Devil’s tower in the United States

In the North-East of the U.S. state of Wyoming in the middle of the vast Great plains is a lonely rock with a terrible name “devil’s Tower” (“Devils Tower”), also sometimes you can hear the name “Devil’s Mountain”.

Devil’s tower in the United States
Devil’s tower is the so-called table mountain, that is, a mountain with a truncated, flat top. The top of the mountain rises about 380 meters above the plain. Geologists say that the age of this monument of nature — more than 50 million years.

Devil’s tower has a rather unusual structure: the mountain consists mainly of hexagonal columns of almost perfect shape, also sometimes there are 4 -, 5-and 7-sided columns.

Devil’s Tower structure in the USA
Looking at the straight lines of geometrically correct columns of the Devil’s Tower, it is difficult to believe that this rock is a miraculous object.

All about Devil’s Tower:
Title ” Devil’s Tower»
Origin Of Devil’s Tower
Legends and myths of the Devil’s Tower
Conquest Of Devil’s Tower
Devil’s tower today
Video ” The Mysterious Devil’s Tower»
Devil’s tower on the map USA

Title ” Devil’s Tower»
Despite the terrible name, the Devil’s Tower is a sacred mountain for local indigenous tribes of Indians. The name “Devil’s Tower” appeared after the expedition of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge in 1875. The translator of the expedition incorrectly translated the name of the Indians: “the House of the Bad God”, after which there was an interpretation of”Devil’s Tower”. The Indians of different tribes called the Devil’s Tower quite differently:

– “Bear House»,
– “Bear’s den»,
“The house on the rock»,
– “The great grey horn»,
– “Brown Buffalo horn»,
“Rock-tree.”

Indian rock
Several times the Indians asked the government to change the official name of the mountain to “bear’s lair”, but each time they were refused, because officials believe that the renaming of the Devil’s Tower will affect the tourist attractiveness and economic well-being of this part of the state.

Devil’s rock in the USA
Origin Of Devil’s Tower
How could such an unusual rock appear in the middle of the plain? Disputes about the origin of the Devil’s Tower do not cease until now. Scientists agree with each other that the rock is formed from volcanic material, but can not agree on how it was formed. However, there are alternative sensational versions of the appearance of this unique natural monument.

Legends and myths of the Devil’s Tower
Devil’s tower-a huge stump
It is believed that the Devil’s Tower and other table mountains are fossilized stumps of ancient giant trees. It turns out that the perfect hexagonal columns of Devil’s Mountain were once the fibers of a tree trunk. The Devil’s tower, indeed, looks like a huge stump: at the foot of the mountain columns-fibers bend, as if forming the root system of the tree.

Giant tree Roots Devil’s Tower
But who cut down such a big tree and where did the tree go?!

The mountain alien
Hunters green men claim that the mountain was created by aliens, as a navigational landmark and landing pad for flying saucers. Some locals and tourists claim to have seen UFOs or strange light phenomena over the Devil’s Tower.

Lights over Devil’s Tower in USA
And lightning and does constantly hit the top of the cliff, which is not surprising, because the Devil’s Tower-is the only high object on the plain. Spreading, such stories and rumors make the mountain even more famous and popular: now the Devil’s Tower can often be seen in films about UFOs.

UFO over Devil’s Tower in USA
Legends of the Indians
The local Indians have a legend about the appearance of the mountain, which they pass from mouth to mouth from generation to generation. Once upon a time, seven children went for a walk in the woods. The children were spotted by a hungry giant bear and chased after them. The children could not get away from the terrible beast, so they stood on a small stone and asked the Great spirit to save them. The spirit heard the pleas of the Indians, and the stone began to grow rapidly, turning into an impregnable mountain. The bear tried to climb the mountain, but he failed, and on the rock after unsuccessful attempts left traces of huge claws of a ferocious beast. The mountain grew so high that the children climbed into the sky and lived there, turned into stars.

A legend of another tribe of local Indians says that the mountain was created by an evil demon. He settled on the top of the mountain and sometimes beat his drum out of anger, generating lightning and thunder. The name “bad God Tower” appeared thanks to this legend.

A huge bear on the Devil’s Tower
Conquest Of Devil’s Tower
The Indians considered the mountain sacred-no one thought to climb to God’s guests. However, at the end of the XIX century, people still conquered the top of the Devil’s Tower. Two local farmers did it. Lacking climbing equipment, they used only pegs and wooden ladders. Nowadays, many doubt that farmers really climbed to the top of the Devil’s Tower, but climbers say that in some places on the rock you can find the same pegs.

Jack durance in the Tower of Devil
The first climber to conquer the Devil’s Tower was Jack durance. He climbed devil’s peak in 1938.

In 1941, George Hopkins decided to conquer the mountain. Professional skydiver George Hopkins came up with a cunning plan: since the Devil’s Tower is so difficult to climb from the bottom, it is better to jump to the top of the cliff from above. His plan would have been brilliant if he had thought out how he would then go down the mountain.

After making a parachute jump, Hopkins landed successfully on top of the Devil’s Tower. However, the equipment for the descent from the mountain, which he was thrown from the plane, either did not get to the top, or broke when it hit the rock. As a result, the parachutist was a prisoner of the Devil’s Tower and became famous all over America, a special Committee was even created to save him.

After staying on top of the devil’s rock for a few days, the witty George Hopkins came up with a joke that he only lacks eve, in the event of a world flood below to save humanity from destruction. However, to enjoy the solitude at the top of the Devil’s Tower Hopkins failed: during the day the planes literally staged a bombing, throwing off the mountain-conqueror of the rock products and medicines, and at night it is unclear where the rats appeared.

Created a special Committee called for a rescue operation experienced climbers. But climbers after an hour of visual intelligence and three hours were forced to go down and abandon further attempts of ascension. One of the climbers even admitted: “We are this damn block is not in the teeth!”As it turned out, none of the climbers could not climb to the top of the Devil’s Tower to save the poor parachutist. I had to look for the first climber-conqueror of the mountain. And only under the leadership of Jack Durance, on a route known only to him, the climbers were able to climb to the top of the devil and descend exhausted Hopkins on a cradle.

George Hopkins at Devil’s Tower
Nowadays, the Devil’s Tower is very popular among climbers and climbers.

Climbers on the Devil’s Tower in the USA
The relief of the mountain is very unusual, so you need to use and unusual climbing technique. For example, you need to be able to navigate the gorge “vraspor”.

Climb the Devil’s Tower
Today, several climbing routes lead to the devil’s peak.

How to climb the Devil’s Tower?
Devil’s tower today
On September 24, 1906, by order of President Theodore Roosevelt, Devil’s Tower became the first site to be recognized as a U.S. national monument. Nowadays, the unique rock is very popular among tourists. Every year, hundreds of thousands of travelers come to see the Devil’s Tower, but only a few of them are on the devil’s top, as to climb this unusual mountain is possible only with special training.

Devil’s Mountain in the United States
Unfortunately the Devil’s Tower is gradually being destroyed. Columns of rock peel off from each other and crumble. The state authorities are thinking about preserving the unique monument of nature, so perhaps in the future a visit to the Devil’s Tower will be limited.