Travels from A to Z. Devils Tower - an unsolved mystery of nature Devil's Finger Mountain

We didn't go to Wyoming to go to Sundance and learn about history.
Sundance Kid. Twenty-seven miles from the city of Sundance rises an amazing
And mysterious rock called Devil's Tower.

This unique natural structure is a high, about 400
meters, an unusual looking rock that resembles a giant stump,
or a giant fortress tower. The diameter of the rock at the base is
three hundred meters, at the top about eighty meters.

But even more than the unusual appearance of this rock, people are always
I was struck by the absolute illogicality of the appearance of the Devil's Tower among the endless
plain, which stretches here for many hundreds of kilometers. After all, it
there is only one here and there are no other rock formations in the area. Scientists
Such mountains are called “geological units.”

The rock has such a regular shape that it’s hard to believe
in the naturalness of its origin. Devil's Tower was a place
religious worship of the American Indian tribes even before the advent of
they have writing.

The Indians believed that the devil lived on the top of this mountain and when he
gets angry with people, then he arranges his dances with thunder and lightning upstairs.
Even Egyptian pyramids seem like very small buildings
compared to this tower-like rock.

The Indians called this rock Mateo Tepi, which means Grizzly Bear's Den.
The first white surveyors who discovered it in 1875 gave it the name
Devil's Tower, based on another Indian name Tower of Bad
God.

The Indians have a number of legends associated with the mysterious origin
Devil's Towers. Several tribes inhabited this area for
many years, and they all tell similar legends about the emergence
miracle rocks.

According to one of them, seven girls were walking in the forest when they
a giant bear attacked. The children tried to run away, but the bear did not lag behind.
In desperation, they climbed onto a low rock and prayed for salvation.
Great Spirit. And the Great Spirit heard them: suddenly a stone slab, on which
the girls climbed up and began to rapidly grow upward. The grizzly roared from
rage, and scratching with claws rock, tried to get to the children, but
he failed, but traces of his sharp claws remained on the Tower
Devil. At the same time, the mountain grew and grew upward until the girls could not
step into the sky, where the Pleiades turned into stars.

By the way, since Devil's Tower is the tallest building
given area, then lightning very often strikes its top, which causes
the appearance of various light anomalies. In addition, at its top there are local
residents have repeatedly seen a strange glow. All this gave rise to
ufologists and lovers of the unknown hypothesis that this rock is
cosmodrome for UFO landing.

In the 20th century, mystical theories of the origin of the rock were replaced by scientific
fantastic.In 1977, Devils Tower acquired an international
fame, becoming a landing site for representatives of extraterrestrial civilization
in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Stills from the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

Geologists quite easily solved the mystery of the origin of the Tower
Devil. The fact is that 200 million years ago this area was
seabed. The bottom of this sea consisted of a huge thickness of sedimentary rocks.
Once upon a time, molten liquid was introduced into this thickness from the bowels of the earth.
magmatic mass. After the magma solidified, it formed
a columnar basalt body, which in science is called a stock.

Several million years passed and the sea retreated, sedimentary
the rocks were destroyed, gradually exposing the basalt formation.
Other scientists believe that Devils Tower is all that remains
from a volcanic eruption. Erosion processes continue to this day
day, so part of the tower is hidden underground and still waiting in the wings.

For many years, Devil's Tower remained inaccessible to climbers
largely due to its unusual structure. The first time it was conquered by a local
resident at the end of the 19th century. It is not known how, but he, with practically no equipment,
climbed to the top of the rock. Unfortunately, the name of this daredevil was erased
time.

The next time a person visited the top of the Tower was only in 1938.
This time the ascent was made by a fairly experienced climber, Jack Durance.
And many years later, the already elderly Durrance had to conquer the peak a second time.
He led a group of rescue climbers who were supposed to remove
parachutist landing on top of Devil's Tower.

