09/15/2026
Devils Tower and Eastern Wyoming
I have kind of a crazy story behind my journey to Devils Tower national monument. If you know me, I love to road trip and I am used to stretching out days in long hauls occasionally. I had to make sure to stop at Devils Tower on my way home from Salt Lake City, I with a 3 day drive ahead of me, I wanted to fit everything in within a matter of those short 3 days, and let’s just say I am never doing that again😅
It was about an 8 Hour drive from Salt Lake City, UT to Hulett, WY where my campsite for the night was. I drove straight through Wyoming all day long, and if you’ve ever driven through Wyoming, you know there’s not much there, thunderstorms were rolling in through the plains and it was mostly 2 lane paved highways with barely any other vehicles on the road. Very lonely, but kind of cool. By the time I finally reached the final two hour stretch to my campsite in northeastern Wyoming, I was driving through a severe thunderstorm warning, I was very tired and had to keep my eyes peeled for deer or elk that had the nerve to run in front of my car (there were a lot of them). I remember being very tired getting close to my campsite, and knowing that this ominous tower in the middle of the plains was hiding somewhere, and then I remember seeing it for the very first time at 1am, in the dark, lighting striking behind it, it was honestly really scary looking. I finally arrived at my campsite and went right to sleep. I was actually listening to the National Park After Dark podcast about devils tower as I was driving, all alone. If you don’t know about the history of Devils Tower and the indigenous lore behind it, I would suggest to look it up because it’s very interesting!
I woke up very early the next morning, so I could find a parking spot, since the lot is small and fills up quick. I then ran around the trail that circles the tower twice with my 28mm and 70-200 and captured all of these images here. Devils Tower is an iconic climbing destination and the local tribe closes the tower to climbers for a month in June every year to respect sacred indigenous ceremonies.
If you climbed devils tower on May 30th, here’s your photos!