Continued from www.cullmantribune.com/2025/07/14/column-we-made-it-to-north-dakota
We visited two dinosaur museums on our trip. My favorite was Montana’s Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, which presents the dinosaur from a biblical perspective. There we saw a giant Tyrannosaurus rex in mid roar! Well, OK, but we did see a full-size cast of one, as well as several other creatures and numerous dinosaur bones. I’m not sure whatever became of the dinosaurs, but whatever happened to them it seems to me that the West had their share of them.
Early the next morning, we lit out on one of the most beautiful drives of our journey. All four states showed us some Big Sky country, but Highway 59, between Miles City, Montana, and Gillette, Wyoming, was perhaps the prettiest and biggest sky of them all. As far as the eye could see in every direction, the beautiful spacious skies above the green-grass plains led us to the distant purple mountain majesties of America the Beautiful. The admission was free, the gasoline was already bought and the awe-inspiring scenery looked like a lovely giant postcard!
After we crossed into Wyoming, we spent the night in Gillette. I felt much at home being back in that great state. Beginning in 1999, I traveled to Wyoming each January for several years to teach winter Bible studies in churches there. I fell in love with the state, the people, the amazing wildlife and the ski slopes there. I taught from Rock Springs in the southwest, all the way up to Pinedale in the northwest. I even contemplated a move there, but I was afraid I didn’t own enough winter coats! Although we stayed on the eastern side of the state this time, it still felt good to be back in my adopted home state.
Many miles before we reached it, we saw our nation’s first national monument. Devil’s Tower is a solid rock laccolith mountain that rises 1,267 feet high above Belle Fourche River and the prairie surrounded by the Black Hills. When I saw the beautiful monstrosity, my first thought was, “Where did that thing come from?” Even though they call it “The Devil’s Tower,” I have no doubt that it was God who created such an amazing work of natural art. It stands there all alone, 5,112 feet above sea level, and from the base of the tower to its tip is 867 feet.
No, we did not climb it, but we did hike around its base. That hike was 1.8 miles from the car, around the tower and back. I heard you ask how many times I stopped to rest. Well, I’m not saying I’m old, but the air there is thin and I am not! I’m also just 18 months out from quadruple heart-bypass surgery, so, yes sir, I did sit down a time or six along the hike.
All along the trail I noticed colorful pieces of cloth tied to tree branches. From days long ago, and still to this day, Native American Indians have held the tower to be a sacred place. Obviously, they felt, like me, that this place belonged to God above. They still gather there to worship and hold religious services. The pieces of cloth are prayer clothes they and others leave as a symbol of prayers they have prayed there.
I contemplated tying a piece of my clothing to a limb. My prayer was to make it around the loop and back to the car! Seriously, I did say an unspoken prayer for some friends with some serious issues going on in their lives, as well as a prayer of thanksgiving to be alive to see such beauty.
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
