We lounged like pros. The cat lounged like a pro. Pente discovered bugs on this trip and spent a lot of time pouncing them in the tall grass. As far as I saw, no bugs were injured or died during these episodes. Well, except one fly that appears to have been eaten. At least it wasn't wasted. It was so hot we hopped in the outdoor shower for cold showers more than once.
Finally, we cooked and packed up our dinner and hiked over. It was still broiling hot. We hiked around the base, climbed the talus field and sat in the shade waiting for the sun to move around the tower so our climb would be shaded. We sat at the base of the "bowling alley". Sadly, 5' from where we sat was the body of one of the Tower's falcons. He was freshly deceased. The tower had just opened on July 1 for the voluntary closure to respect Native Americans. During this same time, the falcons nest so it's helpful for them as well. I assumed the fledglings had just recently fledged. It was a sad sight to see such a beautiful bird dead on the ground.
We traversed around to the base of the climb we planned to do (Soler) on the east face. It was a complete chumblespuzz madhouse here. Gear everywhere. Varmits in packs. Climbers screaming. Rappelling epics. On our route were two climbers that were moving so slowly that I estimated had they gone any slower they would be climbing backward.
We finally headed up.
The climb was two pitches followed by one very long bush-whacking plus chimney pitch to the top.
The top of the tower is as large as a football field and it slopes downward toward all edges. It actually presents an optical illusion in that it appears as though one is just on top of a rolling hill connected to the surrounding rolling hills. There was not a flat spot that we could see. The only way one can tell they are on the tower (without peering over the edge) is to notice the shadow of it on the surrounding landscape. Pretty cool.
We signed the summit register. I wasn't compelled to write much given the previous juvenile entries. It is one thing to slander in a joking fashion in a register, but some of these entries were just gross. Meh.
We then checked out Foster's 1941 stash of cans. On October 1st, 1941, Foster parachuted and landed on top of the tower. Unfortunately, he didn't plan his retreat from the top of the tower as well as he planned his jump. He ended up spending six days on top of the tower exposed to rain, snow wind and general unpleasantness. During that time, plans dropped him some food and the cans remain. Pretty cool to see these undisturbed. Hopefully they stay that way.
In 1941 Foster sat on the top of Devil's Tower. In 2008, we brought our own Fosters!
We found a nice rock to sit on and had our potsticker dinner, beer and gatorade fine cuisine. Six additional people summited while we were there, though four of them left before dark. The other two were there to watch the fireworks as well. They hauled up a large watermelon to the top to celebrate which we all enjoyed.
The fireworks display was nice and and the perspective cool. We looked down at the fireworks! The choreography of the show had us a laughing a bit though. At least twice I got up because I thought it was over. As we'd start moving, they'd start up again.
Finally it was dark and the fireworks were really over. We needed to rap the tower on an unfamiliar rap. I hoped we wouldn't end up spending the night dangling on the side of the tower. Happily that wasn't the case. The first rap was a pain because the wind was blasting. We pulled the rope and it got stuck. This is the rap we were told "it looks bad, but the rope never gets stuck." Dave had to climb up in the pitch dark hunting for the rope and unstick it. This required some 5.6 chimneying. It was "like fun but different." Happily, he retrieved the rope and got back to the belay station. Many raps later, we were on the ground hiking back to camp. It was late and we were tired.
We showered when we returned to camp at 1 am. It was a really fun way to spend the 4th of July though we both agreed that seeing the fireworks up there once is enough.
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