Wild West Tour: Issue 9

Day #8: Cody, WY. to Devil's Tower, WY.

The KOA in Cody offered a pancake breakfast right on site, which was fantastic! Cody had very little humidity and we were able to quickly pack up our camp, head to breakfast and get on the road. We ate with the Star folks from WA and then we all headed to get fuel.

From Cody we had 320 miles to Devil's Tower, there were some good twisties on 14 for about the first 130 miles. This was basically our last hooray for the mountains, it was so sad to say goodbye to the mountains. The route from here home will be much more flat and straight.

To make some time today we hopped on I90 to head to Devil's Tower. We made really good time and got into Devil's Tower around 4pm. This was amazing, and the first time we had made a destination before 6:30 or 7 PM. This gave us time to set up camp, which is literally the first thing outside of the park. We set up camp and headed into the park.

Devil's Tower is AMAZING. We had some extra time to actually explore the park and I took a 1.3 mile loop trail around the tower. This was an up close exploration of the Monument which was actually the FIRST US Monument Established in 1906. I was able to get some great photo graphs of the Tower which projects from the ground up to about 1200 feet. We saw more deer here, and I was looking for some porcupine, but wasn't able to see any.

At the base of the monument is a prairie where you can find hundreds of Prairie Dogs. These interesting creature pop out of the ground like a "Whack-A-Mole" game. They are everywhere. I got a few photos of them, but they don't like you to get too close.

After the park we headed back and eat some Chili dogs at the store next to the campgrounds. Tonight the Campground is showing "Close Encounters", which features the Devil's Tower Monument. I am excited about that since I have never seen the movie.

Well that is all for now, I am all caught up. What a fantastic trip this has been, unbelievable really that I have been able to see everything that I have. I can't wait to get home and share the stories with so many people. It really gives you a sense for how large the United States really is. I don't think you can appreciate it until you do something like this.

I am at awe from this trip, which is something that will stick with me for a very long time!

Thanks for reading! E-mail me if you have any questions!

-matt-