The overcast sky added real detail to the image. I shot it with a FUJIFILM FinePix V10 digital camera at the time.
Ever since watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" the 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Richard Dreyfuss, I have wanted to visit Devils Tower.
Located in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River.
According to the brochure, it is 865 feet tall and considered the first national monument in the US. It's actually the exposed core of a volcano, formed after millions of years of erosion brought on by weather and the Belle Fourche River.
The rocks and boulders around the base are broken pieces of columns having fallen from the sides.
According to Native American legend, the "claw marks" were made by a bear that was trying to attack seven small girls who were playing in the area.
Device info:
FUJIFILM FinePix V10 ~ f/5.5 ~ 1/300 sec. ~ ISO 200 ~ 0 step ~ 22 mm ~ pattern metering mode ~ no flash, auto (2009)
