Bear Lodge/Devils Tower National Monumen

From Alyssa - It would be fair to say that I was pretty ambivalent about going to Devils Tower. That is, until we got there.
The first National Monument, est 1906, this incredible geologic wonder rises up more than 1200 feet off the otherwise flat plains. At a good distance, you can tell it’s pretty big and interesting. Up close, the scale is massive and the innately spiritual nature of this place, sacred to more than 20 Native American tribes, is powerfully present. I don’t really know how to describe the sense of the holy present here except to say that even the wind had a different sound. We walked 1.5 mile path around the mountain - mindful of the many prayer bundles left in the trees by those there to worship, each of us deep in our own thoughts.
The name Devils Tower is a mistranslation of the Lakota name, Bear Lodge. I came away feeling strongly that this sacred and timeless place ought to have any of the Native American names associated with it, rather than the one given by the late coming white men. May it be so.

At the bottom of the access road to Bear Lodge is an active and fun to watch prairie dog town. Yay for prairie dogs!Read more