This article provides an overview of things to see and do as well as places to stay in Devils Tower National Monument and the surrounding area along with useful links to other websites for additional travel related information.
At a Glance
If you are of a certain generation you will remember Devils Tower from the popular movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. In the movie Devils Tower was portrayed as being hollow in the middle and was where the alien spaceship landed. In reality, this impressive landmark is not hollow, but fairly flat on top. This tower was formed from a rare igneous rock called phonolite porphyry and is the largest example of columnar joining in the world. You can read more about how this monument was formed on the National Park Service’s website.
This National Monument is located in the northeast corner of Wyoming. It is within a 2 hour drive of the Black Hills of South Dakota and just under 2 hours north of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands in Wyoming.
Activities
Hiking, technical rock climbing and dark sky viewing are the most popular activities here. The most popular hiking trail is the Tower Trail, which loops around the upper base of the tower. This is a 1.3 mile (2 km) fairly easy hike that gets you close to the base of the tower. The park has a total of 5 trails.
This rock formation is considered a sacred site to many Native American tribes and many prefer that people do not climb it. With that said, the park does allow climbing with certain restrictions, which can be found on their website.
Getting There
Not many people will fly in just to visit this national monument since the nearest airport is over 400 miles away (That would be Denver International Airport (DEN) is you’re interested.) and most people only spend a few hours hiking the upper loop trail and visiting the rather small visitor center. However, this is a great place to spend one night or stop for a few hours when traveling across Wyoming on Interstate 90. Route 14 can be accessed from either Moorcroft or Sundance depending on whether you are driving east or west respectively.
Where to Stay
Accommodations
Devils Tower Lodge, located less than 10 minutes from the visitor center, offers 6 unique Bed & Breakfast type accommodations. This family owned and operated lodge also offers a family style dinner for an extra fee, which is handy as there are not a lot of dining options this close to the monument.
Campgrounds
Belle Fourche River Campground, located in the park, is a first come, first served campground with almost all sites being pull-throughs. There is seasonal flush toilets and potable water, but no hook-ups, camp store, internet or dump station. This campground offers nice views of Devils Tower, but it is in a fairly open field with a few small trees here and there, but not much privacy between sites.
Devils Tower / Black Hills KOA Journey Campground, located just outside the park’s entrance, has full hook-ups, hot and cold showers, flush toilets and all of the other ammonites you would expect from a KOA campground. We stayed here when we visited Devil’s Tower and really enjoyed it.
Keyhole State Park offers camping, lean-tos and cabins but is 30 to 40 minutes away from the monument depending on which route you take. There are over 300 sites here, but only the Tatanka Campground has electric hook-ups. There is, however a dump station and showers available.
Additional Resources
Recreation.gov – Devil’s Tower provides additional information and allows you to purchase day passes on their site.
Travel Wyoming is Wyoming’s official tourism guide and has lots of great information about Yellowstone National Park is the surrounding area.
