Day 6: Devils Tower & the Bighorn Scenic Byway

What is In a Name

Devils Tower was not always called Devils Tower. Most of the indigenous peoples from the area referred to the monolith as something to do with a bear.

Most maps from before 1900 name it Bear Lodge or Bears Lodge (a translation from a common Lakota name for the Tower, Mato Tipila).

Most tribes find the name Devils Tower to be quite offensive.

In 2014, a proposal was submitted to the U.S. government by the Lakota to change the name from Devils Tower to Bear Lodge. However, Senators in WY have maneuvered to prevent this from being considered, so it is currently stalled.

Imagine taking a place held sacred by dozens of tribes and purposefully changing the name from something relevant to their culture to something that represents evil. And then playing games in Congress to make sure it stays that way.

Imagine how easy it would be to do the right thing here. Perhaps one day we will.

The Morning

Waking up in our tent was glorious. It was a dry, cool night and we left the “windows open”. When the sun came up, we were treated to a full, glowing view of the tower. It was spectacular.

We enjoyed a pancake breakfast at our campsite picnic table, and then got to work breaking camp. The heat was coming on quickly, and I taught the boys how to pack up the roof bag because I am getting tired of doing that.

We checked out, drove into the park, and then queued up in a line of cars waiting to gain admittance to the parking lots. We were in line for a while, maybe an hour, but we enjoyed the air conditioning after a sweaty pack-up, and the drive-up is beautiful so we didn’t care. Too much.

Once parked, we started on a hike around the tower, but Julien protested a bit by the time we were 1/3 around, so we headed back. You have to pick your battles.

The Day

Now that it was early afternoon, we drove to Sheridan, WY to try out a pizza place that people from the East Coast swear tastes like pizza. But, the only seating they had was outside in full sun, no shade, and it was 91 degrees.

We know from experience that there is not a lot of places to eat between Sheridan and our destination that night, Greybull WY, so we needed to find a place to eat there.

After doing a quick search, we settled on either a Perkins restaurant or a place called the Cowboy Cafe. Perkins is a known thing, being an easy place with a big menu and decent food; everyone could find something they liked and no one would leave hungry. But we decided to try the Cowboy Cafe, once we confirmed that they had some items Julien would like to eat.

What a treat!

The decor was eclectic cowboy, and the food was fantastic, and as we were eating they put up a whiteboard filled with that day’s available pies. So many pies. We ended up with 3 different slices for dessert and they were all fantastic.

We left there happy and very, very full and piled into the car for a jaunt over the Big Horn mountains.

This route, a 47-mile road known as the Bighorn Scenic Byway, is another must-drive. You start at about 3,500 feet of elevation, climb to 9,033 feet atop Granite Pass, and then drop down to about 3,800 feet on the other side. The entire climb and descent is “filled with sharp, twisting corners, drop-offs and gorgeous rock formations.”

It is an excellent drive, fun and beautiful.

However, on the way down, the smell from our brakes was overwhelming. We pulled into a scenic view parking lot and let them cool. We got new brake pads put on before we left, and that was 2,000 miles ago so I don’t think they are still bedding. The brake pedal was feeling a little soft, too, but it felt normal after we let things cool down.

The Evening

Once on the other side of the Big Horn mountains, we saw a huge, open valley open up in front of us… and a massive thunderstorm on the horizon driving straight toward us. The storm was intense but we were able to keep going. Our new Bosch wipers and a good coating of RainX applied before we left did the trick.

We arrived at the very sincere Sage Motel in Greybull, WY, which is an oasis after two nights in a tent. Just the work of setting up and breaking down has started to feel like a lot, and being able to park and just walk in with our clothes to go to sleep in a clean, dry bed is sweet.

Change of Plans

Perhaps it is nothing, but I want to get the brakes checked out ASAP.

We were planning on driving to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow, and then to take the famous Beartooth Highway into Montana, but I think we are going to change plans.

We are only about 6.5 miles from the cabin right now if we bypass Yellowstone, and even though there is a big pass on I-90, it is nothing compared to the 12,000-foot passes on the Beartooth.

I think we will head straight for the cabin. Driving the Beartooth was the thing I was looking forward to most, but we have had two spectacular drives in the past two days. Our car is probably way overweight and, at this point, it feels best to pivot and be safe.

Besides, we can always hit the Beartooth on the way home, and maybe this will give us a chance to visit the world-renowned Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mt.

More important than any of that — we should be at the cabin on Lake Inez by dinner tomorrow!