“The Devil’s Toothpicks”

Devil’s Tower, the world’s first national monument, is believed to be the remaining core of a since-eroded-away volcano. In October, my daughter Jennifer and I were trying to get right up next to the tower to take a picture looking straight up. We didn’t make it because the ice was too treacherous. But I think this view of the Devil’s tower and his toothpics was pretty dramatic. Help stamp out boring pictures by buying a copy of this image!

Native American legend has it that a bear was chasing some tribal princesses when the ground swelled under them, creating Devil’s Tower. As the tower grew, the bear clawed at it, trying to get at the maidens (leaving the claw marks you see on the tower today). Pardon me if I didn’t get this legend exactly right — I heard it over 30 years ago when I was a teenager.

One fascinating thing about the tower is the ridges on it - the rock is actually made up of crystals of hexagonal rock (all the rubble which surrounds it is also hexagonal.) This makes Devil’s Tower a fascinating place to take pictures — I could spend weeks there. Unfortunately, I had to get home.

This photograph has been waiting nearly 20 years to be enlarged, and is as yet unsold, and available for commissioning.