Devils Tower & Hidden Histories | Wyoming Road Trip to America's First National Monument

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<p>Long before the towering wonder of Devil's Tower emerged, a tale unfolded</p>
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<p>in the rugged wilderness of Wyoming.</p>
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<p>The Lakota tribe lived throughout North America, following the herds</p>
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<p>of buffalo and living off the land.</p>
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<p>Amidst this beauty of the undisturbed Wyoming landscape, two young girls played</p>
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<p>among boulders reveling in this wild expanse where mighty bears held sway but</p>
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<p>rarely attacked their human neighbors.</p>
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<p>Yet one day, in a moment of bad luck, one bear emerged from the shadows, driven</p>
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<p>by a primal hunger and looking for prey.</p>
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<p>The bear saw the girls and began to run towards them, with the girls quickly</p>
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<p>scrambling away with all their might to reach the pinnacle of the nearest boulder.</p>
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<p>Desperation etched upon their faces, they seemed trapped.</p>
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<p>In the relentless advance of the Predator, when the guardian of this</p>
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<p>ancient land, the Great Spirit, cast its watchful eye upon the enfolding</p>
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<p>drum, and with a breathtaking display of its divine power, the Great Spirit</p>
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<p>caused the very rock beneath the girl's trembling feet to surge skyward.</p>
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<p>In an awe inspiring moment, the once modest boulder transformed into a</p>
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<p>towering sentinel, defying gravity itself with the girls lifted to safety</p>
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<p>and their hearts filled with a profound sense and wonder at what just happened.</p>
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<p>Undeterred, the relentless bear continued its assault, clawing and scrabbling</p>
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<p>at the newfound tower, but the great spirit's enchantment held firm.</p>
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<p>The mighty bear's efforts were in vain, and its claws leaving indelible marks</p>
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<p>upon the stone, etching a testament to the power of nature in the supernatural.</p>
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<p>To this day, as one gazes upon Devil's Tower, those ancient claw marks bear</p>
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<p>witness to the indomitable spirit of survival, the majesty of nature, and the</p>
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<p>enduring awe inspired by what eventually became the very first national monument.</p>
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<p>of the United States.</p>
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<p>Welcome to Talk With History.</p>
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<p>I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jen.</p>
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<p>Hello.</p>
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<p>On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired</p>
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<p>world travels, YouTube channel journey, and examine history.</p>
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<p>through deeper conversations with the curious, the explorers, and</p>
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<p>the history lovers out there.</p>
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<p>Now, Jen, as I was saying, I do not have a joke today because I think I'm going to</p>
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<p>convert this joke and review segment, as I was telling you just last night, into</p>
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<p>a segment called Bad Jokes, Good Reviews.</p>
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<p>And so if someone leaves me a good review on this podcast, a five star review,</p>
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<p>or maybe let's say five stars over on Spotify, I will give you guys a bad joke.</p>
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<p>I will, I will do my due diligence and give you give the audience a bad joke.</p>
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<p>So that's fair.</p>
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<p>If we can get a good review out of someone, I will, I will muster</p>
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<p>up the courage to tell a bad dad joke here on the podcast.</p>
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<p>But today, Jen, we're getting towards the end of our Western</p>
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<p>road trip that we had this summer.</p>
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<p>We had a jam packed couple weeks.</p>
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<p>And this was a place that you wanted to bring me and the kids because it</p>
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<p>was somewhere that you had grown up.</p>
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<p>visiting multiple times in Wyoming.</p>
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<p>Yes,</p>
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<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>so anytime anyone visited us in, when I grew up in Cheyenne,</p>
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<p>they wanted to see Devil's Tower.</p>
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<p>Of course.</p>
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<p>And most people at that time, and even today a little bit, know Devil's Tower</p>
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<p>from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.</p>
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<p>It's where they keep kind of making this tower out of the sand, like the,</p>
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<p>you know, the people who are getting the message to meet the aliens,</p>
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<p>right, and the aliens want to have this first like encounter with people</p>
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<p>at some feature, geological feature.</p>
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<p>And if you've ever been to Devil's Tower, No Devil's Tower, it really</p>
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<p>stands alone in the middle of nowhere as this geological feature.</p>
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<p>feature.</p>
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<p>So that's how most people</p>
