Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [149]
American Indian Legend. American Indians have their own names for Devils Tower, which earned its current moniker from a translation of "bad god's tower." Since long before 1875, the Lakota have called it Mato Tipila, or Grizzly Bear Lodge, and descendants of several American Indian nations of the Great Plains share similar legends of how the prominent butte was formed.
According to the Kiowa version of the tale, seven sisters watch with horror as their brother is turned into a bear. The sisters run from him to the stump of a large tree, which beckons them to climb on. (In other versions, they run to a large, flat stone.) When they do, the stump rises up into the sky, and the bear, unable to climb up the stump to reach the sisters, scores it with its claws. The sisters are then raised into the sky, becoming the seven stars of the Big Dipper.
What inspired the imagination of American Indians also attracts their reverence. In deference to the religious significance of the tower to many tribes, the National Park Service has requested
that climbing of the tower be voluntarily suspended during the month of June so that ceremonies may be conducted without interference.
First Ascent. As a battle to preserve the monument from commercial encroachment was being waged in 1893, two local ranchers decided it was time someone made the first recorded climb to its summit.
William Rogers and Willard Ripley planned for months before making their first attempt on the southeast face on July 4, 1893. As the date approached, the pair began distributing handbills offering such amenities as ample food and drink, daily and nightly dancing, and plenty of grain for horses. The flyers also touted the feat as the "rarest sight of a lifetime."
Rogers and Ripley used a wooden stake ladder for the first 350 feet of the climb. As more than 1,000 spectators watched, the pair made the harrowing climb in about an hour, raised Old Glory, then sold pieces of it as mementos of the occasion. Thereafter, the tower became a popular place for Independence Day family gatherings. At the annual affair in 1895, Mrs. Rogers used her husband's ladder to become the first woman to reach the summit.
On Top of the Tower. From its base, most visitors would surmise that the top of Devils Tower is a flat, barren pinnacle. As the approximately 1,500 climbers who make it to the peak each year will attest, the top of the tower isn't much different than the countryside that surrounds it—except that it's said you can see five states.
The summit is actually slightly domed, with a few small outcroppings, and is covered with prairie grasses, prickly pear cactus, currant and gooseberry bushes, and native big sage, thanks to prairie falcons and turkey vultures that nest in the tower's columns and deposit seeds on top. A number of animals also have been spotted on the crown of Devils Tower, including rattlesnakes, pack rats, and cute red squirrels that have slithered and scampered up the cracks and fissures.
At the top, climbers may sign a register and record any unusual aspect or oddity of their adventure. More than 50,000 signatures have been gathered since records of tower climbs were established in 1937. In that time, climbers have used more than 220 routes to the top; in 1941 world-record holding parachutist George Hopkins jumped from an airplane to the cap of the tower, and then lost his escape rope and was stranded on top for 6 days.
Avoiding the Crowds. Traffic patterns at the monument are similar to those of national park areas throughout the West. Expect the highest visitation from June through August, with lower visitation in the shoulder months of April, May, September, and October; the lowest visitation is during