West · Wyoming

Devils Tower

Landscape Half day difficulty: Moderate with kids: yes

A 265-meter volcanic rock tower with fluted walls like columns, rising alone out of the Wyoming prairie. It was the country's first national monument and is a sacred place for several Indigenous nations of the plains.

The pop wink

In Steven Spielberg's «Close Encounters of the Third Kind», Devils Tower is the site of the rendezvous with the spaceship. Your daughter can walk to its base and imagine the lights coming down over these very rock columns.

With kids

Circle the base along the flat trail, seeing the tower from every side
Count the fluted columns that rise straight up
Look for the tiny climbers clinging to the vertical wall
Recall the spaceship scene from Close Encounters

Accessibility: All ages; the base trail is flat and accessible

With family

Watch the tower turn golden at sunset from the prairie
Observe the prairie dog colony at the entrance
Learn why it is a sacred place for Indigenous peoples
Stay to look at the stars: the skies here are pitch dark

Full listing, routes and recommendations at Mi País — Devils Tower. ← All destinations