Parachutist George Hopkins (pictured) wanted to gain world fame,
becoming the third conqueror of the top of the Devil's Tower. Moreover, he did not intend
climb a rock along steep walls, but decided to land on it with a parachute.
Although Hopkins was warned about the danger of his plan, he decided to take the risk
and successfully landed at the very top. And then it turned out that the experienced parachutist
clearly overestimated his strength and cannot go down to the plain. Remove him using
It was not possible to get a helicopter because a hurricane wind was constantly blowing at the top of the rock.
So he became a prisoner of the rock. The news of this spread throughout America.
Crowds of people surrounded the Tower, and the captive TV star poured out witticisms in a live
radio broadcast. Everyone liked the joke that all he needed was Eva, so that if
there, below, the flood will give rise to a new branch of humanity. Soon there will be dozens
planes circled in the air, dropping food and equipment on Hopkins.
Tired of dodging falling objects, the parachutist began to beg on the radio
stop the bombing, especially since most of what is being dropped anyway
flew into the abyss. Despite the abundance of food, the strength quickly left the prisoner.

To his horror, it turned out that the inaccessible smooth granite rock was inhabited by rats,
who became more and more impudent every night. A specially created Committee
to rescue Hopkins, called in an experienced climber for a rescue operation
Ernst Field and his partner Gorrell from Colorado. But the climbers after
hours of visual reconnaissance and three hours of ascent were forced to return
and give up further attempts. Field admitted: “We need this damn
the boulder is too tough!" It seemed incredible - these professionals conquered the peaks
height of more than 8000 m, but were powerless in front of a height of only 400
meters. The committee began looking for Jack Durrance through the press and only later
day they found him. Soon he arrived and began preparations for climbing the
the old route, known to him alone. At exactly noon the assault began,
and, although the summit was shrouded in fog, the climbers, led by Durrance
got to the top, and then lowered down on a climbing cradle
exhausted parachutist. In total, Hopkins was a prisoner
Towers for about a week.

Years have passed, and today, the previously impregnable Devil's Tower is one of the most
popular objects among climbers.

This became possible thanks to the emergence of a new, more modern
equipment, as well as increased professionalism among the climbers themselves.
The sheer walls of the rock are literally dotted with the most different routes,
along which several hundred ascents to the top have already been made.
On the day of our arrival, we also observed one of these ascents
and I even tried to take a few pictures at that moment. But, probably
these climbers were not experienced, since all their attempts were unsuccessful
success.

For many Indian tribes, this rock was deeply revered as a saint.
a place of search and acquisition of sacred knowledge. The Indians still come
to the Devil's Tower to conduct their sacred rituals. The most famous
The festival, the Sun Dance, is held here in June, around the solstice.
In this regard, there is even an unofficial agreement among climbers
Do not come to Devil's Tower at this time.

The sign reads: "The tower is considered sacred by the American Indians.
and is highly valued by other peoples. Respect this place..."

When you look at the edges of a mountain from below and see debris piled up at the foot
and the columns leaning here and there, it seems that the structure is very unstable.
However, according to scientists, the last break of such a column occurred around
ten thousand years ago.

Despite the notoriety, or maybe precisely because of it, every year to the Tower
About five hundred thousand tourists from all over the world come to the Devil. Of course,
not all of them climb to the top of the rock, but mostly inspect
from below or from sightseeing planes.
The area around Devil's Tower became the First National Park of the United States.
This status was awarded to him by President Roosevelt in 1906.

We are all accustomed to official versions of the origin of all living and nonliving things on our planet. Most often, we don’t even think about whether this is actually true. When visiting national parks and reserves, we tend to believe the information presented to us. We are surprised, but we believe... Perhaps someone has questions about the veracity of stories and legends, but usually rarely does anyone “dig” further and consider this or that object through the prism of their own feelings and sensations. We rely entirely on our science, despite the fact that science itself is sometimes unable to answer many questions.

