Five turkey vultures congregated on a precariously balanced rock, like something out of The Jungle Book, before riding the thermals in perfect formation with barely a need to flap their 6ft wide wings.
We were at America’s first national monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming, a stunning 1,000ft diameter butte that appears as if it has thrust its way 867ft up from the ground.
Considered sacred by Native Americans, legends suggest the tower’s strange column jointing is actually ‘claw marks’ of a giant bear that chased seven girls onto the rock, which surged into the sky, turning the girls into seven stars – The Pleiades – that appear over the rock in the midnight sky.
