Portrait of Devils Tower
That 5112 foot tall Devil’s Tower National Monument is standing 1267 feet high above the surrounding ground. There is an intervening ridge JUST covering the base from this spot. The high ground looks pretty close. Those columns of phenolytic porphyry are pretty distant/ big and stand out in this well lit Tower and shadowed landscape. The summer rain dump behind the tower is the reflecting color of the light reaching the suspended ice from the sun. That all reflected back to my lens.
The Tower exposed from burial by thousands of feet of sediments, stands unsupported. Those rocks used to surround the tower. Supporting the hard rock volcanic neck up many thousands of feet higher than it is now.. The surrounding “softer” sediments were removed. All by the action of 2 rivers. Little Missouri River plus the Belle Fourche River Drainage. Those two drainages providing the bulk of that erosive work locally. The soft rock easily removed. While the harder material remains as mountains. Removal of material is how most mountains take their shape. Nature is a sculptor of magnificent skills. Those expressed by the breadth and majesty of it’s creations.
Devils Tower National Monument is about 40 from my vantage point on the Pass to Rocky Point Wyoming on Trail Creek Road. I’m standing Campbell County Wyoming.
This is the view that tourists never see as they are all on the other side of those hills. You can see South Dakota from this site on a very clear day…completely across Crook County Wyoming. That is a BIG county 80 miles wide anyway.
Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana border (Wyotana).
Title: Portrait of Devils Tower