Devils Tower Information Marker (northbound) — Attraction in Hulett

Beautiful views of Devils Tower from here. The text reads, "Devils Tower, an important landmark for Plains Indian tribes long before the white man reached Wyoming, was called Mateo Tepee, or Grizzly Bear Lodge, by the Sioux. A number of Indian legends describe the origin of Devils Tower. One legend tells about seven little girls being chased onto a low rock to escape attacking bears. Their prayers for help were heeded. The rock carried them upward to safety as the claws of the leaping bears left furrowed columns in the sides of the ascending tower. Ultimately, the rock grew so high that the girls reached the sky where they were transformed into the constellation known as the Pleiades. Fur trappers may have visited Devils Tower, but they left no written evidence of having done so. The first documented visitors were several members of Captain W. F. Raynold's Yellowstone Expedition who arrived in 1859. Sixteen years later, Colonel Richard I. Dodge led a U.S.Geological Survey party to the massive rock formation and coined the name Devils Tower. Recognizing its unique characteristics, Congress designated the area a U.S. forest reserve in 1892 and in 1906 Devils Tower became the nation's first national monument. Rising dramatically to a height of 1,280 feet above the Belle Fourche River, Devils Tower has become a rock climbing mecca. On July 4, 1893, local rancher William Rogers became the first person to complete the climb after constructing a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. Technical rock climbing techniques were first used to ascend the Tower in 1937 when Fritz Wiessner conquered the summit with a small party from the American Alpine Club. Today hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rock walls each summer. All climbers must register with a park ranger before and after attempting a...

This place is really amazing! Nice scenery around the Tower. There's good parking, restrooms and lots of signs with info all around. The first stop is right on the road. Continue from there and see it from all angles. If you're a photographer or anyone who likes to take photos of places like this, get your obligatory daytime photos but...stay until dark if you can. Catch the sunset on it, then stay for blue hour and evening. We were treated to a serious surprise! That Aurora showed up. We were only planning Milky Way shots but that was a very pleasant surprise. I'll add a few photos of that after I get them out of my camera. For now, these are cell...

We went early morning 10:45 the walk around the tower was very nice. There is alot of up and down on the asphalt paved sidewalk. Beautiful scenery. We saw a mule deer, bull snake drinking from a puddle on top of a Boulder. Also saw climbers. The tower path is only 1.3 miles and you can walk as fast or slow as you want to. Plenty of benches along the way to stop and rest. It was free as we have America the...