From Larchwood, Iowa we headed west to Devils Tower National Monument and the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. After Devils Tower, we stayed in Buffalo to drive the Crazy Woman Canyon.
Buffalo, Wyoming
Buffalo’s main street has more than a dozen historic buildings including the Occidental Hotel.
Craig Johnson, a local resident, authored the Longmire series. Longmire days are in August. The series ran for 6 seasons and ended in 2017. Even though Longmire was about the area, it was filmed in New Mexico. The public pool is free to use and the largest in Wyoming.
Bighorn Mountains
West of Buffalo are the Bighorn Mountains. They rise to over 13,000 feet and were still snow covered in June. Mule deer, elk, mountain lion, black bear, and moose are in the area.
Wildflowers were blooming with the Bighorn mountains in the background. There were not many tourists as most head further west to the Tetons and Yellowstone.
Crazy Woman Canyon
The story of how the creek got its name varies. One version is about the Morgan family who were attacked by Sioux Indians. The husband and 3 children were killed, the wife survived the attack bearing witness the massacre. She lost her mind and killed four of the Sioux with their own axe. A mountain man named Johnson came upon the aftermath of the attack. After burying her family, he could not get Mrs. Johnson to leave, so he built her a small cabin. Later, he found her frozen body, dead from starvation, near a creek. Locals who knew about her ordeal called the stream Crazy Woman Creek.
It was a beautiful drive along the creek on a single lane dirt road.
Deer Park
We were in the trees on large well spaced sites. 50 amp service, 60 psi water pressure, good internet, and sewer. We enjoyed watching the wild turkeys on the property.
Devils Tower National Monument
We stayed at a KOA that was next to Devils Tower. We had a great view from the campground. The park entrance was less than 100 yards from the KOA.
Devils Tower is 867 feet tall. It’s an igneous intrusion, meaning it was formed underground from molten rock. The surrounding sedimentary rock eroded away exposing the Tower. The rock is called phonolite porphyry, which is similar to granite but lacking quartz. An artist created this sculpture to frame Devils Tower, it’s called “Circle of Sacred Smoke”.
During an 1875 expedition, the army commander wrote that the Indians called the shaft “Bad God’s Tower”. He modified it to “Devil’s Tower”. Some contend it was a poor translation. Theodore Roosevelt declared it our first national monument in 1906. A clerical error lost the apostrophe.
There was a large prairie dog colony, which kept Jake entertained.
We came across numerous deer including a mother and fawn.
Just outside the park was a small herd of bison shedding their winter coats.
Its was spring, so the yucca, sego lily and cactus were blooming.
