Our First Adventure : Devils Tower

Finally we were free. The house was rented, Paul completed his citizenship, everything we wanted to hang on to was in storage. We could finally get on the road. But where to first? Denver, Colorado is pretty much in the middle of the country. Amazing destinations can be found in all four directions. We could go west into the mountains and towards the Pacific ocean. South would take us to the Gulf. East to the Appalachians and the big cities (after a fair few cornfields of course). We hadn’t even got moving and we ran into our first challenge of RV life (in fact to this day it is still our number one challenge!) - Where to go next?

To help us choose our route we decided to look further ahead on our calendar. Two weeks from now we have a first birthday party in St Louis we wanted to attend. But we didn’t really want to spend two weeks driving through the cornfields of Kansas. So with winter approaching we decided to take advantage of the last few weeks of summer and head north. We could then take a right turn whenever to head towards St Louis. So looking at the map, we decided on making Devils Tower in Wyoming our first destination. Devils Tower is the first site to be given “National Monument” status so its fitting that it would be the first destination on our adventure!

On the road

We took our time getting on the road. Our route would take us up I-25 through the middle of Denver. With the cats still acclimating to a moving RV we wanted to avoid the morning stop-and-go rush hour traffic. Thankfully by 9am most of the traffic had died down and we only had to contend with the usual construction traffic along the route. By the time we reached the Wyoming border (and stopped for a few selfies with the “welcome sign”) both cats had settled into a traveling rhythm. Grissom was passed out on the back bed, and Neville would alternate between sleeping peacefully on a cushion between us in the front and having a brief (but loud) panic attack.

Once across the border we drove along beautiful scenery with wide open prairies and hills. Looking out the window at miles of mostly nothing buzzing past gave us that special "we're on a road trip" feeling. We were living our life on the road, free as two birds. We could get off the highway and take the smaller roads. We could stop in at cool little ghost towns like Jay Em and take photos against the old buildings. Free.

This feeling of freedom was short-lived. The shadows started to grow, the view out the window became more golden and the cats started to get a little impatient.

“Umm.. Paul.. Maps is telling me we still have 3 hours to Devil’s Tower.”
“What? It said the whole trip was 6 hours and we left like 5 hours ago!”

That was when we discovered that Apple and Google maps both estimate your travel time (and route) assuming you are driving a regular car at about the posted speed limit. To convert that into “RV travel time” you may as well double what maps says!

“Ok, well I guess we’ll just have to find a place to stop for the night. Where’s one of those nice boon docking spots we see on Instagram?”
“Umm…. There is a dodgy truck stop about 30 minutes away? Will that do?”
“Anywhere else? You know somewhere we might not get murdered or our tires stolen overnight?”
“I guess we could try one of the RV parks in Lusk, thats only 20 minutes up the road. Bloody expensive though.“
“Better than having someone steal our Smart car while we sleep!”
“Fine. But for the record, no one is going to steal a Smart car.”

Lusk

After a long day of driving we pulled into “BJs Campground” in Lusk and were greeted by the owner, Linda. She was very welcoming and we picked up some good travels tips for our next few destinations. As she was checking us in we got the usual questions.. “Any Pets?”
“Yep, two cats”
“Ha, I guess I don’t need to give you the rules about keeping them on a leash do I?”
“Actually they both walk on leashes.”
“Cats. On leashes.. ha!”

She gave us a nice pull-thru space so we wouldn’t have to unhook the Smart. But we wondered if we got that spot so she could watch us walk our cats. As soon as Julia had turned off the engine, both cats were at the front door begging to be let out. Once they were hitched up in their harnesses we opened the door and Grissom was off across the grass chasing a squirrel. The sight of Paul being dragged across the car park by a tiny little Grissom had Linda laughing out loud from the office.

After settling the cats in the RV we went for a walk to find some dinner. Although we weren’t able to make it the whole way to the Tower in one day, we were grateful to find a small town. One of our favorite hikes is up and down the main street of small towns and although we were a little late to visit the various stores and local museums (the Lusk Stagecoach Museum had good reviews) the local Pizza place was still open. We decided to celebrate our first night on the road with beer and pizza in town. In a few weeks time we will no doubt be dining on beans and rice every night so for one night we could at least splurge on a yummy pizza!

Arriving at Devils Tower

The next morning we woke up and prepared to get on the road early. Although we had a short drive we wanted to arrive early to snag a nice campsite in the park. After once again entertaining our campground with cats on leashes we rolled out and up the road towards Devils Tower. The drive towards the tower was unremarkable. Large flat prairies with the occasional hill providing a tiny bit of variation in the landscape. Then as we rounded a corner we understood why Devil’s Tower was chosen as the backdrop for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Literally out of nowhere a tall, odd-shaped rock pushes out of the ground. A very distinct feature of an otherwise plain landscape. We had made it to our first destination – a huge rocky skateboard ramp in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. And it was awesome!

Flashing our “America the Beautiful” pass to the ranger we headed into the National Monument to find the campground. Just beyond a Prairie Dog town we take the turn to the Belle Fourche River campground. This is a primitive campground (no water, electric or sewer hookups) located right underneath the tower. The campground is "first-come-first-served", meaning we could grab any site that was unoccupied. Once again we were thrust into dealing with stressful RV life decisions. There were roughly ten campsites available, but which one had the best view, was most level, had shade in the afternoon and wasn’t too close to our neighbors. Plus we had to find the perfect spot before another camper came in and claimed it!

“How about this one?”
“No views”
“This One?”
“Taken, theres a tent over there”
“How about this one?”
“No shade”

Finally we found a nice spot. A little shade in the afternoon, great views of the tower and plenty of space for the cats to stretch their legs. Without any hookups in the campground it took us no time to set up camp. Just as well, because after the drive the cats were eager to check out their new surroundings. So we took them out for a walk. Our neighbors dog watched the whole thing and looked extremely confused. Obviously he had never seen humans walking cats before. With the RV parked and the cats happy with their new campsite, all that was left was to open a beer and take in the views of the tower.

Hiking Around Devils Tower

The next day we planned to hike around the rock. Camping inside the park meant that we didn’t have to worry about parking or crowds. Instead of driving to the visitor center we just put on our backpacks and hiked to the trailhead right inside the campground. This trail (the “Valley View” trail) first took us through Prairie Dog Town. A large flat field populated by a huge community of prairie dogs. We laughed because the big fat ones and families tended to live away from the park road, closer to the campground. Right next to the main road lived the thinner, younger and more "adventurous around humans" prairie dogs. Just like humans the young ones move to a small apartment in the city, then migrate later in life to the suburbs when they start a family and develop their prairie dog “dad bod”.

After admiring the prairie dogs for a while we waved goodbye and headed up the hill to the “Red Beds” trail towards the tower. This trail was a little rocky and rough in parts but was exciting because the huge Devils Tower was looming above us all the way. Occasionally we would hike behind a clump of rocks or trees and the tower would disappear only to reappear even larger a few steps later. Eventually the “Red Beds” trail connected with the main car park and visitor center. From here we followed the crowd to the more sedate “Tower Trail”, a wide, paved trail that looped around the base of the tower. Although this trail is popular it is well worth the walk, along the trail interpretive signs to give you a bit of history about the rock, and you can watch rock climbers gear up and ascend the mountain.

After completing the “Tower Trail” loop we followed the “Red Beds” and “Joyner Ridge” trails until we reached Joyner Ridge, one of the most picturesque views of the landscape. From Joyner Ridge the huge Devil’s Tower stands out from the prairie in the foreground. We made note of a few good places to come back at sunset with the “big camera” before heading back along the path to the campground.

After an early dinner we jumped in the Smart and headed up to Joyner Ridge for sunset. The road to the trail is unpaved so we felt brave taking our little Smart "off road". The gravel road was short however and we were soon watching an amazing sunset light up Devils Tower. The whole prairie turned golden and the tower glowed in the last of the light.

A successful first adventure

Our first adventure was in the books. We had finally got on the road and started our “RV life” journey. We hadn’t been on the road for more than two nights when we learned theres a little more to this lifestyle than just pretty Instagram photos. We need to plan where we will sleep, where we can get gas and how to deal with minor issues along the way. But, laying back and watching the stars appear over Devil’s Tower we agree that these little challenges are worth the hassle!