Discover the Secrets: 11 Amazing Fun Facts About Devil's Tower You Can't Miss

1. Mother Nature's Jungle Gym

Devil's Tower may just be Mother Nature's own jungle gym: with an architecture perfect for climbers, it boasts unique hexagonal columns formed by magma's slow dance with cooling over millions of years. Find yourself scaling phonolite porphyry, a rare volcanic rock that puts this iconic landmark on the rock 'n' roll map of must-climbs.
Source => intermountainhistories.org

2. Devilish Stonework

Move over, Giant's Causeway: the devil has some pretty impressive stonework too! In fact, Devils Tower in Wyoming takes the cake as the largest example of columnar jointing on Earth, boasting sky-high columns stretching up to 10 feet wide – a true epitome of devilish craftsmanship.
Source => nps.gov

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=> Fun Facts about The-Rocky-Mountains

3. Bewitching Junior Ranger Program

Move over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there's a bewitching new educational hotspot that's casting a spell on young visitors: Devils Tower offers a Junior Ranger Program, where kids can complete a booklet of activities about the park's ecology, wildlife, and history, eventually earning the title of Junior Ranger and a special badge as their enchanted reward.
Source => nps.gov

4. Grizzly Refuge in Native American Lore

When life gives you grizzlies, make Devils Tower: This geologic marvel is deeply rooted in Native American lore as a sacred site where tribes like the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Kiowa found refuge from a gigantic bear, and it continues to be a towering symbol of their vibrant cultural heritage.
Source => geologyscience.com

5. Rockstar of Geology

Consider Devils Tower as the rockstar of geology - quite literally hitting the high notes in nature's concert: This geological marvel is made of phonolite porphyry, a unique rock that chimes like a bell when tapped and looks like granite without any quartz, earning it an exclusive fan base in rare locations around the world.
Source => nps.gov

6. Sacred Site Shindig

Whoever said "sacred sites can't have a party" clearly never met the Lakota people: At Devils Tower, a sacred site, they fast, pray, perform vision quests, have Sun Dance ceremonies for personal renewal, and hold religious ceremonies during winter camps. Plus, they received the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, their culture's holiest object, at nearby Bear Lodge. Talk about a spiritual shindig!
Source => nps.gov

7. Giant's Jenga Playground

If you ever find yourself playing a high-stakes game of Jenga with giants, Devils Tower is where you'll find the right pieces: the base of this geological marvel is surrounded by a 13-acre field of colossal boulders, some as big as a bus, showcasing the tower's weathering and erosion journey over millions of years, and providing a rocky playground for slow-growing organisms like lichens.
Source => nps.gov

8. Stairway to Heaven's History

Devils Tower: the original "stairway to heaven" that even Led Zeppelin couldn't have dreamt of scaling! Funnily enough, this iconic rock formation wasn't always part of America's protected lands: it was Wyoming Senator Francis Warren who first designated Devils Tower as a forest reserve in the 1890s, but it took President Theodore Roosevelt's Antiquities Act proclamation in 1906 to officially transform it into the beloved national monument we cherish today.
Source => nps.gov

9. Octogenarian Climbing Record

While age might not be taking a backseat in this Wyoming road trip movie, we're not sure Robert Kelman got the memo when he showed up to audition for "Free Solo 2: The Octogenarian Edition": Our intrepid adventurer defied Father Time by becoming the oldest person to climb Devils Tower at the ripe old age of 86, conquering the Durrance Route's direct finish like a true geriatric rockstar.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

10. Climbers' Controversial Conquests

In a tower-iffic twist of irony, climbers prefer rock, paper, and ignoring the rules: Despite many Native American tribes considering Devils Tower to be a sacred site – with religious practices held each June – around 200 to 500 climbers continue to scale the tower during this time, leading to friction between the abseiling enthusiasts and indigenous communities.
Source => 57hours.com

11. Cowboy Ladder Escapades

Before Spider-Man and scaffolding were a thing, a couple of cowboys decided to DIY their way up a gigantic rocky fortress: In 1893, Bill Rogers and Willard Ripley built a 350-foot ladder using logs, pegs, and boards to climb Devils Tower, only managing to reach "the Meadows" slope, while Bill's wife Linnie Rogers became the first woman to make the climb in 1895. Most of the ladder was eventually removed, but the top 140 feet were restored and still exist at Devils Tower National Monument today, as a testament to good ol' cowboy ingenuity.
Source => nps.gov