Our sleep set-up in the van at Crazy Creek.
As you move east, the road becomes more undulating before you reach a big mountain section. The temp finally reached a reasonable number and I decided to hop on the road bike. I didn't know where we were on this road, but I couldn't have picked a more perfect spot to get out if I was only going to be able to ride part of the byway. The road descended immediately with some fast, tight curves and then crossed a bridge that was high above Sunlight Creek, which flows through a deep canyon at this point. The road then begins to climb. I went over a small hill first, then descended again before going up Dead Indian Pass. It was 7.6 miles up to a height just shy of 8,100 feet.
Bridge over Sunlight Creek
It's a long way down to Sunlight Creek from the bridge.
Views abound along the climb. The grade was not too steep, but steady the entire way with some sweeping switchbacks. The view from the top was awesome! There is a metal cutout of some Nez Perce Indians on horseback. The name of the pass has two possible origins, both having to do with a native being killed at the pass. The Nez Perce Indians fled through this area with tourists they had captured during the Nez Perce War of 1877. Led by Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce escaped General Samuel Sturgis by faking a move south where they stirred up dust by running their horses in a circle so as to be visible to Gen. Sturgis' army in the distance. They then fled back north, hidden by heavy timber and crossed Dead Indian Gulch. The gulch was a narrow slit in a rock that steeply dropped 1,000 feet to the Clark's Fork River. Some accounts say the slit was barely wide enough for two horses to walk side-by-side. The maneuver worked and the Nez Perce had some respite during the war as they attempted to reach Canada. Ultimately, they would be caught in northeastern Montana and the Battle of the Bear Paw followed for six days before the Nez Perce were finally captured just 30 miles from their goal of the Canadian border after traveling almost 1,800 miles from where the war began in Idaho.
Cresting the smaller hill before the start of Dead Indian Pass.
Early slopes of Dead Indian Pass.
Halfway up and the view is getting even better!
View from the top with the snaking road below.
Going down the east side of Dead Indian Pass.
Red rocks near the bottom of the mountain.
We rolled into Cody, WY, only making a brief stop as we had to keep moving to cover a big section of Wyoming today, our destination being Devils Tower before dark. We moved south through the open plain. Every few miles we would go over a little rise and the landscape would be different on the other side. A set of mountains ran along to the west and eventually we turned left on Hwy 16 to cross over them and through the Bighorn National Forest. It was a very scenic climb up to Powder River Pass, starting off with rocky canyons and moving up into the alpine forest and meadows. We stopped to enjoy one of those rocky canyon views near the bottom and I hopped a guardrail for a nature break. On the way back over, my foot slipped and my thigh slid across a meeting point of two pieces of guard rail. I got a four inch gash across the back of my thigh. It was close to needing stitches, but Shannon fixed me up enough that we didn't need to visit a doctor. It was at a really annoying spot for driving though, right where my thigh hits the edge of the seat.
East of Cody, WY.
Entering Bighorn National Forest. The guardrail to the left is the one that got me.
Tensleep Creek in Bighorn National Forest
Once on the east side of Powder River Pass, we hit yet another thunderstorm. The temperature dropped from the upper-60s into the 30s in a matter of minutes and it began to snow. We didn't stop to see anything along the descent, trying to just get to the bottom and meet up with I-90 in the town of Buffalo, WY. We got ahead of the storm on I-90, but it followed us all the way to Devils Tower which is on the far east side of Wyoming near the border with South Dakota. We had called ahead to see if campsites were available at a campground outside of Devils Tower National Monument. There were a few spots open, unlike the campground in the park which was full. The storm met us at the campground, which was a little different than we had pictured. The campsites were just open areas on a hillside that didn't have much grass. That hillside turned into a raging river when the storm began to pelt the land with rain. We didn't even go inside to try to get a site. This place was not going to happen in a tent on a stormy night. I could picture us sliding right down the hill in our tent on a river of water and mud.
Devils Tower, a very odd rock rising into the sky in an otherwise smooth landscape.
The storm pursued us all the way to Devils Tower.
