THE DEVIL’S TOWER
We crossed into Wyoming, and
left the highway in favor of a back road to Devil’s Tower National
Monument. I didn’t have a big agenda at
the park, but the Devil’s Tower was one thing I really wanted to see on this trip. After a lengthy drive through a remote,
virtually uninhabited corner of Wyoming, we caught our first views of the
tower. They would get better
though. Unlike Mount Rushmore, this is
not a place you just want to drive by to save a few bucks.
Devil’s Tower is a striking
monolith rising 1,267 vertical feet above the surrounding countryside. It’s popular with rock climbers, but our
only goal was getting a better look at it.
Entrance to the park was free with our National Parks Pass, and we
headed to the visitors center at the base of the mountain.
This appears to be the
strategy of virtually every other visitor to the park. We parked and paid a brief visit to the
crowded visitor’s center, but we couldn’t stay long because Saucony was in the
car. We were parked in the shade, but
it was still far too hot to leave her.
Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on the trails in the park. From this area, this view was a little
disappointing. We could see the tower,
of course, but there were enough trees around to prevent a good photo.
We decided on a different
strategy. We drove back down the main
road, but took a side road up to the Joyner Ridge Trailhead. We parked, and found a spectacular view. Across from us, the tower rose above a
scattering of meadows and forest. It was
by far the best view we found in the park, and there was no one else around.
We enjoyed the view and took
some photos before heading out of the park.
On the way, we stopped briefly at the prairie dog town, where Saucony
discovered a new favorite animal. It
took her a minute to spot the prairie dogs, but once she did, she went
crazy. She was whining, barking, and
wagging her tail all at the same time.
Saucony loves cows, too, but she showed far more enthusiasm for prairie
dogs on this trip.
We stopped briefly for ice
cream before continuing back to I-90.
From there, we had an uneventful drive on the highway to Buffalo,
Wyoming. We passed through Buffalo, and
began the long, winding climb into the Bighorn Mountains. The Bighorns are a bit different than most
of the ranges in the Rockies that I’ve been to. Most of the terrain seemed more gentle, and there was a pleasant
mix of meadows and forests. In some
ways, it reminded me of the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia.
After a long descent, we
passed a large lake and turned onto the dirt road to West Tensleep Lake. This road took us past numerous primitive
car camping areas, but we had reservations at the forest service campground at
the end of the road. I wanted to camp
at West Tensleep Lake so we could get an early start on our hike to Marion Lake
the next morning. It was good that we
made the reservations, because the campground was full. The small campground was nice and relaxing,
and it provided easy access to the lake.
That night we grilled chicken and enjoyed a campfire before going to bed
early. We were planning on getting up
at 5:30 the next morning for our hike.
EARLY BIRDS
Morning came early. We dressed quickly, and grabbed the food we
had prepared the night before and hit the trail. We passed through the sleeping campground, and picked up a path
along the shore of West Tensleep Lake.
A few minutes later, we wandered onto a side path that took us out onto
a peninsula. From there, we had a nice
view across the northern part of the lake to the mountains in the
distance. We had bagels for breakfast
there at sunrise. Actually, sunrise
wasn’t very dramatic, since the sun didn’t make an actual appearance. Surprisingly, clouds filled the sky. This was unusual for the Rockies in the
summer, when clouds usually don’t arrive until the afternoon.
We hiked beyond the end of
the lake and into a vast meadow.
Christy and I spotted a couple of deer here, but somehow Saucony missed
them. Eventually she caught the scent
of one of them, and ran around like a fool trying to find the source. By then, the deer had moved into the woods.
Saucony returned, and we
continued up the trail. A sturdy bridge
took us to the far side of the creek, and a mild ascent through the forest
ensued. This ended in another large
meadow. Beyond was another climb
through the woods. Although it was
gentle, it was also long. We passed
into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, and two hours after finishing breakfast, we
finally reached the southern shore of Lake Marion. We had a great view of the mountains from here, which suddenly
seemed much closer than they had at West Tensleep Lake. Dozens of jumping trout provided additional
entertainment. There was an occupied
campsite not far from our resting place, but we didn’t see a sign of
anyone. In fact, we hadn’t seen a
single other person on the hike in.
Originally I thought we
might continue another couple of miles to Lake Helen and Mistymoon Lake. However, after taking a 20-minute break, it
was already 9am. We needed to leave
the campground by 1pm for the long drive to the Wind River Range. Also, a bit of drizzle had sapped my
motivation. Plus, Christy was
complaining about a mysterious pain in her knee. We decided to head back without extending the hike.
The hike back was an
entirely different experience. We
passed dozens of hikers, backpackers, and even horseback riders. Where did all of these people come from? Well, West Tensleep Lake, of course. They just didn’t get up at 5:30 like we
did. Needless to say, we didn’t see any
additional wildlife on the way out. We
did make it back to the campground before noon, having covered about 10 miles
in a single morning. After a quick
lunch, we broke camp and headed back down the road towards western Wyoming.
The drive started out
interesting as we descended Tensleep Canyon.
Then we entered one of Wyoming’s sagebrush deserts, where triple-digit
temperatures guaranteed that we wouldn’t get out of the car. We passed some interesting hot springs in
Thermopolis, and enjoyed a beautiful drive through a redrock canyon carved by
the rollicking Wind River. We reached
Lander by mid-afternoon, where we stopped for gas ($3 a gallon), ice cream, and
groceries. By the time we finished our
errands, we were ready to begin the final leg of the drive into the Wind River
Range.
Back to Wyoming
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!