Of all the unique natural wonders to be found in America, the Devil's Tower in Wyoming is one of the most fascinating. It is America's counterpart to Australia's Ayers Rock. It stands alone in the desolate Wyoming wilderness near the Belle Fourche River and on a clear day it can be seen from as far as 100 miles away. Because of the way it looms over the countryside it can be seen long before it is reached thrusting itself high into the wild prairie sky.

It is as mysterious as it is beautiful and native Americans used to call it Grizzly Bear Lodge in their own language. According to one legend an evil spirit used the top of the tower as a drum to frighten the land during a thunderstorm. Another legend attributes the lines running down the sides of the rock to the claws of a giant grizzly bear who tried to climb the sheer walls of the rock to get to some native Americans living on the top.

Early pioneers who were traveling across the Great Plains by Conestoga wagons on the journey further west, used the tower as a guidepost as did the native Americans before them.
Geologists and scientists have been fascinated by the rock which is said to be over 50 million years old and yet it remains a geological mystery. It is said by some to be the remnant of a volcanic rock intrusion now exposed by erosion. The tower has a flat top and its fluted sides are 865 feet high. The tower was probably formed when molten rock, pushing upward, encountered a hard-rock layer and was forced to spread into a flat-topped mountainous structure.

In 1906 the Devil's Tower was declared America's first national monument and today visitors are welcomed to come and climb it. Although there are several trails to the summit, the climb is not an easy one, but the view from the top becomes its own reward. Its color is light gray and it is covered with lichens, sage, moss and grass on its top. As one climbs to the peak falcon and hawk nests can be seen along the trail and an occasional mule deer will make a solitary appearance. Finally, having reached the top of Devil's Tower, the vista is breathtaking and magnificent. The crest of the tower is inhabited by chipmunks and prairie dogs who spend their whole lives at the top of the structure without ever venturing to go beyond the tower's rim to the prairie below.
A museum at the tower's headquarters has exhibits explaining the geology, history and natural environment of the monuments region. For campers there are places to stay during the spring and summers months and a pine forest covers some of the surrounding countryside.
Besides being a monument, the tower starred a lead role in a popular feature film. In Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind it was used as the site for man's contact with alien creatures from outside the solar system. What an ideal place for a rendezvous with an extraterrestrial!