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<p>know it.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>And even if like, I've never actually watched the movie Close Encounters of</p>
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<p>the Third Kind, but I think the vast majority of American culture would</p>
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<p>probably recognize the movie poster.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>And that is the large alien kind of flying saucer looking thing with the</p>
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<p>lights shining down over Devil's Tower.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>Right.</p>
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<p>Which is basically this circular monolith with lines kind of going up the side.</p>
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<p>So it looks like.</p>
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<p>You know, people have joked or they've done it in movies before</p>
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<p>with like kids playing with their food and mashed potatoes.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>They build like a little, yeah,</p>
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<p>devil's tower.</p>
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<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>It looks like, I mean, it really does look like a tree trunk.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>It looks like a massive tree trunk.</p>
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<p>They got cut off.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>That's what it looks like.</p>
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<p>And actually the American Indians call it.</p>
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<p>Bear's Lodge or Bear's Lodge Butte.</p>
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<p>So, but it's in Northeast Wyoming.</p>
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<p>So we kind of show it in the video because it's kind of a route that</p>
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<p>people will usually do Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower.</p>
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<p>battle little bighorn because it really is all within a couple hours</p>
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<p>of each other if you want to do kind of like this Western circle.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>And it's funny because we had done our Western road trip and we saw our</p>
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<p>friend JD from history underground.</p>
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<p>He was kind of like a few weeks behind us.</p>
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<p>Right.</p>
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<p>And he had just done devil's tower.</p>
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<p>And he was up a little bit more, and then he went over to Cody,</p>
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<p>Wyoming, which is kind of the northwestern corner of Wyoming.</p>
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<p>We didn't make it</p>
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<p>over there.</p>
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<p>So Devil's Tower kind of falls into that arena, even though they only get</p>
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<p>about half a million visitors a year, which is a lot less than Rushmore,</p>
<p></p>
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<p>it does fall in that same kind of like path that people will take.</p>
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<p>But it is impressive when you see it for the first time, because it rises</p>
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<p>about 1267 feet above the river.</p>
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<p>Summit to base.</p>
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<p>It's about eight hundred and sixty seven feet.</p>
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<p>So when you're looking out on a flat plane and And the north eastern side of</p>
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<p>Wyoming is flat because you're not by the Teton mountain range It rises up like</p>
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<p>you can see it and you start to see it</p>
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<p>miles out.</p>
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<p>Yeah, so there's a pretty popular turnoff kind of like a like an overlooked</p>
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<p>turnoff before you even get into the Where the National Monument is that is</p>
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<p>Devil's Tower that we stopped at that a lot of people stop back because you</p>
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<p>can see it from a couple miles away.</p>
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<p>And that's that's actually what we did is we pulled out at this turn off and</p>
<p></p>
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<p>we took some pictures and you think you made a real stuff like that so you</p>
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<p>can see it from a couple miles away.</p>
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<p>And like you said, it's it's It just stands out on its own, which</p>
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<p>is the draw for a lot of people.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>I mean, it is from sea level.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>It's about 5, 000 feet high.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>And what's interesting is the base of it's about 800 feet</p>
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<p>wide, and then the top is 300.</p>
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<p>So it kind of like, looks like a tree trunk.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>Like I said, as it's kind of grown from the ground, it's really thick</p>
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<p>at the the bottom and then gets kind of thinner as it goes up to the</p>
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<p>top.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>And we got lots of great video footage of it on this particular trip.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>I think this video has done a little bit better than I expected.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>And I think part of that is because we do a good job of showing what it looks like.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>And I found some YouTube footage that actually someone flew a drone over</p>
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<p>it, which you're not allowed to do.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Because it's a national park.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>Because it's a national park.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>But they actually show what it looks like on the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>top.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>You know, and we'll talk about that a little bit.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>because you can go to the top to both talk about that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>You have to climb it though.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>It becomes the first national monument though, and now it's a</p>
<p></p>
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<p>national park by Teddy Roosevelt.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>We'll make it the first national monument in 1906 and February 24th, which actually</p>
<p></p>
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<p>is close to when we're filming today.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>And so When he does that it becomes 1, 300 acres so it encompasses not just</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>the the rock itself but all the kind of area around it is the National Monument.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>So that's all like the National Park and if you're going to visit you know before</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>we get into more I want to talk about if you're going to visit plan a half a day</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>because what really I think stops the travel to Devil's Tower in the popular.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>is the traffic.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Yeah, getting into where you can actually park</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>and walk up to Devil's Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>That is is a pretty singular</p>
<p></p>
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<p>route and there's not a lot of parking.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>So they will if once it's filled up they will stop.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>Uh, traffic coming in and wait until people leave before</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
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<p>they let other people in.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>We got in there just kind of before that because we're,</p>
<p></p>
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<p>we're early risers by nature.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
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<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:50</time>
<p>And the kids.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:51</time>
<p>And so.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:08:51</time>
<p>So that,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:52</time>
<p>that's the popular months though.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:53</time>
<p>Winter time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:54</time>
<p>I'm sure you're fine.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:56</time>
<p>But if you're going to visit, I would plan for half a day.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:08:58</time>
<p>And so can you get to the top?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:01</time>
<p>What can you do when you get there?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:03</time>
<p>Really when you get there?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:04</time>
<p>There's a great visitor center and it'll go into some of the stuff</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
<p>we're going to talk about today.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:09</time>
<p>And then there's some trails you can take around the monument.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
<p>You know, the smallest is I think about a half a mile and they</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:16</time>
<p>go all the way up to two miles.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:17</time>
<p>It depends on how far you go.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:18</time>
<p>Far out around you want to go those trails will also give you some of the history</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:23</time>
<p>of it as well And you'll learn some stuff about the monument and the indigenous</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:27</time>
<p>plants the indigenous animals More about the American Indians that live there, but</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:33</time>
<p>it's all pretty Easily maneuvered, but you can only get to the top by climbing</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:41</time>
<p>In general visiting Devil's Tower is a very light lift.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:45</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:45</time>
<p>It's very easy.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:46</time>
<p>It's it's a Not a lot of planning needs to go into it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:49</time>
<p>Just get there at a decent time, get some parking, you can walk around.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:53</time>
<p>It's a very kind of low effort visit.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:03</time>
<p>However, if you want to get to the top of Devil's Tower, there's a lot more that</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:08</time>
<p>goes into that and it's actually something that's been on my list of things to climb.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:11</time>
<p>For those listening, if you guys didn't know, I, you know, I</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:14</time>
<p>spent about a decade climbing all throughout the West, throughout</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:18</time>
<p>Southern California and Yosemite.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:20</time>
<p>I've climbed I've climbed El Capitan twice.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:24</time>
<p>Climbed half half dome.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:25</time>
<p>So I've, yes, that is, that does mean that I slept on the rock.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:29</time>
<p>It's a big deal.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:29</time>
<p>It took me, it took me three and a half days to climb El Capitan.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:34</time>
<p>It took me two and a half days to climb half dome.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:37</time>
<p>I failed the first time I tried half time because my friend got</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:39</time>
<p>injured and we had to come down.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:41</time>
<p>So I've climbed through in Zion.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
<p>I've, I've all throughout largely the kind of the Southwest, you</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:47</time>
<p>know, and largely in California.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:49</time>
<p>And I even tried to open up, we tried to open up a climbing</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
<p>gym.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
<p>Scott has scared me to death more than once</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:55</time>
<p>without, so I'll recount some climbing stories</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:57</time>
