Devils tower south dakota wyoming. Devil's Tower: Basalt Mountain in the USA. Map of hiking trails for trekking around the Devil's Tower

This unique natural structure is a high, about 400
meters, a rock of an unusual appearance, which resembles a gigantic stump,
roofing felts a giant fortress tower. The diameter of the rock at the base is
three hundred meters, at the top about eighty meters.

But even more than the unusual appearance of this rock, people are always
I was struck by the absolute illogicality of the appearance of the Devil's Tower among the endless
plains, which stretches here for many hundreds of kilometers. After all, it
there is one and there are no more rock formations in the area. Scientists
such mountains are called "geological units".

The rock has such a regular shape that you can’t even believe it.
in the naturalness of its origin. The Devil's Tower was the place
religious worship of the Indian tribes of America even before the advent of
they have writing.

The Indians believed that the devil lives on the top of this mountain and when he
angry with people, he arranges his dances with thunder and lightning above.
Even the Egyptian pyramids seem like very small structures.
compared to this towering rock.

The Indians called this rock Mateo Tepi, which means Grizzly Bear Den.
The first white surveyors who discovered it in 1875 gave it its name.
Devil's Tower, based on another Native American name Tower of Bad
god.

The Indians have a number of legends associated with a mysterious origin
Devil's Towers. Several tribes have inhabited this area for
many years, and they all tell similar legends about the origin
wonder rocks.

According to one of them, seven girls were walking in the forest when they
a giant bear attacked. The children tried to run away, but the bear did not lag behind.
In desperation, they climbed a low rock and begged for salvation.
Great Spirit. And the Great Spirit heard them: suddenly a stone slab, on which
the girls climbed up, began to grow rapidly upwards. The grizzly roared from
fury, and, scratching the rock with its claws, tried to reach the children, but
he did not succeed, but the traces of his sharp claws remained on the Tower
Devil. At the same time, the mountain grew and grew up until the girls could not
step over into the sky, where they turned into the stars of the Pleiades.

By the way, since the Devil's Tower is the tallest object
given area, then lightning very often hits its top, which causes
the appearance of various light anomalies. In addition, at its top, local
residents have repeatedly seen a strange glow. All this gave rise among
ufologists and lovers of the unknown hypothesis that this rock is
spaceport for landing UFOs.

In the 20th century, mystical theories of the origin of the rock were replaced by scientific
fantastic. In 1977, the Devil's Tower acquired an international
fame, becoming the landing site of representatives of extraterrestrial civilization
in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Stills from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Geologists quite easily solved the mystery of the origin of the Tower
Devil. The fact is that 200 million years ago this area was
seabed. The bottom of this sea consisted of a huge thickness of sedimentary rocks.
Once in this thickness from the bowels of the earth there was an intrusion of molten
magmatic mass. After the magma solidified, a
columnar basalt body, which in science is called a stock.

Several million years passed and the sea receded, sedimentary
the rocks were destroyed, gradually exposing the basalt formation.
Other scientists believe that Devil's Tower is all that's left.
from a volcanic eruption. Erosion processes continue to this day
day, so part of the tower is hidden underground and still waiting in the wings.

For many years, the Devil's Tower remained impregnable for climbers.
largely due to its unusual structure. The first time it was conquered by a local
resident at the end of the 19th century. It is not known how, but he, with practically no equipment,
climbed to the top of the cliff. Unfortunately, the name of this daredevil was erased
time.

The next time a person visited the top of the Tower was only in 1938.
This time the ascent was made by quite experienced climber Jack Durance.
And after many years, the already elderly Durrans had to conquer the summit again.
He led a group of climbers-rescuers who were supposed to remove
skydiver who landed on top of Devil's Tower.