This article will, of course, talk about reserves of the western part of the USA. In fact, the mysteries of nature can be found on almost all continents of our beautiful planet, but due to my place of residence and field of activity (excursions and tours of cities and national parks California, Arizona and Nevada) I will only touch on some of the attractions. I bring to your attention a different version of the origin and understanding of the most famous and amazing places western part of the USA. The version is not mine, it belongs to other very smart people, but it inspired me to convey information to all those who are interested in and know our world. I am sure that among the readers there will definitely be skeptics who will remain unconvinced. I'm not trying to convince you, I'm just suggesting you look at the familiar from a different angle.

I’ll start with a very famous reserve - Nationalparka « Sequoia"(Sequoia National Park), located in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. Let's turn to Wikipedia. The source reports that “The park is best known for its giant sequoias, including a specimen called General Sherman, the largest tree (by wood volume) on Earth.” And further: “The General Sherman tree is the largest and heaviest living organism on the planet. However, it is neither the tallest sequoia - the record belongs to a specimen of the evergreen sequoia known as "Hyperion" - nor the tallest representative of the sequoiadendrons - specimens are known to be 95 m high, but they are smaller in volume. It is also known that the "Crannell Creek Giant" cut down in the mid-1940s, an evergreen sequoia species growing near the city of Trinidad, was 15-25% larger in volume than the "General Sherman." “The height of the General Sherman is 83.8 m, the weight is estimated at 1900 tons, the trunk volume is 1487 m³, the age is 2300-2700 years.”

General Sherman

Hyperion

This is one of the few giant redwoods that survived the barbaric logging of California redwoods from the 1880s to the 1920s. The question is, why did people need to cut down almost all the giant sequoias (and they were even larger than General Sherman)? See for yourself.

After all, this is a whole treasure, and it was possible to build from smaller specimens. It is believed that the forest was cut down for its timber, but this is not true. The fact is that old trees are an information storage device, a database, a hard drive, in modern terms. The trees record everything that happens on the planet in their information portal. A person with good sensors only needs to enter such a forest and easily read any information about the past by simply touching the tree trunk. And what kind of power flows into us through touch... Apparently someone needed to block this access. They left several smaller giants and formed a national park.

The most interesting thing is that the park"Sequoia" is only a tiny part of those giant forests that existed approximately 7500 years ago. back. And General Sherman will seem like a simple bush in comparison with those giants who ruled at that time. You won't believe your eyes and what you hear, but such sights as Devil's Tower (Wyoming), Mount Ben Balben in Ireland, Mount Roraima and Kukenan in South America, Table Mountain in Cape Town ( South Africa), Mount Uluru in Australia, and many other mesas ( Table Mountain- a mountain with a truncated, flat top (source: Wikipedia)) , scattered throughout the planet, are not mountains at all, but petrified stumps of ancient giant trees! Don't believe me? There is evidence for this.

Devils Tower, Wyoming

Mount Bel Balban, Ireland

Mount Roraima, South America

Mount Kukenan, South America

Table Mountain in Cape Town (South Africa)

Mount Uluru, Australia

They are everywhere.

Greenland

Russia

Venezuela

Ethiopia

These stumps stick out all over the planet. There are hundreds of them!

You've probably wondered why these mountains have such flat tops. As for the Devil's Tower, one of the most common versions is a staging area for landing alien creatures. It seems like our planes land on the ground, what prevents the aliens from doing the same? Why announce your landing place so clearly? But if you take into account the version of the cut down tree, then there is more logic in this. And the proof that this is, after all, a cut down tree is as follows.

Don't you think that the structure of the Devil's Tower mountain is quite unusual? It consists of identical tubular hexagons, not connected to each other by any material.

Are ordinary mountains anything like that? Answer: no. Scientists claim that the Devil's Tower formed from a magmatic melt that rose from the depths of the Earth and froze in the form of graceful columns. We are reasonable people and understand perfectly well that magma does not solidify in this way, and even in a hexagonal shape. Let us remember how the process of a volcanic eruption occurs.