<p>on a future podcast sometime.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
<p>If we ever start talking about the climbing history, but I love that stuff.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:03</time>
<p>I haven't climbed in quite some time, but yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
<p>I spent the vast majority of my 20s and early 30s climbing all</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:09</time>
<p>throughout the West wherever I could.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:11</time>
<p>So Devil's Tower is a very popular destination for climbers.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
<p>It</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
<p>is because it has, and if you're a climber, it has easy</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
<p>routes to difficult routes, 5.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:20</time>
<p>7 to 7 if you go to a climbing gym, that's usually like the basic easy route.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:26</time>
<p>And it was first climbed July 4th, 1893.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
<p>To much fanfare, it was William Rogers and Williard Ripley that made the first ascent</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
<p>on, they did a wooden ladder for the first 350 feet and then climbed the rest.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:40</time>
<p>And then when they got up there, they put up an American flag, but there</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:43</time>
<p>was already a flagpole up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:44</time>
<p>Was it really?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:45</time>
<p>Which means they probably climbed it a couple days earlier before they</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:48</time>
<p>did the July 4th big deal, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:52</time>
<p>But what I find really interesting is two years later, in 1895, his wife did it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
<p>Mrs.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:58</time>
<p>Rogers did it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
<p>So she's the first woman.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:00</time>
<p>Oh, that's cool.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
<p>She actually did it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:02</time>
<p>But since then, you know, what's, what's, what's cool about Devil's Tower makes</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:06</time>
<p>it kind of like an easy one day climb.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:09</time>
<p>It's only six to seven pitches.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
<p>And so what does that mean?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:12</time>
<p>It's like rope lengths.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:13</time>
<p>So when you think about six to seven pitches, that's, that's, that's</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
<p>a day.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:18</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:18</time>
<p>So, so for those not familiar with kind of.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
<p>climbing general terms.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:23</time>
<p>800 feet.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:24</time>
<p>That would be about 6 to 7 pitches.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:25</time>
<p>A pitch is typically right around 100 feet, you know, or half a rope</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:30</time>
<p>length is typically 60 meters.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:32</time>
<p>Um, and so, you know, 60 meters, what times three, that's 180 feet.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:36</time>
<p>So it's 90 to 100 feet, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:39</time>
<p>So that's half a rope length.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:41</time>
<p>So And if you're moving on an easier route, you can do that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:44</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:45</time>
<p>You know, 800 feet, maybe six hours if you're moving smoothly.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:48</time>
<p>Um, unless you kind of get hung up in particular spots or something like that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:52</time>
<p>So it's, it's definitely kind of a one day climb up and I'm sure they have</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:12:56</time>
<p>repelling routes down with fixed anchors, which means they've actually bolted.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:01</time>
<p>They've most likely bolted anchor spots on a particular repelling route.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
<p>And for the national parks, they've actually, they've typically worked very</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:11</time>
<p>well with the climbing community because both sides want things to be done safely.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:16</time>
<p>So climbers continue to have access and the National Park Service and</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:20</time>
<p>their park rangers aren't worrying that climbers are just out there just kind of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:23</time>
<p>cowboy style doing whatever destroying.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:26</time>
<p>So they're ideally they're working together and the climbing community</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:29</time>
<p>is typically very, very good.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:30</time>
<p>About working with the park services on, on keeping these</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:34</time>
<p>things safe because everybody wants to get up and get down safe.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:13:36</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:36</time>
<p>So they get about 5,000 climbers each year.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:39</time>
<p>There's over 220 routes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:40</time>
<p>But what makes Devil's Tower relatively easy?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:44</time>
<p>I would say easy.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
<p>You and I, 'cause it's not flat wall climbing is, it's</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:48</time>
<p>a lot of chimney climbing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:49</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:49</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:50</time>
<p>Because those cracks make it easier to kind of get yourself in.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:53</time>
<p>And we show this on the video when Scott will climb, he'll</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:56</time>
<p>carry basically like a rack of.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:13:58</time>
<p>climbing aids or anchors and cams, which kind of go into the crack, expand, think</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:05</time>
