Devils Tower National Monument is a super cool stop in Wyoming. This is Day 2 of Paul and Drew’s road trip from Washington to Florida. You can read more about our road trip at: Driving from Washington to Florida in 5 Days. Driving south on I-90 from Montana, we enter Wyoming as it turns east. It is already getting dark when we exit on US-14 towards Devils Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming.
Devils Tower, the first of our national monuments, is a geological treasure. This butte towers over the Black Hills region at 1267 feet and can be seen for miles. The summit is the size of a football field and its circumference at its base is about a mile. Though the defining characteristic are the cracks down the sides. These cracks help climbers ascend to the top making this a rock-climbing attraction. But it is also still sacred to many Native American tribes, who refer to it as “Mateo Tepee” or “Bear Lodge”. Though it may be more famously known from the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. So, we’ll have to look out for any strange lights in the sky. You can read more about it and its history at: Devils Tower National Monument (nps.gov).
Approaching Devils Tower
From I-90, it takes about 30 minutes to Devils Tower. After 25.5 miles on US-14, we turn down WY-24 for the last 6 miles. Once on WY-24 we start to see white-tailed deer. By this time, it is only about 3:45 in the afternoon but getting dark fast. We see a pull-out where we get our first good view of Devils Tower, so we pull over. Still a couple miles away and nearly dark, Devils Tower can be clearly seen.
After a few pictures, we get back in our car to hurry to get there before sunset. We continue to see deer everywhere as we turn on the entrance road. There is no one at the entrance station so we just continue on. Normally it’s a $25 fee per vehicle to enter, but we had already purchased an annual pass previously. We don’t know how late it will be open so we continue forward. The 3-mile 2 two-lane entrance road loops around to the visitor center parking lot. Along the way we pass through a wooded area with glimpses of the tower through the trees.
Visitor Center Parking Lot
We make it to visitor center parking lot and there are no lights. This is a dark park and it is almost 4:00PM and sunset is in 20 minutes. Though it is dark on the ground, the tower is clearly visible looking up to the sky. The parking lot is empty except a few cars, and we easily find a spot to park. As soon as we get out we have great views of Devils Tower. We take a few pictures before walking the icy walkway toward the visitor center.
Unfortunately, the visitor center is closed. We don’t know if they closed early on this Sunday afternoon or was closed today due to Covid. But their restrooms are still open at least. After using the restrooms, we walk back passing a couple also admiring this big rock. There looks to be some construction going on in the parking lot, but otherwise we have great views of the tower. A parked car on the other side of the parking lot with its lights on provides some light. We try to take some pictures without the light from the car in it.
Joyner Ridge
We look to see if there is any other area we can drive to continue to explore before sunset. We find about a mile back down the road, there is a turnoff to the Joyner Ridge area. So, we jump back in the car to head that way. The turn is a little hard to see, but we make the turn onto the gravel road. It is only 0.3 miles to the parking lot.
As we park at the Joyner Ridge, our car lights shine into an open field where 3 more deer graze. At this point it is sunset, so we take a few pictures before it becomes completely dark. Our pictures are getting harder to take and then it is dark and we can no longer see the tower. After a few minutes here, we jump back in our car to the exit and to continue our trip.
Summary of our Devils Tower stop
This was another quick stop on our road trip, but so glad we stopped. We probably saw over 3 dozen deer around and in the park. That’s by far more than we can ever remember seeing in one day. And even though we arrived right before sunset, we got to see some amazing views of Devils Tower. From the viewpoint before we entered the park, on the entrance road and at the visitor center, were great views. Even at Joyner Ridge at sunset, we got a few final views before dark. Though we didn’t see any aliens, we would love to come back here with the rest of our family. And especially during the day when we have more time. Devils Tower National Monument is an awesome site to see in person any time of the day.
Other Stops This Day
Check out our other stops on our road trip at these 2 national parks: