The devil's tower looks like mountains. Pictures of the devil's tower. Interesting facts about the Devil's Tower
Devil's Tower National Monument is one of the main attractions of Wyoming in the USA. monolithic basalt mountain 386 meters high, it seems to be composed of hundreds of five-sided stone columns. IN good weather The rock can be seen for several tens of kilometers. It was formed 200 million years ago and is a neck - a melt frozen in a vent ancient volcano. And the base of the tower, according to scientists, appeared as a result of erosion.
Your name natural monument received due to a linguistic error. In 1875, during the expedition of Colonel Richard Dodge, the translator misinterpreted the words of the Indians who lived in this territory. Instead of the House of the Bear, the mountain became known as the House of the Bad God, and then - the Devil's Tower.
Devil's Tower is the first national monument in the United States. Such a status of a natural monument received in 1906 by decree of Theodore Roosevelt. According to the pole reversal theory, the Devil's Tower was once the Earth's geographic pole.
Devil's Tower - the former geographic pole of the Earth // fstockfoto
Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming in the USA // Nagel Photography
Devil's Tower - the first national monument in the United States // mikenorton
Devil's Tower Reflection // Tom Grundy
Parking at Devil's Tower is $10 per vehicle for up to seven days. This amount includes tourist fees for each passenger. Motorcycle parking will cost $5. If you got to the reserve by taxi, the tourist tax is paid additionally - in the amount of $ 5 for each tourist.
Around Devil's Tower there are several hiking trails. The longest one is almost three kilometers long, and the shortest one is a little more than a kilometer. Near the mountain there is a picnic area and a tourist office where you can get all necessary information about the place, have a bite to eat, buy souvenirs, and if you wish, hire a guide. The center is open from 8:00 to 19:00.
Every year in June, the leadership of the national monument asks climbers and tourists to voluntarily refrain from climbing the mountain. The first month of summer is considered sacred by local Indians: climbing the tower during this period they perceive as disrespectful to their culture. The rest of the time the mountain is available for rock climbers.
The nearest campsite is "Bel Forch Campground" located 4 kilometers south of Devil's Tower. It only works during summer season, from May to September. The cost of accommodation is $ 12 per day per car. There are 50 seats in total.
More detailed information not only about the Devil's Tower, but also about other natural attractions of Wyoming can be found on the official website of the Service national parks USA.
How to get there
The nearest cities to Devil's Tower are Hewlett (14 kilometers northeast of the reserve), Sundance (43 kilometers southeast) and Morecroft (53 kilometers southwest). You can get on the highways WY24 and US-14 respectively. public transport not in this part of Wyoming; You can only get there by rented car or taxi.
Detailed maps of the area around Devil's Tower can be downloaded from the official website of the US National Park Service: www.nps.gov/deto/planyourvisit/maps.htm.
Location
Devil's Tower National Monument is located in the Great Plains, in Krug County, in the northeast,. Exact coordinates: 44º 35" 23.95" N, 104º 41" 47.88" W.
Devil's Tower - the most mysterious rock America
A huge basalt pillar right in the middle of the plain with the ominous name Devil's Tower has been attracting climbers from all over the world to Wyoming for more than a hundred years. But at a height of only 386 meters, not many daredevils submitted. How can you not believe in mysticism?
At the first glance at this mountain towering right in the middle of the Great Plains, associations come to mind with some utterly hypertrophied stump or a tower erected by some crazy architect. The impeccably correct shape and incredible size make this rock formation almost the main attraction of the state of Wyoming, which is scarce in spectacular places. It is no coincidence that in 1906, in the area around the Devil's Tower, a national park, and the peak itself acquired the status of a National Monument.
The Indians called this mountain Mata Tipila, which means “House of the Bear”. Until now, a time-worn legend about seven girls, who were attacked by a bear during a carefree walk through the forest, walks through the collections of mythology. Desperate to escape from the angry beast, the girls climbed onto a stone and began to pray for salvation from above. As a result, the stone grew to the very sky, and the girls descended from it directly to the heavenly plateau and became the stars of the Pleiades. No matter how the bear tried to climb the mountain, he did not succeed, and the longitudinal marks from his claws remaining on the surface of the stone are direct evidence of his disembodied attempts to taste innocent children's flesh. Looking at this wonderful rock, you involuntarily agree with the train of thought of the indigenous people: something very big, evil and otherworldly really lives here.
The nature of this unique object covered with the darkness of mystery and a thick layer of dust. Scientists say that the Devil's Tower is nothing but the remains of an impressive mountain range, who suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against time and adverse weather events. Two hundred million years ago, the Great Plain was completely covered by the sea. Magma, which has penetrated into the thickness of the seabed from the seething bowels of the earth, became the impetus for the formation of a columnar basalt body. Over time, the sea that was managing here descended, exposing the basalt formations that once appeared at the very bottom, and time, merciless to all living and even inanimate things, taking erosion as its allies, even destroyed the basalt. This version is supported by fragments of rocks scattered here and there along the entire foot of the majestic tower. Pieces fell off, but the very foundation, which is a gigantic stone pillar, still amazes the imagination of tourists from all over the world.