<p>of something that kind of expands after you, and You clip your rope into that</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:10</time>
<p>and you that's how you climb and then someone will come up behind you and take</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:14</time>
<p>those out Yeah, so you're not leaving anything behind and you're not hurting</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:18</time>
<p>the rock and that's really what really good climbers and good Naturalists</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:23</time>
<p>don't want to leave anything behind.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:25</time>
<p>They don't want to put in what we call pitons, which is old school</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:28</time>
<p>hammering metal into the rock.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
<p>Nobody wants to do that because you don't want to deface the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:33</time>
<p>rock.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:33</time>
<p>Yeah, and, and, you know, went back when these things were first being climbed.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:37</time>
<p>That's what they would typically use pitons, but they didn't have</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:40</time>
<p>the little more advanced kind of climbing technology we have nowadays.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:43</time>
<p>And if you think of a cam, you know, picture something in your head of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:47</time>
<p>kind of two kind of rotating heads that are together, right on a trigger.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
<p>So, so think of kind of like a stick with a, with a trigger that you can</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:55</time>
<p>pull with, with your two kind of fingers with a thumb underneath, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:14:58</time>
<p>So those, those three fingers pulling a trigger as if you were kind of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:02</time>
<p>like holding a toothbrush almost.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:03</time>
<p>And at the end of that toothbrush is two heads.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:05</time>
<p>When you pull the trigger, they kind of get more narrow and</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:08</time>
<p>then you put it into the crack.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:09</time>
<p>And when you let go of that trigger, they expand a little bit.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:12</time>
<p>And what they do is they bite into the rock.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
<p>And, and allow that to catch you.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:17</time>
<p>That's your kind of high point.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:19</time>
<p>And then you do that multiple times up.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:20</time>
<p>We won't go too deep into like how to climb, but that's how climbers.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:24</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:24</time>
<p>Cause people always ask me that what, what's it mean to free solo?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:28</time>
<p>I'll say that real fast.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:29</time>
<p>Free solo is what that guy did on the face of El Cap where you climb with nothing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:34</time>
<p>No, no rope, no cams.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:37</time>
<p>Very dangerous.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:38</time>
<p>If you slip and fall, that's it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:39</time>
<p>The reason why you climb with all of this stuff is so if you</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:42</time>
<p>slip and fall, you're okay.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:43</time>
<p>I mean, you might get hurt, but you're okay.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:46</time>
<p>Like, you don't die.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:46</time>
<p>And they have,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:46</time>
<p>I think they have like guiding services.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
<p>I don't even know if they allow free solo on Devil's Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:59</time>
<p>What's neat about the climbing too is in June.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:01</time>
<p>they ask climbers not to climb.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:03</time>
<p>And 85 percent of climbers do adhere to that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
<p>And the reason why they do that is because Devil's Tower is still considered a very</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:09</time>
<p>sacred place for the American Indians.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
<p>And the reason why it's considered so sacred is because it's what they</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:15</time>
<p>consider the birthplace of wisdom.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:18</time>
<p>And what that means is, as far as the America, the American Indians,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:25</time>
<p>This is how they basically honored or indoctrinated medicine men.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:34</time>
<p>They would go to the base of Devil's Tower for like a four day fast and pray</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:39</time>
<p>and they would do rituals at the base and that would make the end of your basically</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:44</time>
<p>credential indoctrination to being a medicine man in the American Indian</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:16:49</time>
<p>culture.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:16:49</time>
<p>Oh, that's interesting.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:16:49</time>
<p>So is that all across kind of all tribes?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:51</time>
<p>Yes, 22 tribes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:53</time>
<p>Oh, wow.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:53</time>
<p>And so...</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:54</time>
<p>Because it probably stood alone in such a vast plain area, it was,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
<p>you know, considered to them a very spiritual place and still is today.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:04</time>
<p>And because June is when that ritual takes place, they asked for climbers</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:09</time>
<p>not to be on the rock during that time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
<p>And like I said, 85 percent here, there's been some controversy about</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
<p>climbers fighting it, but most climbers are pretty cool about that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:19</time>
<p>But that, that is why At one time, they tried to change the name and</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:24</time>