This is how lava erupts:

This is how it flows:

And this is how it freezes:

In my opinion, it is difficult to imagine that the Devil's Tower was formed from lava. But it resembles something else, namely the central part of both a tree and other plants. Take a close look at the cut of this tree:

Well? Reminds me of Devil's Tower? The center of the trunk is made of tubular hexagons! Let's take at least a simple botany textbook with a description of some plant and compare it with our giant stump.

The fibers of the stump, like the fibers of the flax stem, have a hexagonal shape, which strictly maintains its geometry along the entire length of the trunk, which is as much as 386 meters! Note that the fibers of the stump are more strict in their proportions than the diagram from the botany textbook.

The fibers do not differ from each other: they seem to be calibrated not only along their entire length, but also relative to each other. The feeling is that this is a bunch of hexagonal reinforcement after coming out of a metal rolling mill.

The fibers are not fused to each other, as they flake off freely and fall in hexagonal fragments as the stone erodes.

Each fiber of the stump is covered with a thin membrane. Exactly like fascia - a connective tissue membrane that forms cases for muscle fibers. As you can see, the petrified shell, in contact with winds and moisture, cracks, peels off and crumbles, and this is direct evidence that the fibers of the stump consist of at least two different components embedded in each other.

The fibers do not go vertically into the ground. They gradually bend to smoothly transform into the root system, as befits any tree.

As seen, official version accidental hardening of lava has no basis.

In the protected area of the northeastern part of Wyoming (USA) there is a favorite place for travelers - the Devil's Tower rock, which is rightfully considered one of the most mysterious and mysterious places on Earth. The 386-meter-high rock is not inferior even to the tall building New York, the Empire State Building, which without a spire rises 381 meters.

Devil's Tower was formed 65 million years ago, the result of volcanic activity. The outer rocks of the rock were eroded and, due to greater plasticity compared to the inner layers, changed their shape. This explains the figured walls of the rock.

Besides ancient origin, what makes the rock colorful is its unusual location: it is located on a plateau, and there is not even anything resembling a hill nearby. Thus, the rock stands out against the background of its surroundings. There are other, more mysterious versions of the origin of the Devil's Tower. By the way, this extraordinary rock has several names...

According to one of the Indian legends, one day, seven local girls walking in the forest were attacked by a bear. The ferocious, enraged animal chased the children, not lagging behind them for a moment. Desperate girls climbed onto a small rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit for salvation. The spirit heard the girls and helped their trouble: miraculously the stone began to grow and the innocent children standing on it moved away from the animal to a safe distance. The bear tried fiercely to climb the rock, but failed. Nowadays, traces from the claws of a fierce beast serve as reminders of this legend. The mountain grew upward until it hit the firmament. Then the girls moved from her to the sky and became the stars of the Pleiades. This legend gave rise to the mythical name of the mountain - Bear's Den.

This is not the only Indian legend. There is another one, according to which the rock was created by an evil demon. This evil one sat on top and beat a drum, creating thunder and lightning. Most Indians believed in the dark essence of the mountain, so representatives of the Indian people tried not to settle near the Tower of the Bad God. The rock officially received the name “Tower of the Bad God” back in 1875, thanks to explorer Richard Dodge. It is surprising that in some Indian tribes, on the contrary, the rock was treated with respect.