Skydiver George Hopkins (pictured) wanted to become world famous,
becoming the third conqueror of the summit of the Devil's Tower. Moreover, he was not going to
to climb the rock along the steep walls, but decided to land on it with a parachute.
Although Hopkins was warned of the dangers of his plan, he decided to take the risk.
and landed successfully at the very top. And then it turned out that an experienced skydiver
clearly overestimated his strength and cannot go down to the plain. Remove it with
the helicopter did not work, as a hurricane wind constantly blows on the top of the cliff.
So he became a prisoner of the rock. The news of this spread throughout America.
Crowds of people surrounded the Tower, and the prisoner-TV star poured witticisms in direct
radio. Everyone liked the joke that he lacks only Eve, so that, if
down there, a flood, to give rise to a new branch of humanity. Soon there will be dozens
planes circled in the air, dropping food and equipment on Hopkins.
Tired of dodging falling objects, the skydiver on the radio began to beg
stop the bombardment, especially since most of the dropped anyway
flew into the abyss. Despite the abundance of food, the forces quickly left the captive.

To his horror, it turned out that the impregnable smooth granite rock was inhabited by rats,
which every night became bolder. A specially created Committee
to rescue Hopkins, called in an experienced climber for the rescue operation
Ernst Field and his partner Gorrell from Colorado. But climbers after
hours of visual reconnaissance and three hours of ascent were forced to return
and give up further attempts. Field admitted: "We are this damn
a lump too tough!" It seemed incredible - these professionals conquered the peaks
more than 8000 m, but were powerless in front of a height of only 400
meters. The committee, through the press, began to look for Jack Durrance, and only later
day they found him. Soon he arrived and began preparations for the ascent
the old route known to him alone. Exactly at noon, the assault began,
and, although the summit was shrouded in mist, the climbers, led by Durrans
got to the top, and then went down on a climbing cradle
an exhausted parachutist. In total, Hopkins was a prisoner
Towers for about a week.

Years have passed, and today, the previously impregnable Devil's Tower is one of the most
popular among climbers objects.

This became possible thanks to the emergence of a new, more modern
equipment, as well as increased professionalism among the climbers themselves.
The sheer walls of the cliff are literally dotted with a variety of routes,
on which several hundred ascents to the summit have already been made.
On the day of our arrival, we also observed one of these ascents.
and I even tried to take a few pictures at that moment. But, probably,
these climbers were inexperienced, as all their attempts failed
success.

For many Indian tribes, this rock was a deeply revered saint.
a place of search and acquisition of sacred knowledge. Until now, the Indians come
to the Devil's Tower to perform their sacred rituals. The most famous
the celebration, the Dance of the Sun, is held here in June around the solstice.
In this regard, there is even an unofficial agreement among climbers
do not come to the Devil's Tower at this time.

The plaque reads: "The tower is considered sacred by the American Indians.
and is highly regarded by other nations. Respect this place..."

When you look at the ribs of the mountain from below and see the debris piled up at the foot
and rickety columns in some places, it seems that the structure is very unstable.
However, according to scientists, the last break of such a column occurred around
ten thousand years ago.

Despite the notoriety, or maybe just because of it, every year to the Tower
Devil's Day is attended by about five hundred thousand tourists from all over the world. Of course,
not all of them climb to the top of the cliff, but, basically, inspect
from below or from sightseeing aircraft.
The area around Devil's Tower became the First US National Park.
This status was given to him by President Roosevelt in 1906.

(Devils Tower National Monument) is an unusual natural formation in the US state of Wyoming, which was formed by solidified lava and looks like a table mountain. It rises almost 400 meters above the beautiful plain, which received the status of a National Monument (in our opinion it is called a reserve) and is a sacred mountain for many. The Devil's Tower is interesting primarily for its unusual shape and is a unique geological formation. And although it is located in a sparsely populated area in the north central part of the United States, we wanted to see it so much that we went there by car, making no small detour in our route through the United States.

Getting to the Devil's Tower was not so easy for us, but it was definitely worth it to drive several thousand miles from where we started our trip. After all, what is the Devil's Tower? She is a real miracle of nature, as in Arizona. Compared to the world-famous Yellowstone Park and its smaller counterpart Grand Teton, the Devil's Tower also claims to be called the main attraction, which is definitely worth seeing not only with your own eyes, but also, perhaps, conquering as a climber.

(or Devils Tower, English Devils Tower) is the very first National Monument in the United States and, perhaps, the most memorable. This volcanic mountain is a real natural miracle - a huge block of volcanic origin directed towards the stars. By the way, we also know it under its English name - Devils Tower, which is official and commonly used.