<p>we'll talk about the name Devil's Tower</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:29</time>
<p>in 2000, 2004, I think about the time frame they tried to change</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:33</time>
<p>the name to Bear Lodge, because that is the American Indian name,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:40</time>
<p>if you interpret it into English.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:42</time>
<p>And that's what's used all the time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:45</time>
<p>And so why are we calling it Devil's Tower if all the American</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:48</time>
<p>Indians call it Bear Lodge?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:49</time>
<p>And they tried to change the name.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:50</time>
<p>They had a petition.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
<p>It went through Congress, but just didn't get the approval.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:53</time>
<p>But</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:17:53</time>
<p>you explained in the video how it got the Devil's Tower's</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
<p>name.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
<p>So Devil's Tower in 1874.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:59</time>
<p>Five, there was a expedition, a military expedition to basically,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:05</time>
<p>you can think 1875, we've had a lot of videos about this.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:09</time>
<p>What's going on?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:10</time>
<p>Gold, Black Hills, expedition out there to see if there's any gold in Devil's Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:15</time>
<p>And this Colonel, Colonel Richard Dodge had an interpreter with him who</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:21</time>
<p>interpreted the American Indian language wrong and called it Bad God Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:27</time>
<p>And if you think a bad God is the devil, so Devil's Tower,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:32</time>
<p>and it just really stuck.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:34</time>
<p>And they made charts of the area at the time, and they labeled it Devil's Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
<p>And so that is what initially went to Congress.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:42</time>
<p>That was initially what People started to learn it as, and it's</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:45</time>
<p>Devil's Tower without the apostrophe.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:48</time>
<p>And really, there's so many things that say that now, and it's, it</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:52</time>
<p>would be very hard, difficult to change the name, that that's the name</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:56</time>
<p>that's really has stuck since 1875.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:18:58</time>
<p>I found that so interesting because really the, the, the lore.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
<p>Right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:03</time>
<p>The Native American lore behind the name, behind the tower itself.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:09</time>
<p>If obviously you heard a version of that story in the intro today, but there's,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
<p>there's kind of many different versions and a lot of it involves young men or</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:17</time>
<p>young women trying to escape bears or a giant bear and with the great spirit kind</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:23</time>
<p>of raising this thing up to protect them.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:25</time>
<p>And then the bear trying to.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:26</time>
<p>to get them at the top.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:19:28</time>
<p>Um, so it's just kind of so interesting how that, how that evolved.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:33</time>
<p>Yeah, because when you think about it, the stories, they're</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:37</time>
<p>saved by the great spirit, which is a good spirit, not a devil, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:41</time>
<p>But that's what we know it as.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:43</time>
<p>today but you told the Lakota story of the girls who were being chased by the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:49</time>
<p>bears and prayed and it rose up the bears claws made the marks and they</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:54</time>
<p>prayed and they eventually went up and became the stars in the sky in the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:19:59</time>
<p>sky and they're a constellation now.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:02</time>
<p>The other one is a Sioux story, two boys being chased by one</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:06</time>
<p>huge bear, I think Mato, M A T O.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:10</time>
<p>That's what they called the bear, a huge bear with claws like teepee poles.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:14</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:14</time>
<p>So that big, so that big and that bears teepee pole claws made</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:19</time>
<p>the huge grooves in the side.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:21</time>
<p>And they also pray to the great spirit, which raised it up so</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:25</time>
<p>the bear couldn't get them.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:26</time>
<p>And the great spirit sent it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:20:28</time>
<p>great eagle to carry them back to their</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:30</time>
<p>village.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:30</time>
<p>And that's actually the picture we show, you know, relatively early in the video,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:34</time>
<p>but that's a picture that you will commonly see is this giant bear clawing</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:39</time>
<p>at Devil's Tower as kind of the depiction of the Native American story, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:44</time>
<p>That's the common kind of one single picture.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:46</time>
<p>You'll see paintings, you'll see would carve signs.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:49</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:49</time>
<p>And we even had some YouTube comments of people saying, whoever painted</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:52</time>
<p>that picture didn't really know what a bear looks like because the bear</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:54</time>
<p>actually has like a long tail, you know?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:56</time>