Modernity has given rise to science fiction views on the origins of the rock. Thus, some people, not unreasonably, began to assume that at its top there is landing strip for a UFO landing. More than once, inexplicable flashes of light and unidentified flying objects nearby in the sky were discovered at this place. This version was even filmed by the famous director Steven Spielberg in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

For the first time, the inaccessible rock was conquered by local daredevils in late XIX century. His feat was not repeated soon. In 1938, professional climber Jack Durrance climbed the rock. For the third time, skydiver George Hopkins conquered the mountain by parachuting to its top. However, his rejoicing did not last long, because... The conqueror of the rock was unable to descend from it on his own. Ropes were dropped from planes to Hopkins, but they broke when struck by rocks or fell by altogether. Bad weather air rescue options were excluded. So, the rock captivated the would-be parachutist.
Because of this news, all of America went wild. Some companies began to use the parachutist’s deplorable situation for advertising purposes, selling him products under their brand. Heavy rains and wind completely exhausted the prisoner, whom even experienced climbers Ernst Field and Gorrell tried to save... In the end, Hopkins' savior turned out to be Jack Durrance, the same one who was the previous conqueror of the ill-fated rock. Jack and a team of professional climbers stormed it, and soon the cradle with the weakened paratrooper was lowered to the ground. Hopkins was held captive for about 7 days.

In 1906, the current US President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the establishment of a park in the area surrounding the Devil's Tower. This is how the first one appeared National Park country, and the unique rock has established itself as a national monument.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Devil's Tower every year. And only a few thousand brave mountaineering travelers decide to conquer its peak.

Legends of Devil's Tower

There are quite a lot of legends about this place. Local Indian tribes talk about seven sisters who walked around the area in the forest. When they were about to return home, they were attacked by a bear. The girls climbed onto a tiny rock and prayed to God, begging them to save their lives. Suddenly the stone began to grow and grew very tall, and the angry grizzly scratched the stone with its claws, but could not reach the sisters. The bear's claws left characteristic marks on the Devil's Tower, which became another mystery of it. After all, they look like even, lined stripes and even have sharp corners. After this story, the mountain was nicknamed the Bear's Den. And the girls, by the way, never returned to earth; they became stars.

There is another Indian legend that says that a demon lived on the mountain. He liked to beat the drum and scare people. He sent lightning at them, from which it was impossible to hide. By the way, even now you can see how lightning strikes the Devil’s Tower during a thunderstorm. This is quite impressive even for modern people, let alone the ancient Indians who believed that the mountain was the residence of a demon. Therefore, the tribes settled as far as possible from the unusual rock. Although there were also Indians who considered the Devil's Tower divine and worshiped it.

Modern times have given rise to other tales of Devil's Tower. Many are sure that there is a high probability of meeting aliens here. You can often see unusual light phenomena on the rock, so ufologists have suggested that the Devil's Tower is a real alien spaceport. Such stories could not go unnoticed by filmmakers. Therefore, the Devil's Tower can be seen in many films dedicated to UFOs. One of the most famous was filmed by Spielberg.

Conquering the peak

The height of the rock is only 398 meters, but for a long time no one could conquer the tower. Its walls are sheer, the climb is very steep, and the glory of the mountain is generally ominous. An unknown person was the first to conquer the Devil's Tower local, who climbed the cliff without the necessary equipment. How he managed this, no one knows to this day, because even now not all climbers dare to climb even with improved equipment. modern equipment. The first professional to climb Devil's Tower was Jack Durrance. He did this in 1938.

After this, several years passed, but no one dared to rise. And then George Hopkins, an experienced parachutist, showed up. He decided to become famous as the conqueror of the Devil's Tower from the air. He descended with his parachute to the top with virtually no problems, but, as it turned out, getting down from the top is much more difficult than getting up. George Hopkins couldn't get down from the top. By air he was given food and medicine. They could not pick him up by plane due to strong air currents. Helicopters also could not land on the top; strong winds did not even allow the unlucky conqueror to drop the rope so that he could independently climb into the helicopter cabin.

In general, all that remained was to ask the climbers to climb up, and then lower the parachutist. But as it turned out, no one wanted to risk their lives. Several climbers, after thinking, decided that they could not cope with the task. I had to look for and call for help that same Jack Durrance. He led the rescue group along his route and was able to conquer the summit again, and the parachutist was lowered down in a cradle. He was terrified of the Devil's Top. After all, as it turned out, whole flocks of rats lived there, which attacked him at night and stole his food. Therefore, for the whole week while he was there, he had to not sleep, but fight with hordes of rats, who not only climbed there in an incomprehensible way, it is not even known what they ate there and what they did at such a height.

