I've wanted to be here since I was 7 years old. Childhood dream accomplished. I recently watched Close Encounters Of The Third Kind again on Netflix to see if it holds up and realized that it just couldn't be made today and hope to compete.
I find it amazing what turned a buck back in the '70s. I still love Close Encounters, but take a couple
hours and watch it again for yourself, then ask if a modern reproduction (same script and screenplay)
would hold up today. I doubt that it'd do anything more than a few hardcore film lovers in indy film
theaters. It'd need Micheal Bay or Guillermo Del Toro, a HUGE special effects budget and a LOT of
re-writing of the screenplay to make it in today's market. At least they wouldn't have to recast the
location! Devils Tower is as impressive and imposing as it ever was.
We spent a good part of a day exploring the area. There is a short paved trail circling the base but I
wanted to get out and away from the extinct volcano and into the nature surrounding the area, so we
took the longer five mile single track hiking trail option. This gave me some pretty cool vistas of the
national monument as well as the diverse landscape and geography of the area. And it wore us out
pretty good as well! We scampered up the big bolder field as well just before sunset but we were
pretty much done after that long hike so we didn't make it too far. Oh, and I looked and looked but
failed to find a UFO landing strip anywhere near by. That was a bit of a let down.
I visited Devil's Tower back in the 90's and after initially being blown away that the site from Close Encounters actually existed, I was disappointed to learn you couldn't climb it without mountain climbing gear. There is no path on the other side as Richard Dreyfus' character states in the movie. Also the top is no bigger than a football field. But it's beautiful nonetheless and a nice hike around the base.
ReplyDeleteHi Tom
DeleteIt's kinda crazy that people DO climb that crazy monolith! We scrambled up the boulder field a little ways but still didn't get very close to the base. We were just too bushed from the long hike.