2 Best Sights in Devils Tower National Monument, Cody, Sheridan, and Northern Wyoming

As you drive east from Gillette, the highways begin to rise into the forested slopes of the Black Hills. A detour north will take you to Devils Tower. Geologists attribute the butte's strange existence to ancient volcanic activity. Rock climbers say it's one of the best crack-climbing areas on the continent. The tower was a tourist magnet long before a spaceship landed here in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Teddy Roosevelt made it the nation's first national monument in 1906, and it has attracted a steadily increasing throng of visitors ever since—up to nearly half a million people a year.

When you visit, take some time to stop at the visitor center. Exhibits here explain the geology, history, and cultural significance of the monument, and a bookstore carries a wide selection of materials relating to the park. Park rangers can provide updated information on hiking and climbing conditions. A short and easy walking path circles the tower.

At the Prairie Dog Town on the monument grounds between Devils Tower and the Belle Fourche River, you can observe the burrowing, chirping rodents in their natural habitat. Prairie dogs were once plentiful on the Great Plains, but ranching and development have taken their toll; today, most sizeable populations of the animal are found on protected federal lands.