Winter 24: A Month in Texas

on
0

GNP Part 5: Travel to Devil's Tower, Hiking, and Travel Home

on
Exploring Devil's Tower

This is the fifth and final entry in our Glacier National Park series - here are links to the previous posts:

Getting to Devil's Tower

After our short stay in Wallace, ID, we headed east along I90, breaking up the travel so we could see some sights along the way.   For our first stop, we made a quick stop in Basin, MT, home to the Merry Widow Health Mine, which seemed interesting enough to make the 30 mile detour off the main interstate.  

Merry Widow is a tunnel into a mountain where radon gas is naturally emitted and supposedly has helped people find relief from such diverse ailments as arthritis, sinusitis, migraine, eczema, asthma, hay fever, psoriasis, allergies, diabetes, and others. The visitors drink the spring water flowing through the mine.  This water has also cured some visitors of cataracts when used as an eye-wash. We paid the $5 fee, and ventured about 200 feet into the mine, where there are a few benches and sitting areas for visitors to soak their feet in the very cold running water.  There is also a room for pets - there are success stories about arthritic dogs enjoying pain free play after their treatments.

I don't think our hour in the mine actually did us any good other than helping me (slowly) get over my fear of confined spaces.  For the treatment to do any good they recommend 32 one hour visits spread over 10 to 11 days (about three visits a day). 

Informational sign at the entrance to the Merry Widow RV Park and Mine

Helping people feel young for 67 years

Near the entrance, walking into the Mine

Several hundred painted and signed rocks line the walls of the Mine

Overnight in Billings

After another day of driving, we stopped at the KOA in Billings since we had stayed there on our way to Yellowstone in 2020 and we knew it was a good place to stop.  We made sure we had enough time to fit in a brewery or two, finding Überbrew and Angry Hank's downtown.  We then enjoyed the hot tub - the first time on this trip we could actually recover from all of our hiking!  We met a couple from Chicago that enjoyed traveling to National Parks as well.  They had recently been to Carlsbad Caverns and talked about their adventure spelunking.  Specifically, they took a tour where you had to squeeze through small holes just large enough for your torso.  While we are indeed heading to Carlsbad next January, I don't think I'll try that anytime soon.

Driving to Devil's Tower

The drive from Billings to Devil's Tower is beautiful, taking us through a huge valley on the east side of the Bighorn National Forest.  The elevation changes just enough to make the truck work pretty hard for a few miles, with smaller cars passing, and then within a few miles we're coasting at 65, passing semi's.  The wind in the area is notoriously gusty, often over 40mph, and it was no different on our drive.  Makes for a stressful few hours, but as we left I90 at Moorcroft and filled up the tank, we were excited for the last 30 mile stretch.  And if you travel in the area, fill up when you can, as there is no gas stations within 15 miles of Devil's Tower.

For our stay in Devil's Tower, I once again reserved at a KOA.  This was partly due to recommendations from the Vintage Cruiser's FB group - but quite honestly, there are not a ton of full hookup options near the tower.  It's a nice KOA and they have free showings of Close Encounters every evening in their outdoor theater, and a nightly hayride through neighboring ranch country, with amazing views of Devils Tower, visiting Campstool Ranch.  Unfortunately the pool was closed for the season - was kind of looking forward to another soak in the hot tub.

Site 86 at the Devil's Tower KOA

Hiking around the Tower - Twice (and Red Beds Trail)

We set out on foot from the KOA - walked past the entrance showing our National Parks pass (as a National Monument the entrance fee is $25), chatting with the nice gentleman manning his post.  After posting for our park entrance selfie, we set out for the Red Beds Trail, which forms an outer ring around the tower.  There's an entrance to this trail off the main road.


Red Bed Trail, looking north

Red Bed Trail, looking northeast
After about two thirds of the the Red Bed Trail we reached the main parking area .  We entered the small Visitor's Center, with educational displays about the area, including the origin of the name "Devils Tower."  The Army commander in charge of the military escort during the 1875 scientific expedition Col. Richard Dodge, wrote that "the Indians call the shaft "Bad God's Tower," which he modified to "Devil's Tower."  The earliest official maps of the area label the formation as "Bear Lodge," which is a direct translation of the Lakota name Mato Tipila.  Other American Indian names include Bear’s Tipi, Home of the Bear, Tree Rock and Great Gray Horn.  There's an interesting visual depiction in the center showing how the Bear Lodge name came to be.

Image from Roadside America

From the Visitor's Center we hooked onto the Tower Trail, circling the main feature once again.  We were just getting used to the scale of the tower when we realized there were people CLIMBING it - quite a few actually.  Crazy.  After completing the inner loop, we navigated to the Valley View South Side Trail, which proceeds through the prairie dog town near the Belle Fourche River.  Seeing the Tower from several different angles was fascinating, as we had no idea the tower was made up of these enormous columns.  Here is a video from the NPS showing one theory of how the columns were formed.

We ended up at 6.2 miles on a day where the temps rose to above 92 degrees (it was 35 degrees the night before!).  Luckily it cooled down to 56 overnight - so we didn't need to turn on the air.

Our Red Beds + stats from AllTrails

Final Leg Home

Leaving the KOA, we passed Devil's Tower Gulch which we failed to even notice on our way in...might have been a place to grab a snack.  Next time.   We headed north on 24 through Hulett, WY which appears to be a super cute little town.  If we ever are in the area again, we'll be sure to stop. 

Continuing out of Wyoming along 24 through Belle Fourche, SD we headed east along US 212.  By the way, Belle Fourche is home to the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument (the actual center is about 20 miles north of Belle Fourche on private property).  So in one trip we were in the Center of the Universe and the Center of the Nation.  Kinda.

Our last overnight was in Gettysburg, SD at Bob's Resort nestled on a bluff overlooking Lake Oahe on the Missouri River. The city known as "Where the Battle Wasn't," Gettysburg, SD. is the sister city to Gettysburg, PA (where the battle was).  After a nice meal at Bob's Steakhouse, we enjoyed our last sunset during our Glacier Adventure.

Sunset overlooking the Missouri

Data from this trip:


With the increase in fuel costs we upped our daily target, and still had issues staying within budget.  Travel days, when we're filling up the tank 3+ times, are expensive.  And with the higher daily fees at KOAs near the end of our trip, even for a few nights, it adds up quickly.  


Our takeaways from this leg of our trip and overall:

  • Take time to get off the interstate and see the sights.  We loved our detour to Merry Widow Mine!
  • When one takes the road less traveled (i.e., SD 212), one must be aware of where the next gas station is.
  • Our daily spend target and goal for average RV park will need to be much lower for our extended winter travel.
  • By getting out and pushing ourselves (ok me) on hikes and trails I might have previously thought were too hard or too long, we were privilege to some of the most amazing sights and experiences - building resilience and memories to last a lifetime!

Have you ever heard of a radon mine for treating ailments?  Have you been to Devil's Tower?   Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.

Comments

Post a Comment