Devils Tower National Monument Travel Guide - Free Web & App

Devils Tower formed from igneous rock deep below the surface, although the precise mechanism remains debated. As surrounding sedimentary layers were eroded over geological time, the more resistant phonolite porphyry was exposed as an isolated tower. The rock cooled into the striking columns visible today, making the formation an important example of columnar jointing. Its prominence is heightened by the surrounding grasslands and wooded ridges of north-eastern Wyoming, where the tower appears abruptly above the Belle Fourche River landscape.

Long before European-American administration, Devils Tower was a significant place for Indigenous peoples of the northern Great Plains, including the Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa. Indigenous names commonly translated as Bear Lodge or Bear’s Lodge reflect traditions associated with the formation and the surrounding landscape. The English name Devils Tower arose through nineteenth-century mapping and translation, and remains contested because it does not reflect the site’s Indigenous cultural meaning. Ceremonies and prayer offerings continue to demonstrate that the monument is a living sacred place rather than only a geological attraction.

United States military expeditions and surveyors entered the wider Black Hills and northern Great Plains during the nineteenth century, bringing the formation into wider non-Indigenous public attention. Devils Tower was proclaimed the first United States national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt on 24 September 1906 under the Antiquities Act. The designation protected the tower and its immediate surroundings at a time when federal conservation policy was beginning to preserve prominent natural and archaeological features for public benefit.

The tower became an important destination for technical rock climbing during the twentieth century, with climbers drawn to its long vertical columns. At the same time, improved roads and the growth of national-park tourism made the monument more accessible to visitors travelling through Wyoming and the Black Hills. Its dramatic appearance also gave it a prominent place in popular culture, particularly after its inclusion in the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Film recognition increased public interest but did not replace the site’s older geological and Indigenous significance.

Modern management at Devils Tower combines protection of geological features, wildlife habitat, visitor access and Indigenous cultural values. The National Park Service encourages visitors to respect the monument as a sacred place and supports a voluntary closure to climbing during June, when traditional ceremonies take place. This approach reflects a broader shift in conservation thinking: safeguarding the site involves not only maintaining trails and natural habitats, but also recognising enduring cultural relationships with the tower and surrounding landscape.