There is another, much less plausible, but captivating with a mystical halo version of the origin of the Devil's Tower. The correct shape of the rock suggests that someone did a good job on it besides nature, and since people at that time were unable to erect such “construction” objects, the idea of the intervention of higher forces takes place in the human mind . It is clear that God has nothing to do with it - the object is too gloomy and sinister to be the fruit of divine intervention. Here is the Devil...
The Indians who lived nearby considered the Devil to be the master of this amazing mountain. The consciousness of the natives settled him at the very top and endowed him with the ability to cause thunder and lightning, mercilessly hitting people with fiery arrows. It is likely that over several centuries lightning claimed many human lives, and the Indians generously shared their knowledge with the first white settlers. Actually, the authorship of the modern name of the mountain - Devil`s Tower - should be attributed to the latter.
Moving away from primitive beliefs in some omnipotent Devil who found shelter at the top majestic mountain, the consciousness of people began to look for the nature of the mysterious light anomalies, regularly revealing themselves at the top, in the plane of contact with alien civilization and consider the summit as a platform for landing flying objects from other planets. This curious version has become widespread after the wonderful film by Steven Spielberg "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", in which a UFO lands just on that very peak.
Numerous rumors about impure origins mountain top do not in the least deter ambitious climbers, in whose dreams the conquest of the Devil's Tower occupies about the same place as Royal Flush in the hands of a poker player. The height of the Tower is 386 meters - this is higher than the famous Empire State Building in New York, but by climbing standards there is nothing extraordinary in these figures. Subdued and much more significant heights. The difficulty in the case of the Devil's Tower is its steep walls: climbing to the top is not only difficult, but incredibly difficult, and even more difficult to return back, since the descent is a much more serious danger than the ascent. Plus, the danger of falling boulders from a great height is still relevant.
Every attempt to conquer impregnable peak poses a huge risk to life. The pioneer was one of the local residents, but it happened in the distant 19th century, and now there is absolutely no way to confirm this information. Almost a century later, in 1938, this feat was repeated by Jack Durrans.
The third conqueror of the sinister Tower was George Hopkins, but unlike his predecessors, he conquered it from the air. An experienced skydiver wished for worldwide fame, but turned out to be a hostage of the devilish peak: he successfully landed on the mountain, but the euphoria from success was soon replaced by a complete absence constructive solutions landing problems. The skydiver became a prisoner of the rock.
The same Durrans came to the rescue, leading a climbing expedition to rescue an ambitious skydiver.
All of America was talking about this news. Crowds of tourists and onlookers surrounded the Tower, and the prisoner gave interviews on live radio. Soon dozens of planes were circling in the air, dropping free food and equipment provided by manufacturing companies for promotional purposes on Hopkins. Tired of dodging falling objects, the paratrooper on the radio began to beg to stop the bombardment, especially since most of objects still fell into the abyss.
Devil's Tower
Despite the abundance of food, in the rain and piercing wind, Hopkins' strength quickly left. In addition, it turned out that the impregnable granite rock was inhabited by rats, which every night became more and more insolent. A specially created Hopkins Rescue Committee called in an experienced climber Ernst Field and his partner Gorrell from Colorado for a rescue operation. But the team of climbers, after visual reconnaissance and 3 hours of ascent, were forced to return and abandon further attempts. Field confessed: "We're too tough for this damn block!"
It seemed unbelievable - professionals conquer peaks with a height of more than 8000 m, but are powerless in front of a height of 390 m! The Committee, through the press, began to look for Jack Durrans, and only a day later he was found on east coast at Dartmouth. A day later, he arrived and began preparing for the ascent along the old, only known to him route. Exactly at noon, the ascent to the Devil's Tower began. Despite the fact that the top of the cliff was covered with thick fog, climbers led by Durrans reached the top and, using special equipment, lowered the exhausted paratrooper down. In total, Hopkins was a prisoner of the Tower for about a week.
After the long-awaited descent to the ground, Hopkins, who languished on the mountain for a week, told the whole world about the whole hordes of huge rats that settled on the very top. If there is no life there, then the question of what these insatiable creatures can eat remains open.
Of the 400,000 tourists who visit Devil's Tower every year, only one percent decides to climb to the top. But the Indians are against crowds of tourists climbing to the top of the rock, since it is sacred to them. Therefore, most climbers do not climb here in June. At this time, the Indians hold their ceremonies.
