Close encounters of the nerd kind

Nerding out over so many things. My lodgings for this segment of my trip, my location, and another new area for me out west.

First my lodgings. This is just so cool. I was so happy to have found this place.

If you find yourself up here, check out Devils Tower Tipi Camping.

Absolutely amazing views and rustic lodging

Before I start ridin’ nerdy

There are times and there are places that move us. Vistas and memories and words that connect us to something. I had an experience like that. Coming off the plateau from Sundance and seeing the silhouette of the Devils Tower and the Missouri Buttes in the distance was one of those times.

I can’t imagine the first humans who happened upon this site. I can see how a place such as this could — and would — be a significant holy place and time. I have had these experiences before. I’ll write a piece on some of those sometime. For now though, when I saw the tower jutting from the earth like tooth I felt something. The view of the Milky Way was similar. Which I’ve enjoyed in Arizona, Colorado, and now Wyoming. Last night the wind picked up, and I awoke with a bit of alarm. I could hear the canvas of the tipi crackling with energy. Integrity. A very important facet of life. I was not in tune with the structural integrity of the tipi, but was aware of the power of the wind. And yet this Native American design showed itself true again. And I felt secure. The tower, this plateau and valley, the place where a great inland sea once covered and laid down the sediment I’m sleeping on. The wind and the elements wearing down the ground. And yet the igneous intrusion that is the tower remained as the sediment around it weathered away. Resulting in this entire experience I am having. But we can’t get complacent. That hard rock jutting from the jaw of the earth is weathering too. Just not as fast. Impermanence. That is the law. But for now the tower stands. The tower awes. And the tower inspires. The tower.

Whose tower?

Depends on who you ask. If you ask those who’ve recently arrived it’s the Devils Tower. But if you ask those who were already here it’s something else entirely.

The proper name should be Bear’s Lodge, or Bear’s Tipi, or Bear’s House. That’s what the folks who originally lived here called it. (Among some other names) If I’m not mistaken, the way the igneous rock cooled and cracked into mostly hexagonal columns looks like a giant bear raked it with its claws. I think it is very cool that the indigenous people still use this location ceremonially.