John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Location

Northeastern Wyoming, to the north of I-90.

What to See and Do

Devils Tower is the fluted sheer sided tower, actually the remains of the inside of an ancient volcano, featured in the climax of the science-fiction film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Photograph (31KB). Photograph (35KB).

Hike the easy flat trail around the Tower, which takes about an hour and a half. Besides the varied views of the Tower there are many interesting trees and plants to observe on this trail, and you might also spot some climbers on the Tower.

The fascinating prairie dog town on the approach road to the tower is well worth seeing.

Some Ideas for Places to Stay

When we visited Devils Tower in the mid-eighties the nearby towns of Sundance and Moorcroft struck us as being very small indeed, probably with little or no accommodation and only very limited other facilities. Based on that impression it would seem best to visit Devils Tower on the way from (for example) the Black Hills region of South Dakota to Sheridan, Wyoming or vice-versa.

However, Allen Wyatt (awyatt@dcomp.com) wrote to me in September 1997 with another viewpoint which I would like to include here. Allen lives in the Devils Tower area and he says "there are great accommodations in both towns [Sundance and Moorcroft], as well as in Hulett, which is only nine miles from the tower. The towns have grocery stores, specialty stores, services, motels, restaurants and great schools. There is even recreation in the form of parks, tennis courts and golf courses. We just got our first fast-food chain (Subway). I moved here four and a half years ago and have loved it."

The following links offer useful information for anyone wishing to discover more:

Wyoming

Amusing, Interesting And Mysterious Place Names

National Monuments

Wildlife Sighting Possibilities

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As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.
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Most recently modified 29-Dec-05