Devils Tower Lodge
Devils Tower Lodge - Climbing Mateo Tepee
Day 3 - Saturday, June 17, 2017
Day 3: Devils Tower, climbing it
When we searched for places to stay near Devils Tower, we learned
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1)you can sleep at the base, immediately outside the National Park entrance, at the KOA campground
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⁃While camping appeals to us, we weren’t going to bring our tent and gear for 2 nights
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2)you can sleep 30-45 minutes away
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3)you can sleep at the Devils Tower Lodge (DTL), and can see the Tower from your windows and patio, AND you can also climb Devils Tower, with ropes, under their careful, watchful, coaching
So we picked Devils Tower Lodge and had more fun and climbing success than we ever imagined.
THANK YOU, Frank, for being the proprietor of such a great Lodge!
THANK YOU, Gabe and Julius, for teaching us how to rock climb, properly!!
We have a rock wall at our local outside pool here in Ballwin.
I can personally attest that, thanks to the instruction from Gabe & Julius, who shared that “climbing is more legs pushing us up than using our arms for pull-ups...” it is significantly easier to climb Devils Tower (using ropes, of course!) than it is to climb 12 feet on the rock wall at the pool - the pool requires significant finger and upper body strength.
“Climbing is not like they sometimes show in the movies.”
Photos:
A few from the State of Wyoming Museum (yes, two repeats from the other page), for background on this awesome tower.
this photo speaks for itself
We drove from Devils Tower Lodge to the NPS parking lot, and walked from that southern side of the Tower to the North, which is where we climbed.
Along the way, Gabe and Julius shared:
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1.That there is no account, not even from the Native Americans, of any part of Devils Tower falling... we see it today as it has been since man first visited it
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2.Mateo Tepee / Devils Tower is a combination of large and small granite crystals, so it's officially a poly-granite material (not “just granite”)
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3.lightning can turn the poly-granite to white from the strength of the lightning
The NPS trail circles the tower, and winds through the trees.
To climb, we went off the trail and up above the trees.
The walk was easy enough on the paved trail and then wend up the hillside.
We were on the north side, but we could see the sun on both sides of the tower - it passed from left/east to right/west while we were there
These are some amazing views on the walk to where we climbed.
The views from the climbing base, and from the cliff wall, were breathtaking
Dad is thankful for Matt’s words of encouragement on our first climb!
We all climbed multiple times.
The rope on the right rose to 100 feet.
The rope on the left rose 115 feet.
These are the routes we climbed:
1.Left - New Waves
2.Right - Broken Tree
3.Middle - Missed Opportunities (only Dad, on his last ascent - the hardest of the three)
The views on the walk back to the vans was equally awesome!
“Last Light O’er Mateo Tepee,” as seen back at the amazing Devils Tower Lodge
These two are 3-4 minute exposures captured using the NightCap Camera app.
These are star trails of Scorpio (also “Maui’s fish hook” to Hawaiians) and Sagittarius (the teapot) - our Milky Way galaxy’s black hole is located in the directions between the scorpion’s tale and the archer’s arrow (the teapot’s spout).
This is Jupiter, in the Constellation Virgo.
The skies were amazingly dark!
Abby and Dad captured a few long-exposure images.
This one is a half-second (0.5) exposure with ProCamera.
The next morning, Father’s Day, we celebrated Mass at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in nearby Heulett, WY.
Family Photos
The field between the Park entrance and the parking lot, is filled with many many many prairie dogs. They are quite cute... and yet look how big those claws are in proportion to the rest of their body’s size!
AND ONE AMAZING view of Devils Tower, as seen from our patio / deck:
Now, off to Cody...
Note: we captured all other photos using ProCamera, by Cocologics.
See also http://vanvooren.us/Photography for more photography links
Links to the rest of this travel journal:
