STORIES FROM A RECENT 3-month USA TRIP (shipped bike over from Australia)
WHAT A SIGHT!!! – WHAT A RIDE…WHAT HISTORY
Formed underground from molten rock. Magma pushed up into the surrounding sedimentary rock. Made internationally famous by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
According to the traditional beliefs of Native American peoples, the Kiowa and Lakota, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. The great rock formed of a tree trunk which grew to lift seven sisters into the sky to save them from an attacking bear.
A sacred place to over 20 Native American tribes, the Tower is also known as Bear Lodge. Devils Tower was designated as America's first national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Northern Plains Indian tribes have objected to the name Devils Tower, considering it offensive to a site they regard as sacred. They have formally expressed their desire to have the name “Bear Lodge” restored to the Tower.
In the 1980s, Todd Skinner, a local Wyoming man, free-soloed the Walt Bailey route in 18 minutes. It is the fastest the Tower has been climbed.
In October 1941 Devils Tower made headlines across the nation. A professional parachutist named George Hopkins was stuck atop the Tower with no way down.
i also met some lovely fellow lady long haul riders along the way ..