After a quick glance at the tower, the clouds rolled in as the storm unleashed on us and the view was over. We drove back towards I-90 to look for a campsite at a state park we had passed on the way in. Keyhole State Park not only had sites available, it was also dry and located along the beautiful Keyhole Reservoir. We grabbed a site, set up the tent and then drove around the park in search of showers. There were no showers, but at least we had bathrooms. We saw a few baby foxes playing in the bushes right at nightfall. After dinner, thunder was rolling in the distance with more storms approaching. We decided to sleep in the van again, moving things around to the same setup we had the night before at Crazy Creek. It was a good decision as it rained most of the night, stopping just before dawn.
A small fox peaking up from behind this pile of poles at Keyhole State Park.
We rolled up a wet tent to start the next morning, then drove back to Devils Tower. The clouds were still thick and low, obscuring the view of the massive formation. It is an oddity to say the least. The terrain around the tower is small rolling hills, then all of a sudden there is a giant 867-foot rock formation rising up from the top of one of the hills. The top of the tower stands 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River that curves through the valley around it. The tower itself is made of many little columns of rock, set up in similar arrangement to the Sheepeater Cliffs in Yellowstone. The tower columns are made up of phonolite rather than basalt like the cliffs. There are many theories as to how the tower formed, but nobody is really sure. It is quite the sight to behold and I highly recommend stopping by if you ever get the chance.
Camping at Keyhole
Keyhole Reservoir behind our campsite
We hit the trails as soon as we arrived. They were wet, but not really muddy. Overhanging vegetation got our clothes soaked as we passed though. Our first trail was the Red Beds loop at 3.1 miles in length. This loop descended the hill slightly, then circled the tower. The tower was not visible for most of the first half of the loop due to the clouds, but there were lots of other things to look at including deer, prairie dogs and red rocks. The Belle Fourche River was also cruising around below us giving us some great views.
Plenty of places to hide if another storm had come.
Deer in the distance
Nice view of the Belle Fourche River and the red rocks.
The section that gives this trail its name, Red Beds.
The clouds finally parted and we could see the tower. It was huge from our vantage point! We hiked the rest of the loop in the tower's shadow, getting a different view of the monstrosity around every bend in the trail. The loop ended at the main Tower Trail, which is a paved loop right at the base of the tower. It is the easiest and most popular hiking trail in the park. Don't let that fool you though as there is still some climbing and leg work to be done to get those views. You look almost straight up to see the tower from this trail. It was a different perspective, but I liked the views on Red Beds better as they showed more of the whole of the tower without a neck ache.
View opposite the tower on Red Beds.
The tower is spiritually significant to the Native American Plains tribes in the area. They leave pieces of cloth tied to trees as part of religious ceremonies that typically take place in June. Climbers often seek out the tower and try to reach to summit where some will camp for the night before descending back to the bottom. Climbers typically will not go up in June to show reverence during the Native American ceremonies. Since it was June when we visited, we saw no climbers, but did see many pieces of cloth tied in trees by natives.
Religious cloth tied to trees as part of religious ceremonies by Native Americans.
There was one more trail we wanted to hike so after lunch we hit Joyner Ridge, a 1.6-mile loop on the north side of the park. The trailhead had the best views of the tower in my opinion. You can see the full tower with the surrounding landscape and with minimal crowd. Get a shot there if you are into pictures. Joyner Ridge was half descending and half climbing. We took the northern side of the loop first which descended upon a ridge with more great views of the tower. The southern edge comes back up the hill through a wooded valley with few views, but nice shade if it is a hot day.
My favorite view of Devils Tower was from the Joyner Ridge Trailhead.
Taking a picture of Shannon taking a picture.
Prairie Dog
Our time at Devils Tower was short, but sweet despite the wet conditions. I had a great time hiking through the park's trails with Shannon. Our afternoon drive was much shorter than the previous day, this time only a couple of hours southeast into South Dakota to the Black Hills and a little cabin we rented in Custer, SD. More on the Black Hills portion of our trip in the next post.
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