Devils Tower,WY

Thursday morning we packed everything up from our camp site in the Black Hills and headed for Spearfish Canyon. We really didn't want to leave the Black Hills but knew we had to. We really could have spent weeks there climbing and just hiking around. Our drive to Spearfish Canyon was only about 45 minutes away. We entered the canyon scenic highway in the afternoon and started looking for some of the climbing areas we researched the day before. We found one called the "Sunshine" crag. We parked the car and headed uphill for about 10 minutes or so. We looked around for a bit to get our bearings then moved on to an area known as the "Light Bulb" for some climbing. We got all harnessed up and just about tied in, and realized we left the Gri Gri (belay device) in the car. Buzz kill. I hiked back down to the car, then back up. What a great way to start the afternoon. We tied in and warmed up on a 5.9. After the 5.9, we pulled rope and did a 5.10a just to the left. As soon as we finished with that climb, it started to rain. We tried to wait it out, but it hung around for a good 30 minutes. After the rain stopped, most of the routes were pretty wet, and it was 5pm, so we decided to call it a day. We packed our things up and headed for the town of Spearfish for some dinner and a place to stay. On our way to Spearfish, we saw signs for a waterfall about 2 miles off of the road. We decided to check it out and get some pictures. The hike in was short and the waterfall was great. Below is a picture of the waterfall.

After the waterfall we continued on to Spearfish where we ate at a local restaurant called "The Chop House", in which we both had a burger and a beer. Then we stayed at the motel right next door for an early night.

Friday we sleep in till 9:15am, showered up and headed out to hit the canyon again to find more cliffs. First, we stopped at a local coffee shop in Spearfish to get a cup of Joe and a breakfast sandwich. Then we drove up the canyon a couple of miles until we hit the "Skeletal Remains" area at 10:30am. This was possibly the shortest approach to a climb ever. 1 minute total. That is partly why we picked this area. We climbed there all day and really had a ton of fun. Climbing on limestone is totally different then climbing on sandstone or even the granite we were getting used to. We found limestone to be very soapy, polished, and with very little to no friction. It also was somewhat chossy in sections. It took us a couple of climbs to get our rhythm, but once we did we were on it. We both decided at the beginning of the day to treat this as an endurance day. We were really missing those long endurance days in the gym or outside. So with each lead came several laps. By the end of the day we were both close to 40 laps. We lost count after 30. By about 6pm we both were toast. We packed our stuff, got in our car, and headed for Devils Tower Wyoming. From Spearfish to Devils Tower is about a 45 minute drive. We got to Devils Tower about 7pm and set up camp at the Devils Tower KOA, which is literally right across the street from the tower itself. Below is a picture of our campsite and Devils Tower. I think we got the Honeymoon Suite...

Saturday was going to be a rest day from climbing, but couldn't resist the urge to go up to the tower and try and jump on something. We knew from the start that it wasn't going to be a summit day for one good reason. We both don't have the solid knowledge needed for multi-pitch trad climbing yet. So instead, we were hoping to just get in and do some single Trad pitches. We got there around 9:30am and checked in at the ranger station. We filled out all required paperwork and started chatting with the ranger on duty. I was telling him what my ability level was for Trad and also asked if there were any sport routes. He laughed and told me that he knew of only a couple sport routes on the tower, and that most of the stuff on the tower is Trad. I was asking him what routes he would recommend for Trad. He told me a couple and then asked if we had 2 ropes. Jodi and I both looked at each other and asked "why do you need 2 ropes". He laughed again, and said the pitches were so long on the tower, that in order to get down form most of them, you need 2 ropes. We only had a single rope. Guess he could tell we were sport climbers. Anyways, he directed us toward a section of the tower that was all shorter single pitch stuff. (1 60 metre rope) After talking with the ranger (which we are glad we did) we headed over to the "South Shoulder" area to set up some climbs. Of course we spotted one of the sport lines right away and climbed that for a warm-up. (5.9) After an couple of burns on that we moved over to try a Trad line next door, which was 5.7. The ranger had recommended this climb to us, and said the anchors were a "little hard to find" and they would be "out right" then what the guidebook had said. We eyed the pitch from the ground and couldn't see the anchors. We figured they would present themselves once I got up there. I started the climb and was nearing the end, and still couldn't see any anchors. I got up onto a ledge and looked around forever. The only thing I saw was anchors way, way out right, a good 40-50 feet. This couldn't have been what he was talking about? I kept looking, but found nothing. The only choice I had was to down climb about 20 feet or so to another ledge and rap off a tree. After that little episode, Jodi and I decided to call it a day from climbing. We went back to the car and dropped off our gear. We headed back to the tower and took the hiking trail around it, which took about 45 minutes. We shot lots of pictures, and it was also very cool to see it from every angle. Hopefully someday when our multi-pitch skills are a little better, we will come back and try for a summit. We will also make sure to bring 2 ropes. After the hike, we headed back to camp for some early dinner (tuna and pasta) and a relaxing evening. Below is a picture of Jodi and I in front of Devils Tower.

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Devils Tower and hit the road for a full day of driving. The goal was to reach Missoula, Montana. After 600 miles and about 10 hours, we finally made it to Missoula. Our first stop was the REI, to pick up a local climbing guide, so we know were we wanted to climb. After that we checked into another KOA, where we set up camp. After setting up camp we drove to Wal-Mart, were picked up some dinner and stocked up on other supplies. We got back to camp, cooked some hambugers and had another relaxing evening. Tomorrow is going to be another climbing day.