Unfortunately, this interesting Wyoming attraction is located at a sufficient distance from the traditional tourist routes in the United States, in the middle of countless fields. However, about 400 thousand people visit it every year. To be more precise, the Devil's Tower is located in the northeast of Wyoming, not far from the cities of Gillette ( Gillette) and Morcraft ( Moorcraft). As you probably already understood, you will have to go very far, but it will be incredibly interesting!

Basic information:

Besides the fact that the Devil's Tower is a unique monument of nature, it is also the oldest national monument in the United States. But it is also very deprived of the attention of Russian-speaking tourists, because few people dare to go to the Devil's Tower through several states just to admire it.

An amazing coincidence, but the same can be said about another national monument in Idaho, which was among the very first to be discovered. This is about . What the two American beauties have in common is that both sights are of volcanic origin. But if the lunar craters show us the living history of volcanoes, which in principle are many on Earth, then the Devil's Tower is the only work of nature of this kind.

Devil's Tower on the USA map

Now we will tell you how to get to the Devil's Tower. This can only be done by car. If you're traveling in the US, then it's pretty easy. You need to go on the highway number 24 of the state of Wyoming (see the map below). There is only one single entrance to the Devils Tower from the road, so you definitely won't miss it. There are many signs on the highway informing you of the approach to the first US national monument. Keep in mind that it is open for visits all year around the clock, with the exception of two public holidays - Christmas and New Year.

Road map to Devil's Tower

Photo of Devil's Tower from the road

We continue our journey around the USA by car, and now we are approaching the Devil's Tower. And you can see it from afar! Everyone stops at the observation deck and takes a few photos. We also stopped.

Scholars disagree about Origin Devils Tower in the state of Wyoming. There is also debate about its age, but in general it is believed that it is at least 50 million years old. The lower mountain, which formed first, is not visible to the human eye. And there are disputes about the reasons for its occurrence.

The only thing that can be definitely stated is that we see two parts of the Devils Tower:

1. A high stone pedestal of a shapeless appearance;
2. A formation directed upwards to the sky, standing on this pedestal, which is famous all over the world.

There is also no agreement on how the pillars that make up the Devil's Tower were formed. One version: when magma seethed in the bowels of the Earth, it forced the rock to come out. And at first it looked like an eruption, the traces of which we see around and this can be judged by the shape of the second, middle part. And then, for some reason, the breed went up.

The tension accompanying the new state of the rock created voids, and then they led to a split within the rock. I don't know if this theory is true or not, but there is no other. And the amazing mountain stands. Why did she go upstairs?

Indian legends about Devil's Tower

The legends of the Indians about the Devil's Tower say that once seven sisters were walking in the local forest and did not notice the bear. And when they saw it, they began to pray to a small mountain to save them. The mountain heard the call and answered. The girls rose to great heights. The bear, of course, tried to get them: this is how the stripes appeared on the surface of the mountain. However, the girls could no longer go down to their relatives, because the mountain turned out to be very high! And then they were taken to heaven, and they became stars, the constellation Pleiades. And today we look at this Devil's Tower that grew out of the earth and do not understand how it was formed.

The legend of the Indians about the Devil's Tower in the picture: a bear climbs a mountain

There are many legends about the Pleiades, almost every nation. And the Indians too. So the legendary version tells the same thing as the scientists. The mountain rose from the ground. Are the Pleiades and the local Indians connected? Usually yes. Each tribe has its own tales and stories about the main stars.

And the Indians do not like the English name Devils Tower ( devil's tower) of this area, which is associated with the mountain. For them, this is the Bear's Place. And still on the Solstice, many different tribes come to the mountain and conduct their rituals and pray.

Camping at Devil's Tower and Spielberg's film

Steven Spielberg filmed Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Devil's Tower. And he was very close to the legends of the Indians, but he interpreted them differently. He told a story not about how someone is taken to heaven, but about how someone flies from there. Possibly returning. After all, the tales of many tribes speak of this.

Here's what Artistic Director Joe Alves has to say about Devil's Tower and the film today:

At the campsite, where we settled right at the foot of the Tower, every evening, at dusk, a Spielberg film is shown to acquaint visitors even more closely with the history of this unusual US National Monument. Before watching the movie, we pitched a tent, hiked two tracks around the Devil's Tower, washed our clothes in the laundromat, and cooked ourselves dinner on a gas burner.

