The great thing about living in your car is waking up in new and beautiful places almost every day. The not so great thing is having to find those places, usually in the dark, and hoping you don't get in trouble for just trying to get some shuteye. This day, I awoke in a pull off and a stunning view of the Devils Tower looming in the distance. Only a few miles away, I wandered into the park, officially breaking even on my National Parks Pass! Being so early, even the visitor center wasn't open.
Devils Tower is known as not only a great family tourist desination, but also an amazing climbing destination with only some of the hardest routes making it to the summit. I cleaned up in the washroom, made my sign, and sat at the entrance with a book in hopes of finding a climbing partner for the day.
3 hours later. Nothing.
But then I was approached by Andrew, not a climber, but a fellow wanderer looking for conversation and some map guidance. We talked for the better part of an hour as he looked over my road atlas (worth its weight in gold already) to figure out his route to California. We then showed off our swagger wagons to one another; he rocking the crown jewel, a Ford Econoline. With that, we swapped contact info for when I make it to the twin cities and later Northern California.
I packed my bag and started wandering around the tower. With only a mile loop around, I filled out a climbing permit to scramble around and get some photos of other people climbing. Through this I ran into a group that just finished a quick two pitches and chatted them up for a while before wandering on.
The area around Devils Tower is beautiful and varied. Often seen by all passing cultures as a symbol of something significant in their culture. It was beautiful to see. After the walk it was lunch time while I studied the atlas to figure out my game plan for South Dakota.
I made my way to Newcastle, a nice town right on the border to write this post, a few others and do some photo work. My work camp this time an ice cream / auto shop with over 64 flavors that you can mix and match (aaaahhhhh). With a delicious cup (or two) of ice cream, work commenced, and planning for the next week is under way.
As always, you can see all the photos by visiting my Flickr account here
