American Gam

“If you travel across the country, you will encounter magnificent structures, national monuments, that can restore your faith in America. Standing before any one of these monuments, you cannot help but feel united with all Americans…” ~ Ryan Coonerty

This day started with an appointment in Spearfish, South Dakota, which is an hour and a half from our KOA location. While there we figured we’d do our laundry in that town. All was done by eleven o’clock when I realized we were only an hour away from Devil’s Tower, which is across the state line in Wyoming, so…

…with blue skies overhead we headed west through the verdant ponderosa for an impromptu visit to see the majestic monolith.

We came in from the north. There’s a place to pull over when you ascend that first rise and see Devil’s Tower from a distance. It doesn’t look like much from here…

The plaque on the side of the road tells the story…

We had to get a picture at this sacred place with our new stone in honor of Logan and our Kodi-boy…

As you drive closer you get a sense of the enormity of the obelisk…

There’s a KOA located just outside the gate of this national park so we stopped at the cafe there for lunch…

Then we drove up and around the great tower. Now you can see the majesty of the place…

Some Native American people still journey here to tie colorful cloths of healing prayers to the branches of the surrounding trees as they have for thousands of years. I would show you a picture but it is considered disrespectful to various indigenous peoples to photograph the prayer flags.

Rock climbing is allowed here. A permit is required. On this day you can see two climbers making an ascent up the rock face. Clearly, this is not for the faint of heart.

Then we drove around to the west side. It’s just a side road on the way back down to the gate, a dirt road that looks like someone’s driveway, that most tourists pass by. I’ve been here before with my sister Norma and Kodi. We were daring enough to explore this road and were rewarded with a stunning alternate perspective of the tower. This is the view…

I hope you’re daring enough to explore the dirt roads in your life.

The gam continues…