Devil's Tower. I was so excited to go back to this National Monument. Living only about an hour away in Gillette, I used to take frequent trips here to hike around the base. I've always loved this area and was thrilled to share it with Henry and Alice.
Devil's Tower did not disappoint. It's such an amazing place and as you walk around and gaze up, each view is different than the last.
It's a unique geological formation that has captured imaginations since prehistoric times. The nearly vertical monolith rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. It's actually a core of a volcano (Henry thought that was impressive!), once hidden below the Earth's surface, which has been exposed to millions of years of erosion by the river and the weather thus stripping away the softer rock layers to reveal the Tower. The Tower itself is 865 feet high.
It's a sacred site of worship for many Native Americans and we saw prayer clothes and bundles as we hiked around the base. Many Native American legends have been passed down through time, but this one is the most popular:
"One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance. The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock, 'Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us.' The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). The marks of the bear claws are there yet."
It's a sacred site of worship for many Native Americans and we saw prayer clothes and bundles as we hiked around the base. Many Native American legends have been passed down through time, but this one is the most popular:
"One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance. The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock, 'Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us.' The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). The marks of the bear claws are there yet."
Henry and Alice showed their mighty strength.
There are great slabs of rock around the base of the tower, all of which were columns that fell from the sides of the Tower. Devil's Tower has the largest and widest columns of any rock formation in the world.
It was a fun day, exploring our nation's first national monument and sharing the experience with the kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment