Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower, Wyoming. So surreal the whole time you are driving toward it the Tower looks like a structure, a prop, a painting... surely not real.

We had another sunny and beautiful, though hot, day. In the morning P had gotten up at around 5 a.m. for a run and the sunlight looked as strong as noon. The quality of light there is more white, less yellow than in MA or PA, so that may have something to do with it as well. You can see in some of my pictures the sky looks overcast, but really it was just such blinding afternoon light. We picked up our tourist goodies first and headed out to find a hiking trail.


The surrounding earth and hills around the tower are very red, with these small pines all around. We decided to hike the inner circle around the base of the tower itself:


The Tower itself is covered in moss, the kind that is dry to the touch and somewhat flaky, so the whole thing appears to be green... almost like oxidized metal... adding to the oddity of it's look. Also, these huge columns seem to sweep downward on an angle, creating the appearance that the whole thing pushed it's way out of the surrounding earth with a twist. It was incredible to learn that it is still unknown how the tower was formed, that there are 3 theories about it's creation. We also saw climbers making their way up, crows and vultures circling at the very top!

The view of surrounding valleys:

P at the base of the Tower:

And the tall pine forest surrounding the base, where the trail is, among the Tower's fallen boulders:

3 comments:

Knittah said...

Stunning photos!

Behind ouou said...

thank you, Knittah! what a strange and otherworldly place that was, I'm glad that feeling came through in some of the pictures!

Mssensibleshoes said...

Hi Laurie, I have been meaning to send you a link to our travel blog and since we are hitting Devils Tower today and your post is what made me want to go there...I was reminded that I really wanted to thank you for providing me with such inspiration for our trip! Come see us at theroadinfocus.com. Jennifer

 
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