After this incident, the notoriety of Devil's Tower only strengthened. Now, however, there are those who want to climb to the top, and even special routes have been laid, but there are not many daredevils, even though the height is ridiculous for professionals. There are many more ordinary tourists who simply come to look at the rock, which, according to scientists, is not so mysterious, it was simply formed from magma in an ancient sea, and then when it retreated, it was polished by the winds for more than 200 million years, which is why it has such an unusual shape .

Devils Tower (Devils Tower)

Devil's Tower is a natural monument in the Belle Fourche River valley in Wyoming, USA.

It is a monolith of volcanic origin with a height of 1558 m above sea level (386 m above the river valley) and a relative height of 265 m. It is the first object that was recognized as “ national monument» USA, receiving its status from President Theodore Roosevelt on September 24, 1906.

The “Devil's Tower” was formed from a magmatic melt that rose from the depths of the Earth and froze in the form of graceful columns. The age of the most ancient geological deposits present on the territory of the natural monument is estimated from 225 to 195 million years. The host rocks are dark red sandstones and silts with shale layers.

The Devil's Tower rock is rightfully considered one of the most mysterious and mysterious places on Earth. In addition to its ancient origin, the rock’s unusual location makes it colorful: it is located on a plateau, and there is not even anything resembling a hill nearby. Thus, the rock stands out against the background of its surroundings. There are other, more mysterious versions of the origin of the Devil's Tower.

By the way, this extraordinary rock has several names... According to one of the Indian legends, one day, seven local girls walking in the forest were attacked by a bear. The ferocious, enraged animal chased the children, not lagging behind them for a moment. Desperate girls climbed onto a small rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit for salvation. The spirit heard the girls and helped their trouble: miraculously the stone began to grow and the innocent children standing on it moved away from the animal to a safe distance. The bear tried fiercely to climb the rock, but failed. Nowadays, traces from the claws of a fierce beast serve as reminders of this legend. The mountain grew upward until it hit the firmament. Then the girls moved from her to the sky and became the stars of the Pleiades. This legend gave rise to the mythical name of the mountain - Bear's Den.

Modernity has given rise to science fiction views on the origins of the rock. So, some people, not unreasonably, began to assume that at its top there is a landing strip for a UFO to land. More than once, inexplicable flashes of light and unidentified flying objects nearby in the sky were discovered at this place. This version was even filmed by the famous director Steven Spielberg in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

The inaccessible rock was first conquered by local daredevils at the end of the 19th century. His feat was not repeated soon. In 1938, professional climber Jack Durrance climbed the rock. For the third time, skydiver George Hopkins conquered the mountain by parachuting to its top. However, his rejoicing did not last long, because... The conqueror of the rock was unable to descend from it on his own. Ropes were dropped from planes to Hopkins, but they broke when struck by rocks or fell by altogether. Bad weather conditions ruled out rescue options by air force. So, the rock captivated the would-be parachutist.
Because of this news, all of America went wild. Some companies began to use the parachutist’s deplorable situation for advertising purposes, selling him products under their brand. Heavy rains and wind completely exhausted the prisoner, whom even experienced climbers Ernst Field and Gorrell tried to save... In the end, Hopkins' savior turned out to be Jack Durrance, the same one who was the previous conqueror of the ill-fated rock. Jack and a team of professional climbers stormed it, and soon the cradle with the weakened paratrooper was lowered to the ground. Hopkins was held captive for about 7 days.

In 1906, the current US President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the establishment of a park in the area surrounding the Devil's Tower. This is how the country’s first National Park appeared, and the unique rock was established as a national monument.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Devil's Tower every year. And only a few thousand brave mountaineering travelers decide to conquer its peak.

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