get the shower head turned on without calling maintenance — so much for fancy and new! We went to a cocktail party that evening for the wedding couple who were friends of my sister in a nearby hotel. The party was in the rooftop bar of the tallest building in Grand Rapids (I think it was 7 stories). The town was the size of Bloomington. We had a delightful time meeting the family and friends of the wedding that we attended the next day.
Thus ended Day Three of a nine day adventure. Next time, I’ll write about “Custer National Park, Buffalo and a Wedding”
