Tumbleweeds Go!: Day 6: Rapid City to Yellowstone

We got an early start today and drove from our hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Devil's Tower was named America's first national monument in 1906.

It is one thing to see something like this in a picture, but an entirely different experience when you’re standing at the base looking up at this massive structure.

It looks different from every angle. This giant is 867 feet from its base to its summit and stands 1267 feet above the surrounding terrain. It has a circumference of 1 mile.

The tower is considered sacred by Native Americans in the area and they leave prayers and gifts, like those in the picture below. There are signs asking visitors to leave these items alone to respect the tribes.

If you’ve seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you may remember Devils Tower looking something like this:

Here's what it looked like as we were leaving - that is a field full of cows below. Did we mention all the cows? They're absolutely everywhere. Along with almost as many horses. We also saw a field full of prarie dogs, too small and far away to photograph, but certainly plentiful.

After leaving Devil's Tower, we were on the road to Yellowstone via a long trek across Montana. The landscape was full of rolling hills and tiny towns with no more than 10 or so houses.

Eventually the mountains came into view in the distance...

Then we were driving right by. This view was incredible. Seeing these bits of the country make you think about the first people to see these things, and those pioneers traveling through.