HULETT, WYOMING: More Fun at Devil's Tower

August 24, 2017

I'm going to start with a picture from last night. It doesn't make much sense to post pictures from one day on the next day's journal page, but the things I do OFTEN make no sense. In this case, however, I think it's worth the senselessness. It's a great shot of the awesome Devil's Tower, backlit by a) the sun, or b) a heavenly halo, or c) the headlights of a flying saucer. You decide.

I planned an easy day of biking today so could spend the morning exploring more of the grounds of this national monument. I slept until sunrise, stayed in my sleeping bag a little longer while checking on the view of the tower outside my tent, got up, and did the two important rituals I do every morning--I peed and I made coffee. All the while, Devil's Tower hovered over me like a hawk hovers over a mouse.

A pretty nice first view of the new day.

Coffee consumed, legs stretched, and bicycle mounted, it was two uphill miles from the campground to the Visitor Center on the back side of the tower. The ride was very pleasant thanks to the cool morning temperatures and also thanks to the fact that it was before the steady stream of motorized vehicles started pouring in.

I managed to take some more distorted pictures. One has to keep up one's reputation, doesn't one?

Prairie dogs, also known as barking squirrels, and they were definitely barking.

I've been trying to tell you all along, trees are view-blockers.

The Visitor Center provided some interesting historic information about the area, and also the science behind the formation of Devil's Tower. I tried to understand the geological mumbo-jumbo about "magma," "igneous intrusion," and "sedementary rock," but it was too confusing for my non-scientific mind.

I moved on to the next kiosk and found an alternative explanation--one that I could better relate to . . . and one that I prefer to believe.

I really WANT this to be the true version.

Then I came to this photograph which is irrefutable proof of the Kiowa legend.

After visiting the Visitor Center like any other visitor, I felt kind of small after talking to a group of young men and women with ropes, carabiners, pitons, special shoes, and tool belts full of other climbing tools. On the scale of dangerous adventures, my little bike tour didn't really match up to climbing the steep walls to the top of Devil's Tower.

I went on to hike the "Tower Trail" around the perimeter of Devil's Tower. Sure, I was put in my place by the climbers, but I still felt superior to 95% of the hikers because I went off-trail to climb the boulder field to the base of the gigantic monolith.

I think I found the exact spot where Richard Dreyfus and Dee Wallace Stone looked down with amazement at the landing zone that the government prepared for alien space ships.

Following the path of Dreyfus and Stone, I'm half way to the base. I might be celebrating a bit too early.

... and I made it! What the hell! No space ships. No landing strips. No sound and light systems. No evidence any of that stuff ever existed.

You know, I'm starting to question whether all that stuff I saw on Spielberg's documentary Close Encounters of the Third Kind ever really happened. Having been at the actual site, I now have the feeling that the entire movie was faked in a film studio--like Neil Armstrong's moon landing.

Disappointingly, I finished my hike and retrieved Nicycle at the Visitor Center. From there I had a speedy downhill ride out of the park and then an easy 11 miles to Hulett for a much-needed motel night. Call it a "rest day" if you wish. I called it a day to ride slowly and eat my first meal in a restaurant. At night, I luxuriated in a nice bed while watching National Lampoon's Vacation on cable TV.

This osprey screeched non-stop until I finished aiming my phone at it.

I don't even know what to say about this.

My motel for the night. It might have looked more authentically "old west" if not for the Coke machine.

G-2 has been acting a little strange lately. He seemed to be compelled by an alien force to waste $4.00 on a TV dinner just so he could create this mashed potato structure. I don't get it.

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Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 440 miles (708 km)

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