Uploaded from Hulett, Wyoming – where I could get Internet access…
On Sunday, June 28, we left early to drive a little over 2 hours to Devils Tower National Monument.
Today I drove to Devils Tower National Monument. It was just over a 2 hour drive from Wind Cave National Park. It’s interesting watching the landscape and wildlife change from state to state. Once I entered Wyoming, I started to see prong horn sheep like we see deer in NC. I saw a couple prong horns in different fields eating crops that were just starting to sprout. Hopefully, they don’t eat enough for the farmers to mind.
There is one National Park Service campground (Belle Fourche River Campground) at Devils Tower, that is first come, first serve. I was hoping an early arrival would help me get a camp site. Turned out that wasn’t a problem. The campground was almost empty when I arrived and I quickly selected a site and filled out the registration card. The regular price with $20 a night, but my senior national parks discount knocked that down to $10 a night! The KOA right before the park entrance started at $80 a night for my size vehicle. Sure they have more amenities, but I’ll take the cheaper price!
I really like the campground. There are lots of big oaks that offer shade. There were barely any shade trees at Wind Cave (and it got up to 90 on Saturday!). Going to stay here for several nights to give Sammy a break. Unfortunately, I think he is already getting tired of the van.
It’s been nice hanging out in the campground with Devils Tower in the background. I’ve taken several shots of the tower while walking Sammy. It’s been crazy windy the last two days, but it does make comfortable in the van.
Sunday night, I tried taking sunset pictures of Devils Tower from a parking lot in walking distance from the campground. It was looking iffy because storm clouds were rolling in. A few minutes before sunset, the clouds started to break up and some color was starting so show on the cloud in front of the tower. I thought I was going to luck out, but no…
The sky behind me looked like it was on fire!
But around Devils Tower, not much. What the heck!
At least I’m here for a few more days and can try again.
The Visitors Center is very busy at Devils Tower and the parking lot is small. So part way to the Visitor’s Center is a traffic light that lets you know when you can continue the driving up to the parking lot. I tried twice on Sunday, but bailed out both times because of the number of cars in line.
I went early, 7:45 am, on Monday and got to the Visitors Center without having to wait. Unfortunately, most park services start at 9:00 am. D’oh! Maybe I’ll try again on Tuesday morning.
On the way back down from the Visitors Center, I was checking the overlooks to see which ones had good views of Devils Tower, specifically for sunset. I found a good turnout that I will try tonight if conditions look good.
The second turnout when entering the park has a prairie dog town on both sides of the road. As I was checking out the view of Devils Tower, I noticed a bald eagle in a dead tree overlooking the prairie dog town. I took a couple pictures of the eagle and then started taking pictures of the prairie dogs.
After a few minutes, the eagle took flight and did a circle above the prairie dogs. I was zoomed in all the way with my zoom lens, so I couldn’t get the eagle in view until it landed in the tree again. I waited for several minutes hoping the eagle would have another try at the prairie dogs. The eagle was more patient that me and I eventually headed on…
