Thanks Wyoming, Hello South Dakota

St. John's

Approaching Devils Tower

We went to Mass at St. John the Baptist in Buffalo, not far from our hotel.  The pastor greeted everybody on the way in and out.

We then hit the road again toward Devils Tower.  Lots of rolling prarie with ranches and not much else.  We had our first glimpse of the Tower from about 8 miles out.  As we got closer, it got bigger and bigger.   The tower is 867 feet from its base to its summit and it is 1,267 ft above the nearby Belle Fourche River.

 
As we approached, we thought of the scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind where all of the animals were dead along the roadway.

Getting Closer

Closer

Arriving at the Tower, we walked up to its base and watched rock climbers climbing up its side.  They are hard to see in the pictures because they are so small.  There are about 150 different routes up the face of the monument.  The climbers use the many cracks in the rock for climbing.

Climbers typically climb in pairs. The first person to climb – the lead climber – climbs upward using only their hands and feet. They periodically place protective equipment in the rock and clip their ropes through this gear. The second climber belays (securely manages the rope) the lead climber. When the lead climber arrives at a good stance, they secure themselves to the rock and belay the second up. The second will remove all the gear that was placed on lead. Nothing is left behind.  

How do climbers get down? Climbers rappel to descend off the Tower. One rope is passed through permanently installed anchors (expansion bolts) in the rock and then tied to a second rope. Climbers place both ropes through a mechanical friction device (attached to their harness) and slide (rappel) down both strands of rope until they reach the next rappel stance and anchors. In order to retrieve their ropes for the next rappel, one of the ropes (the knotted side) is pulled down – pulling the other rope up and through the anchors. Eventually, all the rope is pulled through the anchors and the process is repeated (3 or 4 times) until the ground is reached.  Only five people have died climbing since 1937.

Dave decided to give it a try

On the pathway around the Tower

A number of Indian tribes consider this a sacred place and have rituals here regularly.  The Indians tie prayer clothes to the trees.
They dislike the name Devils Tower and dislike the climbers.

Indian Prayer Cloth

Not far from the Tower is a huge Prarie Dog Village.  They were quite playful.  Ida likes the chipmunks that we saw a few days before better.

After visiting Devils Tower it was off to South Dakota to the old western town of Deadwood.

Prarie Dog

Another State on our Tour

We took a stroll around Deadwood when we arrived.   Its mostly full of casinos with some shops and restaurants.  The town is in a valley where they used to mine gold.



In the Celebrity Hotel we got to see many pieces of movie memorabilia.  They also have a collection of vehicles from the movies.  Here are some pictures

Costume from Hook

Herbie the Love Bug

Jeep from M*A*S*H

In town, we saw the old Bullock Hotel, built in the late 1800s by Sheriff Seth Bullock.  The hotel is reported to be haunted and was featured on Unsolved Mysteries.  We also saw Saloon No 10 where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall.  Later, we had dinner in the Deadwood Social Club, a restaurant above the Saloon.

Bullock Hotel

Saloon No. 10