<p>So I was like, eh, it's whatever.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:20:58</time>
<p>That's the, that's the picture that's just been popularized.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:00</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:01</time>
<p>So that's what you will see.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:02</time>
<p>And that's where that came from.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:03</time>
<p>And it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:04</time>
<p>It totally makes sense, because if you see the deep grooves on the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:08</time>
<p>tower, that totally makes sense for why it would be that story.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:13</time>
<p>And so, like I said, you can climb it, you can get to the top, what's on the top,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:18</time>
<p>there is Transcribed wildlife on the top.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:20</time>
<p>There's chick monks, there's birds, there are rattlesnakes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:24</time>
<p>So if you climb to the top, but you're not allowed to stay overnight</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
<p>on the top, you must rappel down.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:29</time>
<p>It has to be a day climb.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:31</time>
<p>They make you register for your climb in the morning and you</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
<p>register when you come back.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:34</time>
<p>It's again for search and rescue.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:36</time>
<p>But there was one person who stayed up there for six days.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:42</time>
<p>So in 1941, this this guy parachuted in.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
<p>Oh,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
<p>yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
<p>I read about it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:50</time>
<p>And he made it to the top when he parachuted in, he landed on the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:53</time>
<p>top, but his gear went off the side.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:57</time>
<p>So he was stuck.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:57</time>
<p>So he's stuck.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:21:58</time>
<p>He didn't have anything to</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:59</time>
<p>rappel with.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:21:59</time>
<p>Six days until someone could climb up in 1941 and bring</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:03</time>
<p>stuff to him to rappel down.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:05</time>
<p>So he was up there for six days.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:06</time>
<p>Oh my gosh.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:07</time>
<p>Uh, and so there's not a lot up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:10</time>
<p>Right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:11</time>
<p>What they have up there is a lot of, what do they call it, where</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:14</time>
<p>the stuff that grows on granite?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:16</time>
<p>Like moss and stuff.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:17</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:17</time>
<p>But it has a name like, like, like Lycum or something.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:20</time>
<p>Lycan.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:21</time>
<p>Lycan.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:21</time>
<p>Like, there's a bunch of Lycan up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:23</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:23</time>
<p>So you could eat that, I guess, to survive.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
<p>But people always wonder, how do animals get up there?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:27</time>
<p>I mean, birds, of course, can fly up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:29</time>
<p>But there have been reports of climbers saying that they can see.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:33</time>
<p>Chick munks and snakes going into the grooves Sure.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:36</time>
<p>And climbing up to the top.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:38</time>
<p>Absolutely.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:22:38</time>
<p>So that's how the animals</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:40</time>
<p>get up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:40</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
<p>I actually have a friend Eric, that I climbed Halftone with.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:43</time>
<p>He's climbed Devil's Tower before.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:44</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:45</time>
<p>And I think he actually saw a snake when they were up, when</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:48</time>
<p>they were up there, up top.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:49</time>
<p>It wasn't close to them.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:50</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:50</time>
<p>But he had, he had mentioned that, 'cause I had climbed kind</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:53</time>
<p>of throughout, I climbed in Zion and stuff like that with him.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:56</time>
<p>But that's, that's one that he, he kind of ticked off his list that, that</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:22:59</time>
<p>I've, I haven't had a chance to do yet.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:00</time>
<p>And again, another reason to not free solo.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
<p>Cause you reach and grab a snake.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:05</time>
<p>You're not going to hold on.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:07</time>
<p>That's right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:08</time>
<p>That's right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:12</time>
<p>Another thing to not miss when you do Devil's Tower is they have this</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:15</time>
<p>very cute prairie dog village.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
<p>They do.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
<p>On the way in, on the way out, you can stop either way.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
<p>It's so neat to see.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:22</time>
<p>They pop their heads out, they run all around.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:25</time>
<p>They're indigenous to the area.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:26</time>
<p>And it's, they, they're very curious about people.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:29</time>
<p>They're not shy.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:30</time>
<p>Well, and you see the little, they look like little mounds, right,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:33</time>
<p>and they're sticking their heads up out.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:35</time>
<p>I mean, it's, it's classic.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:36</time>
<p>The kids loved it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:37</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:37</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:37</time>
<p>I got some video footage of it and stuff like that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:39</time>
<p>But they're just big gophers.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
<p>But they're running around and they're, they're safe.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:43</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:43</time>
<p>They're kind of, you can't, you're not supposed to walk</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:45</time>
<p>over there and stuff like that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:46</time>
<p>But it is, it is pretty as a, as a family.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:49</time>
<p>trip.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:50</time>
<p>That's a great spot to stop either on, like you said, on the way in or</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:53</time>
<p>on the way out for the kids to kind of see these prairie dogs running around.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:56</time>
<p>So</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:23:57</time>
<p>yeah, it was really was a great visit.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:00</time>
<p>I will say you're allowed to camp there from May to October.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:04</time>
<p>Again, it's still Wyoming.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:05</time>
<p>It's still going to get cold.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:06</time>
<p>Devil's Tower will get snow.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:08</time>
<p>But I bet during those winter months, it's not as crowded.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:11</time>
<p>So</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:12</time>
<p>yeah, and I highly encourage folks and I say this often, but We really did</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:16</time>
<p>get some, we were kind of surprised at how well this video did, you know, kind</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:19</time>
<p>of in the first couple days, largely because I think we got some really</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:23</time>
<p>great video footage of Devil's Tower.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:25</time>
<p>So if you've never had a chance to take a look to see or really see video</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:24:29</time>
<p>footage of it, I'm going to put the link to this video in the show notes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:33</time>
<p>And one last thing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:36</time>
<p>What really is Devil's Tower?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:38</time>
<p>People ask me, what is it?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:40</time>
<p>So really what they believe it is is 50 million years ago magma inside</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:45</time>
<p>a volcano cooled And then the, the rock around it kind of eroded.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:51</time>
<p>And then this is, this is basically what you're seeing is the inside of an</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:56</time>
<p>active volcano that no longer active.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
<p>And this was what the liquid magma look like hardened inside.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:25:04</time>
<p>That's what they believe this is.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:25:07</time>
<p>And you see other examples of this in like Monument Valley.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:10</time>
<p>It's very interesting.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:11</time>
<p>We receive some occasional interesting comments on this video because people</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:16</time>
<p>like to believe what they want to believe sometimes and so we get the occasional</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:20</time>
<p>comment, Oh, it's just a great tree stump or, you know, aliens or whatever it is,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:24</time>
<p>but it's Absolutely worth it if you're in that part of the country on the road</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:27</time>
<p>trip, doing the whole Mount Rushmore, crazy horse, little bighorn circuit.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:32</time>
<p>So we highly encourage you to go because that's one of the things we want to do on</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:35</time>
<p>this podcast is tell you guys about these locations that we want to go and ideally</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:40</time>
<p>inspire you and give you resources.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:42</time>
<p>Get out there and go see it for yourself because you really can't</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:47</time>
<p>replace being somewhere in person.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:50</time>
<p>Even with a podcast like this, as much as we try, or even with a</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:52</time>
<p>video, it's always better in person.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:55</time>
<p>So we encourage you guys to plan a trip, get out there and kind of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:25:58</time>
<p>just see some of some of the country and some of the history out there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:00</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:26:01</time>
<p>If you have a national parks pass, it's free.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:04</time>
<p>So thank you for listening to the talk with history podcast and please reach</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:07</time>
<p>out to us at our website, talkwithhistory.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:09</time>
<p>com.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:09</time>
<p>But more importantly, if you know someone else that might enjoy this podcast.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
<p>Please share it with them.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:14</time>
<p>Especially if you think today's topic would interest a friend, shoot them</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:17</time>
<p>a text and tell them to look us up.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:19</time>
<p>We rely on you, our community to grow, and we appreciate you all every day.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
<p>We'll talk to you next time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:26:24</time>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>