We stayed overnight at the KOA campsite near Devil's Tower.

Let's quickly go for a walk to the Devil's Tower itself!

Visit Devil's Tower in Wyoming

To look at the Devils Tower from all sides, you need to come along the only road to the visitor center. Several trails start from there. One of them leads around the Devil's Tower, and allows you to get acquainted with this extraordinary natural creation in detail. Other trails allow you to get an impression of the surrounding area and admire the mountain from afar.

• First trail - tower trail 2 km long, goes around the mountain itself;
• Second trail - Red bed trail longer - about 5 km, and it offers wonderful views of the valley.

Mount Devil's Tower rises to 1552 meters above sea level (but only 386 meters above ground level), and you can walk around it and explore it in more detail. To do this, it is proposed to go for a walk on one of the two trails. We walked both hiking trails and marveled at the local beauty.

You can also climb the Tower, of course, if you are an experienced climber. After all, some of them come here from all over the world for this very reason.

Map of hiking trails for trekking around the Devil's Tower

Track map at Devil's Tower National Monument (clickable!)

For more information about the Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming, you can see the official website of the monument. There you can also see what opportunities are available to visitors, find out the latest news, create an itinerary for your visit and plan a visit, including booking a campsite.

First trail – Tower trail

The tower trail goes around a high volcanic mountain. It seemed that it was not so wide, but we walked for quite a long time, admiring the views around, nature and how the Devil's Tower changes depending on the lighting and viewing angle.

Do not forget that the territory of the National Monument is a sacred place for the Indians.

Coniferous trees predominate here

And also looked at the stones in the autumn meadow

People, wow! Climbers climb Devil's Tower

After watching the autumn nature in Wyoming, we went to the exit

Second trail — Red beds trail (photo of part of the trail)

This route takes you away from Devils Tower itself, allowing you to experience the beauty of Wyoming and other evidence of volcanic activity, like rock mushrooms or the red formation from which the trail gets its name. The same formations surround the campsite, so we, seeing that the day was drawing to a close, decided to round off and return back.

And especially beautiful during the walk seemed to us the views of the river valley, spread out under the mountain.

There he is, in the distance, like a huge mushroom on a thin stem.

But most importantly, it offers a stunning view of the river.

And the ground around is really red. It is from these red formations that the trail gets its name.

We were very surprised by this rock, on which pines grow, and swallows live in it

stunning views

Autumn is gradually coming into its own

Our impressions: We liked Devil's Tower National Monument so much that we didn't want to leave. We recommend that you definitely visit this amazing place for everyone who has such an opportunity while traveling in the United States. We could have gone on a couple more trails and spent time at a comfortable campsite, but we had to hurry. After all, other sights of Wyoming were waiting for us ahead.

What else to see in Wyoming besides the Devils Tower

In addition to the Devils Tower, that is, the Devil's Tower, there are many more interesting places in Wyoming that are worth visiting and that made this state famous all over the world:

• The state itself is very beautiful, we wrote a detailed article about it, which we did on the road;
• And of course, the most famous state park is;
• And it is impossible not to mention his picturesque neighbor.

We wish you interesting travels in the USA!

Devil's Tower National Monument is one of the main attractions of Wyoming in the USA. The monolithic basalt mountain 386 meters high 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 the mouth of an ancient volcano. And the base of the tower, according to scientists, appeared as a result of erosion.

The natural monument got its name 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.

There are several hiking trails around the Devil's Tower. 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 the necessary information about the place, have a snack, 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 operates only during the 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 US National Park Service.

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. There is no public transportation 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.

The Devil's Tower is a mysterious monument in the heart of the Great Plains (USA, Wyoming) not far from Yellowstone National Park. Scientists argue over its origin, and local residents compose legends. Some believe that this is a UFO landing site. Where could this huge rock come from in the middle of the plain?

But first things first.

An enlarged map of the Devil's Tower. (Google maps)

Sorry, the map is temporarily unavailable

Devil's Tower on Google maps

The Devil's Tower is located at an altitude of 1556 meters above sea level and rises 386 meters above the surrounding area. It is the first "national monument" of the United States, having received its status from President Roosevelt in 1906. Every year, Devil's Tower is visited by 400,000 tourists.

