"Bear's Tipi": Our First National Monument

Devil's Tower is much more than a Hollywood

movie set.  It is a sacred place to Native Plains Tribes.

We left Yellowstone for Devil's Tower National Monument on a clear, early June morning that greeted us with a dusting of snow.  It was bitterly cold.  The journey out of the park took us past snowy conifers and icy roads.  But as we drove further away from Yellowstone, the temperatures began to creep back up, and we quickly abandoned sweatshirts for T-shirts and shorts.  Our drive took us through absolutely gorgeous country and along hairpin curves of Wyoming's Shell Canyon.  We spotted a moose along the way, browsing alone along a shrubby stream.  A hooded skunk surprised us as it scrambled along a scenic overlook's boardwalk.  The skunk had found easy and safe passage across a small wash while avoiding the busy road. 

It was a long drive from Yellowstone to Devil's Tower; we'd broken camp around 8:00 a.m. and arrived at the monument around 5:00 p.m.  Devil's Tower has the honor of being the nation's first national monument, designated such by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1909.  It is an interesting place filled with lore and legend.  The Tower is visible from miles away and does appear to be an anomaly as it protrudes from surrounding prairie.  Scientists still cannot agree on its origins--some believe it could be a volcanic plug, others say it is an igneous intrusion.  

To the Lakota and many other Plains Tribal People, the tower is sacred.  They tell many stories about its origins and history, and most of these stories involve a bear.  The Plains Indians have an entirely different name for the monument--to them it is "Bear's Tipi," "Bear's Lodge," or "Bear Butte."  It was a white man who named the monolith "Devil's Tower."

Today, various tribes still conduct sacred rituals, ceremonies and dances at the monument, just as their ancestors did.  We took a hike around the tower on a paved path, admiring the tall, fragmented rock and the turkey vultures spiraling above it on thermals.  As we walked, we noticed a number of prayer offerings--bundles and cloth--that tribal people had left.  

Learning about its history gave me a new perspective on this Black Hills landmark.  I will never again look at it as a place of the devil; instead, I prefer to respect the Native American beliefs and consider the place "home of a bear."