📍Devils Tower NM (non-climbing), Wyoming

Arrive while the air is still cool and the parking lot nearly empty — by 7:30am the Tower Trail belongs almost entirely to early risers and the occasional deer grazing at the treeline. The 1.3-mile loop delivers the monolith from every angle, its columnar face catching long morning shadows that make the rock look carved rather than grown. Teens tend to light up here faster than expected; the sheer improbability of the thing is hard to scroll past.

A short walk from the main trailhead drops you into a different mood — rust-red rock bands underfoot, ponderosa pine shade, and the Belle Fourche River murmuring somewhere below. It's quieter and more textured than the main loop, with the Tower peeking through trees rather than dominating the skyline outright. Good for families wanting a slower pace with more exploration stops.

Arrive early while the wind is still gentle and the grassland quiet — by mid-morning the heat and glare make the open rim less comfortable. Standing at the edge of this 40-foot sinkhole, it's hard not to feel the weight of history: Plains tribes used this natural trap for generations of coordinated buffalo hunts. The silence out here is its own kind of experience, broken only by wind moving through grass.

This 32-mile stretch of highway turns driving itself into the activity — pullouts reveal the Tower rising from the plains at different distances and angles, each one worth a stop. It's an easy, low-energy way to cover ground after the morning's walk, with teens often taking charge of picking which pullout to stop at next.

A cool, indoor change of pace after a morning in the sun — narrow rooms filled with genuine pioneer tools and indigenous artifacts that give context to everything seen at Vore and the Tower. It's compact enough that teens won't lose patience, and the quiet, air-conditioned space is a welcome break from the heat.