Devils Tower Wyoming

The Devils Tower Wyoming is a mountain originally made famous in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It has a very distinctive look with a flat top and deep ridges all along its size sides. In fact in the movie, it was replicated in mashed potatoes and in dirt from someone's backyard. Eventually some aliens landed there. While truth may not be stranger than fiction in this case, it's still an interesting place.

Let's clear something up from the start. When it's written “Devils Tower Wyoming,” the words dont't refer to a town or city in Wyoming, it refers to this mountain. Speaking of which, the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point has some amazing topographical maps on its website. They describe the elevation of this location and give a very complete view of how this natural structure looms above the surrounding countryside. It really is an awesome site.

Yet one more clarification about Devils Tower Wyoming. Notice that when it's written the apostrophe is missing. In other words, one would expect an apostrophe”s” at the end of devil in the name. But the name has never been written that way. So don't be alarmed, or think it's a mistake when it's seen without the apostrophe before the “s.”

Devils Tower Wyoming became a national monument on September 24, 1906. It was an act of President Theodore Roosevelt, known popularly as Teddy. He was never called that by his close friends. He was also responsible for the US involvement in the Panama Canal. The national monument encompasses 5.45 square kilometers. That's 1374 acres.

The Devils Tower Wyoming stands 1267 feet above the surrounding land. It's nearly a mile above sea level. That's big. Even so, the size and sheer height have not stopped people from climbing it. In fact, of the 400,000 people who visit each year, about 4000 make the climb. It's certainly not as dangerous as a place like Mount Everest. Of course, the most dangerous part of climbing Mount Everest is getting down the mountain. That's because so many people climb that there is a line, an actual queue, to make the descent. People often die of exposure to the elements while waiting. That doesn't happen at the Devils Tower.

Devils Tower Wyoming first began to form about 200 million years ago during the Triassic Period. It includes various types of rocks from sandstone, to silt stone, and shale. This combination makes for quite a colorful disposition.

Learn more about Devils Tower Wyoming by searching on Google.

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