Went to Devils Tower a few years back. Definitely worth the extra 1 1/2 hours or so to walk all the way around it very up close and taking several pics looking straight up. It's a little over a 1 mile walk all the way around, but take the extra tops 2 hours to do the walk around on the trail all the way around. Believe it or not, the backside is pretty flat from what I can remember. Just by going there and NOT walking all the way around on the trail will not do it justice, you MUST walk all the way around it since the parking lot is not good enough.
Truly amazing, just be on the lookout with all those darn prairie dogs entering the park yipping at you. On the flats in SD, I pulled over and walked out aways by myself into a prairie dog bonanza and was an eerie feeling being surrounded by yipping rodents all around me, several 100 of them. I got out of there in a big hurry for I felt like they were going to attack from the sounds of them all.
Watch out for those darn donkeys chasing you down sticking their entire head in your vehicle (if in a car) or buffalo blocking the roads being mere inches away from you. Was shacking in my boots and I was in a vehicle at the time, could NOT imagine being on a cycle of any kind having a 2,000lb. all black alpha-male herd leader snorting at you like they did us. My then 10 year old daughter was screaming in terror when it was eyeball to eyeball with her about 1 foot away is all and snorted at her, was pretty scary since her screaming I thought would for sure make the male herd leader ram our vehicle with it's horns. I just wish I had the video camera running then darn it would have made a lifetime memory captured on video no less.
