September 13, 2017
Week 129: restday at Devils Tower: hike around the tower
Today a restday at Frank's Devils Tower Lodge. The lodge is fully booked tonight so we have to vacate our luxury suite. No problem though: there is plenty of room on the floor in the gym.
Way early Patrick hikes back to the viewpoint in the pre-dawn darkness to see the first light hit the east face of Devils Tower. Then a nice breakfast, then another hike together with Rachel around the base of the tower. Lots of things to see, we'll let the photos do the talking.
There are several theories on how this amazing tower came to be. The most widely accepted is that a column of magma rose into the softer rock of the region and cooled slowly to form the six sided columns. Had it risen higher it would have punctured the earth's surface and become a volcano. As it was it hardened about a mile and a half below the surface. Over many years erosion took away the top layer, plus all the rock around it, but the harder rock remained standing. And there you have it: Devils Tower.
Today is supposed to be the last hot day for a while. There is a cold front blowing in from the west that is going to affect our next couple of days. Hopefully the rain will knock down the fires out west and relieve some of the smoke. We have a couple of long riding days across Wyoming ahead of us.
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