Devils Tower, WY

 Place: Devils Tower

Weather: Partly cloudy skies, 63/94F.

Route: From Teapot Dome 155 miles NE WY-50 N, I-90 E, US-14 E.

Significance: It looks cool.  It's actually dried magma (igneous rock) - which has "risen" as the rock around it has eroded away.  It will continue to do this, so it will become larger (or more of it will be exposed) as the "floor" lowers.  It was a big part of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  And it's a popular place for rock climbing.  The name came from a misinterpretation of the Native American name for it. It was thought they called it "bad god tower." But they actually called it "Bear Lodge Butte" after a story that the marks on the sides were from a large bear trying to climb it.

Website: National Park Service

Image:

Devils Tower (from nps.gov)