PARTING SHOT
DEVILS TOWER
Volume XXXVI, Number 6. National Geographic Traveler (ISSN 0747-0932) is published six times a year (February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September, October/November, December/January) by National Geographic Partners, LLC, 1145 17th St.
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Beauty
Finding revelation at
a towering rock where
spirits soar
W
hile working on a National Geographic cover story, Traveler contributing
photographer Aaron Huey accompanied nine-year-old Wakinyan Two
Bulls (above) and his mother as they looped prayer ties in a tree near
Mato Tipila, the Lakota name for the butte known as Devils Tower. Formed by
magma some 50 million years ago and slowly made visible as wind and water eroded
the surrounding landscape, this “igneous intrusion,” as geologists refer to it, rises
867 feet in northeast Wyoming. Considered sacred by the Lakota and other Native
American tribes of the northern Great Plains—its indigenous name translates to Bear
Lodge—the tower has long served as a site for spiritual practices, sun ceremonies,
and rites of passage. In 1906, it became the first United States national monument.
“People say we have no great cathedrals in the U.S., but I disagree,” Huey says. “This
is a cathedral for everyone.” —Starlight WilliamsEXPLORE THE WORLD EVERY DAY ON INSTAGRAM @NATGEOTRAVEL
AARON^
HUEY