Devil's Tower

[TnHiker]

Originally Posted by Sully54

We are traveling from Custer State Park to Glacier NP in September. Was thinking of taking a detour and hitting Devil's Tower. It would add about an hour of drive time to our original destination. I don't know how much time we would need once there. Was wondering if it is worth the time?

We made a 8 week (5600 mi.) western trip in 2017, when we left Custer which we really loved and saw everything around there. When we left Custer we went to Devil's Tower. If you notice my avatar you know we liked it. We spent the night there in the KOA and the view from the KOA was really neat just sitting out and watching the night sky with the tower fading was great. As some have mentioned the prairie dog colony there is huge and they are not afraid of you in the least you can walk within 10' of them. To each his own but for us it was fantastic.

About 230 miles from Devils Tower lies the the "Little Bighorn National Monument" right on I90. We stayed at a great campground "7th Ranch RV Park" within a couple miles on the same side of the road as the monument the exits are no more than a couple miles apart, RV park is first. There is a walkup overlook at the campground where you overlook the valley where the Indians were camped (Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho about 7 thousand) and to your right you see the monument where Custer and his men were mass buried. The battlefield is randomly dotted with grave markers where many of the Indians and soldiers not with Custer were buried where they fell, the markers have their names on them. It is the only military park like this in the US. The white stone markers are the soldiers the rose colored markers are the Indians. There is a long story of how all this came to be and you will learn it on the tour and Park Service talk. If you like history I recommend a tour of the Little Bighorn Monument. Take the paid Crow Indian guided tour then stay for the free Park Service talk, about the battle, super interesting. I spent about 4-5 hours there and would have stayed longer if I could have. I am a history lover. We were so lucky, on the Crow tour our guides great grandmother was there in 1876 during the battle as a crow captive squaw belonging to the Lakota Sioux. He had stories passed down through his family of her story, she was 98 at her death in 1952. Now you will have go there to get "page 2" as Paul Harvey used to say.

I'm a little jealous of your planned trip. I didn't go to Glacier in 2017 but I was there in 2001 for a 7 day/6 night backpacking trip. Enjoy and God Bless!

[Brians first rv]

Oh yea, free camp sites in Custer National Forest, Red Shale campground, outside Ashland. First come, no reservations.

[Atlee]

We did Little Big Horn National Battlefield 1st and then to Custer State Park.
Stayed at Game Lodge RV campground.

At Little Big horn, to be 100% correct, the white markers denote where the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry fell, but not where they are buried. The enlisted men are all buried around the huge memorial atop Last Stand Hill. The officers were disinterred and sent back east to their home towns. Custer's remains were shipped back to West Point, where he is buried.

The red stones mark the known locations of fallen Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho.

As for stopping at Devils Tower on the way, I'd recommend doing so. It added between 2 and 3 hours to our drive. Well worth it.

Originally Posted by TnHiker

We made a 8 week (5600 mi.) western trip in 2017, when we left Custer which we really loved and saw everything around there. When we left Custer we went to Devil's Tower. If you notice my avatar you know we liked it. We spent the night there in the KOA and the view from the KOA was really neat just sitting out and watching the night sky with the tower fading was great. As some have mentioned the prairie dog colony there is huge and they are not afraid of you in the least you can walk within 10' of them. To each his own but for us it was fantastic.

About 230 miles from Devils Tower lies the the "Little Bighorn National Monument" right on I90. We stayed at a great campground "7th Ranch RV Park" within a couple miles on the same side of the road as the monument the exits are no more than a couple miles apart, RV park is first. There is a walkup overlook at the campground where you overlook the valley where the Indians were camped (Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho about 7 thousand) and to your right you see the monument where Custer and his men were mass buried. The battlefield is randomly dotted with grave markers where many of the Indians and soldiers not with Custer were buried where they fell, the markers have their names on them. It is the only military park like this in the US. The white stone markers are the soldiers the rose colored markers are the Indians. There is a long story of how all this came to be and you will learn it on the tour and Park Service talk. If you like history I recommend a tour of the Little Bighorn Monument. Take the paid Crow Indian guided tour then stay for the free Park Service talk, about the battle, super interesting. I spent about 4-5 hours there and would have stayed longer if I could have. I am a history lover. We were so lucky, on the Crow tour our guides great grandmother was there in 1876 during the battle as a crow captive squaw belonging to the Lakota Sioux. He had stories passed down through his family of her story, she was 98 at her death in 1952. Now you will have go there to get "page 2" as Paul Harvey used to say.

I'm a little jealous of your planned trip. I didn't go to Glacier in 2017 but I was there in 2001 for a 7 day/6 night backpacking trip. Enjoy and God Bless!

[Poppyof5]

Rode past it a few years ago. Can't imagine there is much more to see close up then from the road side but that's me

[joe w]

We stopped at the Tower on our trip out west last year, stayed at the KOA which is about a mile from it, great view and when dawn breaks the sun gives it a rich color. We are leaving in a couple of weeks for another trip out west, this time Yellowston, Grand Teton, Glacier and then...........?

[alazear]

I very much enjoyed the Prairie Dogs and unique excellent rock climbing there. We don’t have prairie dogs out west and they are very cool and a hoot to watch. The climbing at Devil’s is dihedral after dihedral. Very specific crack technique in the climbing world, especially in the harder grades.

You can answer your own question in advance by cooking up a large plate of mash potatoes and see if the mood strikes you to build something out of it - as in Close Encounters movie mentioned earlier. If so, go for sure. If not, go anyway. 😀

[BigRedGrandPa]

I will be worth your time. We went there on our trip in June/July. It is a magnificent rock, there is plenty to see. You can spend as much time as you want. We stopped there on our way to Yellowstone.

[Mgkramer963]

It’s worth it. There is a KOA campground in the shadow of the devil’s tower. We stayed the night on our way back from Yellowstone. They show the movie close encounters every night. It was a fun stop. Did the walk around the tower the next morning. It was fun watching the climbers climb the tower to its top.

[stustoner]

Check out the Vore Buffalo Jump as well......as I recall it is along I-90 exit and near the exit that we took to go to for Devils' Tower. The jump is a place that the native Americans used to drive buffalo over to their deaths, then go to the bottom and harvest the buffalo. There is/was a University of Wyoming dig down at the bottom of the jump.

[LarryJ]

Worth it, and there's a KOA very close to it.

[rossollo]

You might have to switch to a smaller vehicle to get close, but it is really amazing at the Devils tower. Miss-named should be God's finger.

[susan34982]

Two years ago I accidentally cancelled a stopover between Glacier NP and Devil's Tower and ended up driving 12 hours straight to get to Devil's Tower in the pouring rain, lightning, and dark on back roads in our 26-foot RV towing our car. Exhausting leg of the trip that took me several days to recover from. We camped at the KOA at the base of the tower and the view was breathtaking. I drove the car up to the ranger station and toured the exhibit. Took lots of photos, and enjoyed the prairie dogs along the roadside.

Since we were only staying for one night on our way home, I opted not to stop at Mt. Rushmore to get to our campsite in the Badlands, figuring once we set up camp we could drive back. Four hours later, we got to our campground on the far side of the NP and never went back to see Mt. Rushmore, no great loss.

If you're into geology and a great photo op, do stop at Devil's Tower.

[joe w]

We as well stayed at the Devils tower KOA, nice folks and the morning sun gave a the tower a golden hue.

[travelingjw]

Agree with that except Wall Drugs. Just another big shopping mall.

[Als1]

Originally Posted by travelingjw

Agree with that except Wall Drugs. Just another big shopping mall.

Agree about Wall Drug. Unless we have someone interested in our group it’s a drive by.