Rising nearly 900 feet above the surrounding plains, Devils Tower is one of the most striking natural landmarks in North America, a great fluted column of rock that seems almost too geometric to be real. In 1906 it became the first national monument in the United States.

Geologists believe the tower formed from molten rock that cooled underground and was slowly exposed as softer surrounding stone eroded away, leaving the distinctive columns that ripple up its sides. Those columns, cracked into vertical seams, make it a world-renowned destination for rock climbers.

The tower holds deep spiritual significance for more than twenty Native American tribes, who know it by names such as Bear Lodge and regard it as sacred. Many conduct ceremonies at its base, and the park service asks climbers to voluntarily refrain from climbing during June out of respect for those traditions.

For visitors who do not climb, trails circle the base through ponderosa forest and prairie dog towns, offering ever-changing views of the monolith overhead. Made famous to a wider audience by film, the tower nonetheless remains most powerful in person, an ancient sentinel of stone that has drawn human wonder and reverence for far longer than any monument designation.