The lines on the tower are so straight that it's hard to believe it wasn't made by a human.

In winter, snow practically does not linger on the slopes due to their steepness.

The tower was wrapped in fog and it seems that it is hanging in the air.

The color is highly dependent on lighting and varies from orange to white.

It seems that aliens from other worlds are somewhere nearby.

There is a very beautiful view from the window of the plane.

In this light, the tower became white.

At night, it looks even more mysterious and mystical.

In the language of the Lakota tribe, the monument is called Mato Tipila, which means Bear's House or Bear's Lair. It got its current name by mistake. In 1875, during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Dodge, the translator mistranslated the words of the Indians. As a result, the monument was first called the House of the Bad God, and later the Devil's Tower. In 2005, several Indian tribes proposed that the monolith be renamed Bear Lodge, but their proposal was rejected.

Geologists agree that the tower is formed from volcanic material. But they cannot agree on how it was formed.

According to one version, once the territory of the Great Plains was covered by the sea and sedimentary layers formed at its bottom. At the place where the Devil's Tower is now, molten magma penetrated the sedimentary rocks from the bowels of the earth. Having parted the sandstones, shales and limestones that made up the seabed, the magma solidified before reaching the surface, in the form of a columnar basalt body. After millions of years, the sea gave way to dry land, and rain and wind began to destroy the softer sedimentary rocks. A more solid volcanic stock began to gradually rise up. The basalts of which it is composed, during the cooling, turned into picturesque vertical formations, similar to hexagonal pillars. Due to this, the mountain seems to be created by human hands, or by the hands of the devil, but certainly not by nature.

Other scientists believe that the Devil's Tower is all that remains of a volcanic eruption. Erosion processes continue to this day, so that part of the tower hidden underground is still waiting in the wings.

The Indians have their own version of the origin of the Devil's Tower. According to legend, seven girls were walking in the forest and were attacked by huge angry bears. The girls ran for a long time from the angry animals, but the bears did not lag behind. With the last of their strength, the children climbed onto a small stone and began to utter prayers for the salvation of the Great Spirit. The spirit heard the prayers of the girls and the stone began to grow rapidly. Thus, the girls began to move away from the bears. In a rage, the animals tried to climb the rock, however, they did not succeed. And on the rock, traces of their huge claws remained forever. At the same time, the mountain grew and grew up until the girls were able to step over into the sky, where they turned into the stars of the Pleiades.

Nowadays, people continue to engage in myth-making. According to the beliefs of some of the locals, the top of the cliff is a UFO landing site. There are good reasons for this. In the vicinity of the mountain, unidentified flying objects were repeatedly noticed, and strange light phenomena were observed on the top of the cliff. Lightning hits the top of the Devil's Tower very often. And the fact that this damn rock, the only object towering over the area, is not an argument for them.

The Devil's Tower has long been considered impregnable. The first time it was climbed by two local farmers at the end of the 19th century. They did not use climbing equipment for climbing, but ladders. The ascent of the climber took place only in 1938. It was Jack Durance. The third person to climb the impregnable rock was professional skydiver George Hopkins, who came to the top of the mountain from above in 1941. He jumped out of the plane with a parachute. The landing was successful, but getting off the Tower was not as easy as Hopkins thought. The ropes that were thrown to him from planes fell by or were damaged by hitting stones. It was not possible to use a helicopter or an airship due to bad weather conditions. The paratrooper was trapped on a rock.

Jack Durance before jumping Devils Tower.

In my opinion, in the 41st, the Americans did not have such people yet.)))

All of America was talking about this news. As it turned out, none of the climbers can climb to the top of the cliff. I had to look for Jack Durance. In the end, he saved Hopkins by climbing the mountain again.

Today, the Tower is very popular with climbers and rock climbers. And interest continues to grow. 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 terrain in a thrust and slot climbing.

Video: "Conquest of the Devil's Tower"

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.

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.

At the end, as always, I bring to your attention a short video.

Finally, I want to say that this mountain appears in films about aliens. Such as: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) - Steven Spielberg and "Paul" (2011) - Greg Mottola.

Now that's it for sure!!! And to hell with it, with this tower!

