Day 5: “It’s Not Just a Boulder. It’s a Rock.”
Do you ever look back on a trip you have taken and the whole thing just seems to mash together? I most definitely have this problem, which is a reason why I take so many pictures on any trip I go on, but after this road trip, I find that sometimes it also helps to take note of where we stayed the night. Nine times out of ten, the hotels are basically the same and this still doesn’t help me distinguish one day from another, so I still refer to my photos. However, there is always an exception to the rule and some places really make their mark and the place we stayed at in Spearfish, South Dakota was so “unique” that I still remember it quite well nearly two years later. When you randomly look up hotels on your phone, which is exclusively what I had done on this trip, they may appear nice and updated, but remember kids, you can’t always believe everything you see on the internet.
The rooms themselves were fine, surprisingly, it was the lobby that truly made an outlasting impression on me. You know those scenes in movies where outside of the building it is present day and then as the person walks through the door they do a cool flashback to what the building was like 30 years before? Now picture that type of Hollywood magic, but in real life. The outside of the building was additionally fine, the area where we checked in gave us false security because as we left the entrance area and walked through a set of doors that lead to our room, we were immediately met with that infamous chlorine smell. As we stood there in what I can only describe as a large activity room, sure enough smack dab in the middle was a pool and hot tub. You might think it odd that the pool was not in a separate room and I share that confusion with you, but clearly the visionary of this room shared the thoughts with whoever made that Mint Mobile carpet shower commercial because the entire floor and the stairs were covered in brown shag carpet. Had you been the interior designer, you may first hesitate at such a bold choice, but when you consider how that carpet will look lining the exposed, backless stairs that overlooked the pool area and how well it will pull the entire room together with the floor to ceiling wood paneling, you just can’t be too quick to say.
After leaving perhaps the most interesting hotel I have ever stayed in, we set off due west for a quick drive to Devils Tower, aka that big rock in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The tower, as you would probably expect, is in the middle of nowhere and I definitely thought we were lost once or twice on our way there.
Upon reaching the Devils Tower parking lot, we immediately had a spectacular view of the tower, with the added beauty of the sun rising behind it. Now I will be honest, I originally wanted to visit the tower because of seeing it in Spielberg’s movie and because it was basically already on our route out west. Upon further research though, I came to find out that there were multiple hiking paths on the property. While we were there, we were able to hike two of the many trails- the first looped around the tower, which gave us amazing views from all angles, because believe it or not the tower does not look the same all the way around, and the other trail lead us through a wooded area and out onto the nearby grasslands.
The first trail, which looped around the base, was mostly paved, contained few inclines/declines and was about a mile long, so definitely a trail I would recommend if you ever visit the area. Additionally, placed along this loop were many informative signs that talked about what exactly Devils Tower is, the history of it, its importance to Native American culture and how people have been climbing the tower for over 100 years.
The second trail was much more exposed, so naturally it was hotter, and the terrain became a little rougher, however we did not do the entire trail, because if I remember right, it was quite long. After getting some distance from the tower though, we were able to look down into the distant valley and we had wonderful views of the tower and countryside. While there were no great herds of buffalo roaming the lands like they once used to, there were large herds of cattle. In fact, from where we were standing, we could easily see, and hear, the cattle being herded by dogs, people on horses and even people on four wheelers.
Between both of the trails and the miles of hiking we did that morning, I repeatedly tried to figure out where exactly Spielberg did his filming at this location and honestly, I never really could figure it out. A few angles seemed very close, but then the terrain seemed too rough, or vice versa, so I was never really 100% how close we got to the actual filming spots and although I did not have any close encounters of a third kind, you could say that I did have a close encounter of the igneous kind. That’s a rock fact.