TOP: Fool, er, climber moving notch to notch
2nd: Huh, which way is up?
3rd: Devils Tower on approach. Note the deep striation of the rock and all the rockfall below where nature has carved it off
4th: Climbers from afar. We saw around 6-8 on the rock the afternoon we were there
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On our way to South Dakota we decided to take a little detour to my namesake rock, and one of the most famous in the country for our generation. Everybody our age I think saw "close encounters of the 3rd kind", about the aliens visiting us. And, the focal point of the movie was the spaceship landing on Devils Tower. Well, also maybe Dreyfus building a big pile of garbage into a Devils Tower in his living room. That was kinda cool also.
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Anyhow, wasn't sure how hokey it all would be, but it turned out to be quite cool actually. The park rangers were very good with their stories, especially of how the natives viewed the rock and it's history (a bear chasing some kids up the rock and pawing away at them made the striation). They kept the touristy crap far enough away to not take away from the rock, and the allowed climbers to work the rock. This was very cool for us to watch, not being climbers but certainly having an appreciation for what they do, and we hung out for several hours watching a half dozen or so of them working their way up the rock. Very impressive...just not for me.
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"Liking the Ground" Lumpy out
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