Day 4 continued – Wall, South Dakota to Cody, Wyoming

Leaving Wall, South Dakota around 9-10am, we headed west. Our plan was to drive to Devil’s Tower, then head to Cody, Wyoming. We knew it was going to be a long day, expecting to arrive at Buffalo Bill State Park around 9pm.

Driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota was absolutely amazing. The rolling hill landscape, peppered with conifers, was gorgeous. I-90 runs just north of the Black Hills National Forest, and I think we could definitely find a few nights here entertaining. We entered Wyoming right after we passed the Black Hills. A quick stop at the visitor center when we entered Wyoming, and we were on our way to Devils’ Tower.

Devil’s Tower is about 2 hours round trip off of I-90 on Route 14. The drive was of course beautiful, and entering the National Monument, we did not have a huge backup, which we feared with might hit, coming in at 1pm. Devil’s Tower has two parking areas. One is at the base of the monument, and is for large vehicles. The other is up at the visitor center and there are very few large vehicle parking spots. We lucked out and got a spot at the top as someone was leaving. This was fortunate as we really did not have time to park at the lower lot and hike an extra 2 miles roundtrip.

Devil’s Tower is a sacred site to the indigenous people who called it “Mato Tipila” which means Bear Lodge. According to the Tribal narrative surrounding this place, three young boys were trying to get away from a bear by going to the top of a large rock. There they prayed to the spirits to save them. The rock grew and the bear tried to swipe at the boys. Each swipe, the bear would tear more and more grooves in the side of the rock, never reaching them. Finally, the bear gave up.

Scientists think the tower formed as a magma plug. Magma filled a chamber below ground and cooled into these octagonal columns. Erosion removed the sedimentary layer leaving the tower behind. These octagonal igneous rock can also be found along the John Muir Trail, at a place called Devil’s Postpile.

Devil’s Tower is also a premier spot for rock climbing. Standing over 1200 feet tall, Devil’s Tower was our first National Monument established in 1906. In order to show respect for the Native Americans, people are asked to refrain from climbing inside of the loop trail during the month of June. This voluntary climbing ban has been in effect for 25 years and has reduced climbing in the month of June by 85%. We ended up hiking about half of the Tower loop trail before we ran out of time. It was so dry and the pine smell was amazing. We made it back to the RV, had a quick lunch and headed back to I-90.

From this point, we could start to see the Bighorn Mountains on the horizon. We could either stay on I90 and drive north to Billings, Montana and then down to Cody, Wyoming or take Scenic Route 16 right through the Bighorn Mountains, then driving through the Wyoming Basin and arriving in Cody from the south. We chose the scenic route. Although mileage-wise, Route 16 was considerably shorter, we drove through the mountains in a 30ft RV having to go slower than the speed limit. This route ended up the same or maybe a bit longer than I-90.

We got on 16 at Buffalo, Wyoming. From here we entered the Bighorn National Forest and climbed to Cloud Mountain. We drove up close to the tree line and saw some snow fields.   We then had a grade of 6% for about 18 miles. This required some slick RV driving on my part as it is possible to ride your brakes to the point where they can catch on fire or fail altogether. We do have an engine brake on our Chevy and so I used it. But my speed topped out at about 30-35mph most of the way most probably upsetting the locals. Some notable points we passed: Salt Lick Trail Head (looks really fun) and Meadowlark Lake (looks like we can camp there). We exited Bighorn National Forest at Tensleep which is renown for its rock climbing community. We then drove through Bighorn Basin which is a very fertile farming area, saw the sun set on the road as we approached Cody. It was neat to see the lights on cars from a distance once the sun set. We arrived between 10 and 11pm at Buffalo Bill State Park, going through the tunnels and the valley in the dark. Considering we started at around 6am in the Badlands (last post), this day was easily my longest driving day to date.