Today, the Tower is very popular with climbers and rock climbers. A considerable number of routes have already been laid to the top of the Tower. In terms of its structure, the relief of the rock is very unusual, and therefore the climbing technique also requires additional skills, for example, the ability to move across the relief at full speed. Also, a lot of slot climbing.
Routes to Devil's Tower
You can get to the Devil's Tower: in the USA, by any (auto, air, rail) mode of transport to the city of Rapid City (or Gillette in the northeast of Wyoming); then only by car to the very hill.
Years pass, and the rock still majestically rises above the Great Plain, preserving such an attractive mystical halo around it. From time to time, mysterious glows are observed in the sky above it, eyewitness accounts of unidentified flying objects are recorded, researchers speculate about the mysterious purpose of the Tower, assigning it the role of an almost new noah's ark with the coming apocalypse or a corridor to another dimension, still unknown to us. Many questions, the answers to which are known only to God. Or is it the Devil?
There are many legends about this place. Local Indian tribes talk about seven sisters who walked around the neighborhood, in the forest. When they were about to return home, a bear attacked them. The girls climbed onto a tiny stone and prayed to God, begging to save their lives. Suddenly, the stone began to grow and grew very tall, and the furious grizzly scratched the stone with its claws, but could not reach the sisters. From the claws of the bear, characteristic traces remained on the Devil's tower, which became another of its mysteries. After all, they look like even lined stripes and even have sharp corners. After this story, the mountain was nicknamed the Bear's Lair. And the girls, by the way, never returned to earth, they became stars.
There is another Indian legend that tells that a demon lived on the mountain. He liked to beat the drum and scare people. On them he sent lightning, from which it is impossible to hide. By the way, even now you can see how lightning strikes the Devil's tower during a thunderstorm. It's pretty impressive even for modern man, what can we say about the ancient Indians, who believed that the mountain is the place of residence of the demon. Therefore, the tribes settled as far as possible from unusual rock. Although there were some Indians who considered the Devil's Tower to be divine and worshiped it.
Modern times have given rise to other tales of Devil's Tower. Many are sure that there is a high probability of meeting with aliens. Unusual light phenomena can often be seen on the rock, so ufologists have suggested that the Devil's Tower is a real alien spaceport. Such stories could not be overlooked by filmmakers. Therefore, the Devil's Tower can be seen in many films dedicated to UFOs. One of the most famous shot by Spielberg.
Conquest of the summit
The height of the rock is only 398 meters, but for a long time no one could conquer the tower. Its walls are sheer, the rise is very steep, and the glory of the mountain, in general, is ominous. The first to conquer the Devil's Tower was an unknown local resident who climbed a rock without necessary equipment. How he succeeded, no one knows to this day, because even now not all climbers decide to climb even with improved modern equipment. The first professional to climb Devil's Tower was Jack Durrance. He did it in 1938.
After that, several years passed, but no one dared to rise. And then George Hopkins showed up - an experienced skydiver. He decided to become famous as the conqueror of the Devil's tower from the air. He went down on his parachute to the top with almost no problems, but as it turned out, getting down from the top is much more difficult than getting up. George Hopkins couldn't get down from the top. By air He was given food and medicine. They could not take it by plane due to strong air currents. Helicopters also could not land on the top, strong winds did not even allow the unfortunate conqueror to drop the rope so that he could climb into the helicopter cabin on his own.
In general, it only remained to ask the climbers to go up, and then lower the parachutist. But as it turned out, no one wanted to risk their lives. Several climbers, after thinking, decided that they would not cope with the task. I had to look for and call for help that same Jack Durrans. He led the rescue team along his route and was able to conquer the summit again, and the parachutist was lowered down in a cradle. He was terrified of the top of the Devil. After all, as it turned out, whole flocks of rats lived there, which attacked him at night and stole his food. Therefore, for a whole week, while he was there, he had to not sleep, but to fight with hordes of rats, which not only climbed there in an incomprehensible way, it is not even known what they ate there and what they did at such a height.
After this incident, the notoriety of the Devil's Tower only strengthened. Now, nevertheless, there are those who want to climb to the top and even special routes have been laid, but there are not so many daredevils, although the height is ridiculous for professionals. Much more ordinary tourists, just coming to look at the rock, which, by the definition of scientists, is not so mysterious, it just formed from magma in the ancient sea, and then when it receded, it was polished by winds for more than 200 million years, which is why it has such an unusual shape.
The mysterious rock, known as the "Devil's Tower", is located in the northeastern part of american state Wyoming. The rock has an unusual appearance: it looks like a kind of tower, which is built of vertical stone pillars.
The Devil's Tower has such regular outlines that for a long time it was attributed to man-made origin.
The time of formation of this amazing rock on the territory is not known exactly, but researchers call the time interval from 100 to 200 million years ago. The "tower" is of volcanic origin, and the appearance of the unusual relief of the walls is associated with the erosion of softer outer rocks, around strong inner ones.