The Devil's Tower is a detached rock in the form of a pillar. Geologists call such formations - columnar separation. This rock seems to be made up of individual stone pillars, collected in bunches. This building is located in the USA, in Wyoming.

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Devil's Tower 44.590242 , -104.715140 Devil's Tower Devil's Tower State Preserve, Wyoming 110, Devil's Tower, Wyoming, USA (Calculate route)

The mountain has an unusually regular shape, and although its age exceeds 200 million years, it most of all resembles an artificial structure. In terms of its size, the Devil's Tower exceeds the famous pyramid of Cheops by more than 2 times.

devil's tower

The height of the American tower is 390 m, with a base width approximately equal to that of an Egyptian pyramid. The building seemed artificial, but it was impossible to imagine that such a miracle was made by human hands. Therefore, the construction of the Tower was assigned to the Devil, hence the name. The mountain caused superstitious fears among people for a long time - the locals claimed that they repeatedly observed strange streams and flashes of light above the top of the tower.

Devil's tower, mountain in USA

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.

Mount Mata Tupila, devil's tower

Nowadays, the Devil's Tower no longer serves as an object of superstitious legends, but cinematographers have chosen it for filming films in the genre of mysticism and fantasy. Today, the Tower continues to spawn other, more modern stories. One of them places on the top of the tower a platform for visits to Earth by alien ships (for details, we refer to S. Spielberg's film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind").

Aliens landed on Devil's Tower near Spielberg

Difficult conditions for climbing attract the interest of climbers to the Tower. Twice climbers stormed this peak. In the 19th century, a local resident was a brave daredevil, in the 20th century, climber Jack Durrans. Due to its small size, it is impossible to land an airplane on the top, and due to constant gusts of strong wind, helicopters cannot land on the site.

The devil's tower does not submit to climbers

Skydiver Johns Hopkins decided to become the third person in the world to conquer the Devil's Tower. He successfully landed on the very top of the Tower, which is a flat area. But the descent was not so easy. At first it turned out that the ropes that were thrown to him from the planes were not suitable for use - they were literally crushed on the rocks when they fell. John became a hostage of the Devil's Tower. Sensational newspapermen carried the news across the country, and soon a live television broadcast was organized from the top of the Devil's Tower. Tourists, onlookers, viewers listened to the jokes of the prisoner of the rock that he was ready to give rise to a new branch of humanity if suddenly a flood happened below. The only thing he lacks for this is a new Eve.

Devil's tower at sunset

Many companies, for advertising purposes, wanted to supply the brave inmate with food, equipment and clothing. Airplanes were circling around the Tower, dropping packages. The parachutist found himself literally in the rain of various objects, and began to ask to stop the bombardment, especially since most of the packages still flew into the abyss.

Impregnable Devil's Tower

Although the prisoner did not experience hunger, was well equipped, his strength quickly dwindled. In addition, it turned out that the Tower is the abode of hordes of rats, which were not stopped by smooth granite walls, and every night the rats became more and more aggressive.

The Hopkins Rescue Committee, which was hastily formed, invited climber Ernst Field with a partner Gorrell. For a whole hour, professionals spent visual reconnaissance, for another three hours they tried to climb the granite rock, and still retreated in front of the impregnable Devil's Tower, abandoning further attempts to climb.

Something incredible was happening. Rock climbers conquer eight-thousanders in impenetrable mountainous areas, but a rock less than 400 m high in the center of America remains inaccessible to man!

Impenetrable Rock - Devil's Tower

Through the press, they began searching for Durrans, who had already climbed the Tower in 1938, and a day later they found him in Dartmoort. He agreed to help, and, having arrived, he immediately began preparations for the ascent along the route known to him alone. At 12 noon the ascent began. The summit was shrouded in mist, as if the Tower wasn't about to let its prey go so easily. However, a group of climbers reached the summit, and the exhausted prisoner was lowered in a special cradle. Hopkins spent 7 days at the top of the Tower. In our time, when a person is subject to movement to almost any point on the planet, the Devil's Tower remains unconquered ... for a person. Rats feel quite at ease there.

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 almost a new Noah's Ark in the coming apocalypse or a corridor to another, still unknown to us dimension. Many questions, the answers to which are known only to God. Or is it the Devil?

Mysterious glow over Devil's Tower