Devils Tower National Monument

More than twenty Northern Plains tribes hold Devils Tower sacred, among them the Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Crow, Arapaho, and Shoshone. Many know it as Bear Lodge, or by names that mean the same, and it remains a living place of prayer, vision quests, and ceremony rather than a relic of the past.

A widely told story explains the tower and its columns. A group of children, in most versions young girls, were playing when a great bear began to chase them. They climbed onto a low rock and prayed, and the rock rose high into the sky to carry them out of reach. The bear leaped and clawed at the sides as it grew, and the deep vertical grooves in the stone are the marks of its claws. The name Devils Tower came from a mistranslation in the 1870s, and today tribes and the Park Service alike work to keep the older, truer names alive.

Devils Tower is made of a hard igneous rock that welled up as molten material deep underground and cooled slowly in place, tens of millions of years ago. As it cooled and shrank it fractured into the tall, many-sided columns you see today, some of the largest such columns anywhere in the world.

For a long time all of this was buried. Over millions of years the softer sedimentary rock and soil around the hard core wore away, carried off grain by grain by the Belle Fourche River and the weather, until the resistant tower was left standing high and alone. It is still slowly being uncovered, and fallen columns lie in a great boulder field around its foot.

Devils Tower is one of the most famous crack climbs in North America, first ascended in 1893 by two local ranchers using a wooden ladder pounded into a crack, and today drawing climbers from around the world to its long vertical routes. Out of respect for tribal ceremonies, many climbers honor a voluntary closure in the month of June.

You do not have to climb to feel the place. The paved Tower Trail circles the base in a little over a mile, winding through pine and boulder with the columns towering overhead. Longer trails loop out through the meadows and along the river, and the prairie dog town on the flats is a favorite stop, a whole village of burrows and lookouts.

The monument is a pocket of ponderosa pine, prairie, and riverbank, and it holds more life than its small size suggests. White-tailed and mule deer move through the trees, wild turkeys and songbirds fill the mornings, falcons and eagles ride the updrafts around the tower, and the prairie dog colony feeds hawks and the occasional coyote.

Summer brings the crowds and the climbers, with long warm evenings that light the tower gold. Fall is quiet and gold with turning leaves along the river. Winter is cold and still, the tower dusted with snow. On a clear night the sky here is very dark, and the tower under the stars is unforgettable, a scene made famous by the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

Devils Tower National Monument, in northeastern Wyoming near the Black Hills, protects a dramatic and iconic geologic formation: a massive, flat-topped tower of columnar rock rising over eight hundred sixty feet above the surrounding landscape. Formed from cooled volcanic rock and revealed by erosion, its distinctive fluted columns make it one of the most striking landmarks in the country. The first national monument ever designated in the United States, Devils Tower is sacred to many Native American tribes, who know it by names like Bear Lodge, and it is famous as a rock-climbing destination and from its role in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With its dramatic tower, trails, and cultural significance, Devils Tower National Monument is a remarkable destination in Wyoming.

You can hike the trails around the base of the tower, including the popular paved Tower Trail that loops around it for close-up views, watch experienced rock climbers ascend the columns, visit the prairie dog town near the base, learn about the geology and Native American cultural significance at the visitor center, watch for wildlife, and take in the striking scenery and dark night skies. The trails around the base offer wonderful views from all angles. With its dramatic tower, trails, climbing, prairie dogs, and cultural significance, Devils Tower National Monument offers a memorable and awe-inspiring outdoor experience in northeastern Wyoming.

Devils Tower is sacred to many Northern Plains tribes, who know it by names such as Bear Lodge and connect it to important cultural and spiritual traditions and ceremonies, particularly in June. Out of respect for these traditions, the National Park Service requests a voluntary climbing closure during the month of June, when many tribes hold ceremonies, asking climbers to voluntarily refrain from climbing the tower then. Visitors are encouraged to be respectful of the site's deep cultural and spiritual significance to Native peoples. Honoring the voluntary June closure and treating the tower respectfully acknowledges its importance to the tribes.

Spring through fall offers the most pleasant weather for hiking the trails and enjoying the monument, with summer the busiest season and offering full access, though those interested in climbing should note the voluntary climbing closure in June out of respect for Native ceremonies. Fall brings pleasant temperatures and color, and the dark skies make clear nights wonderful for stargazing year-round. Summer afternoons can bring storms. For the best combination of comfortable weather and full enjoyment, aim for late spring through early fall, being mindful of the June climbing request, at Devils Tower National Monument.

Devils Tower National Monument is in northeastern Wyoming near the Black Hills, close to the town of Sundance, the Vore Buffalo Jump, the Keyhole State Park, and within reach of the Black Hills National Forest and, across the border, the South Dakota Black Hills with Mount Rushmore. That makes Devils Tower a remarkable stop to combine with the Vore Buffalo Jump, Keyhole State Park, the Black Hills, and the other attractions of northeastern Wyoming on a visit to the state.