The Indians, who have long inhabited this area, adhered to a different version of the origin of the rock. So, there is a legend that tells about Indian girls who were attacked by a huge angry bear. Fleeing, they climbed a small stone and asked the Great Spirit for help. A miracle happened: the stone began to grow, taking the girls away from the evil beast. The bear roared with rage, trying to get to the girls, and although he did not succeed, the marks from sharp claws remained forever on the formed rock. The Indian name of the rock is associated with this legend - "House of the Bear".
It should be noted that the rock has always been a source of fear among the locals. Indian tribes never made dwellings near the mysterious rock.
The modern name of the rock has been known since the end of the 19th century and is explained by a translator's mistake that occurred during the communication of the expedition led by Richard Dodge with the locals.
Thanks to the unusual relief of the walls, the Devil's Tower long time remained unconquered by climbers. They say that in the 19th century, one of the local farmers managed to climb to the top of the cliff using ladders.
The first officially recorded ascent was made in 1938 by experienced rock climber Jack Durance.
Three years later, skydiver George Hopkins managed to get to the top of the "tower". Although the landing turned out to be successful, the daredevil could not descend from the cliff on his own. For a week, George remained a prisoner of the "tower" until he was rescued by a group of climbers led by Jack Durance.
Currently, the Devil's Tower enjoys the fame of one of the most popular sites among rock climbers. This became possible, first of all, thanks to the appearance of modern equipment, as well as the improvement of the professional skills of the climbers themselves.
Today, the walls of the previously impregnable rock are dotted with numerous routes, along which more than one hundred ascents to the summit have already been made.
Despite the lost status of an impregnable mountain, the Devil's Tower still remains one of the most amazing rocks.
Due to repeated lightning strikes on the Devil's Tower, as well as frequent strange light phenomena at its top, many locals believe that the rock is a UFO landing site.
Or Devils Tower- rock volcanic origin. It is located in the northwestern United States, in the state of Wyoming, not far from the Yellowstone National Park.
The height of the monolith reaches 1558 meters above sea level. Mysterious Appearance Devil's towers resembles a giant stump or fortress tower, spread out in the middle of the American prairies.
Indian legends
The indigenous inhabitants of these places - the Indians believed that an evil deity lives on the top of the mountain, which instills fear in people. Sometimes it dances and beats its drum, from the sounds of which thunder peals are formed, turning into thunderstorms. Only realizing that lightning strikes can destroy him, the demon stops the magical dances. Some Indians claimed that sometimes strange glows are seen on the top of the mountain.
Having heard such a legend from the Indians, the European settlers called the mountain the Devil's Tower. Lightning during a thunderstorm really hits her, since she is the only hill among the plains and therefore serves as a lightning rod.
Another Indian belief told about seven girls walking in the forest, and who were attacked by angry bears. Fleeing, the girls saw a small stone and climbed on it. The bears approached them and then the girls said prayers of salvation to the Great Spirit. Suddenly, the stone began to grow high up. The bears tried to get the girls, but they did not succeed. Only from their clawed paws on the newly formed rock were bear footprints. The rescued girls never returned to earth. They turned into stars and remained in heaven.
Mountain origin
The Devil's Tower was formed 50 million years ago. At that time, the sea splashed on the territory of the Great Plains. Its bottom was covered with a layer of sediment. Through the seabed, magma began to move to the surface, but before reaching it, it froze. This process took place just in the place where the Devil's Tower is now located. After millions of years, the sea receded and on the bare seabed the basalt rock of a conical shape remained to show off. Basalt during cooling turned into mighty vertical columns. As a result of erosion, they began to separate from the top of the cliff and fall down. As a result, a hill formed at the base of the rock. By analogy, you can compare it with a pedestal, and the mountain itself with a monument.
Devil's Tower Conquest
The unusual appearance of the basalt creation of nature attracted climbers who dreamed of conquering its summit. The basalt rock has sheer walls, so it is not so easy to do this. The first climber was local resident, whose name is not known. It also remains a mystery how he managed to do this without any equipment. The next conquest of the sinister mountain took place in 1938 by professional climber Jack Durrans. After him, no one climbed the Devil's Tower for a long time. The new daredevil was the skydiver George Hopkins, who decided to conquer the mountain from the air, landing there on his parachute. But he couldn't get off the top. With the help of a helicopter, food and medicine were delivered to the top, but he would land on the same helicopter or airship, or simply lower the rope due to strong wind no way it was possible. As a result, the same Jack Durrans became the savior for the unfortunate skydiver. He organized rescue operation, climbing the mountain in the same way, conquering it at the same time a second time. The parachutist was lowered down with the help of a cradle. He said that on the top of the mountain there are many rats that attacked him and grabbed food. How they could get there and what they ate there remains a mystery ....
