There was absolutely zero chance we were going to drive completely through Wyoming without stopping to climb Devils Tower. Seeing this 800-foot plug of rock sticking out of an otherwise nearly flat landscape is pretty wild. And, unlike some of the beautiful places in South Dakota, the climbing is actually good. Like, really damn good.
We chose to skip the 50-Classics route, and head a bit farther right to do a couple rope-stretch 5.9 pitches up a dihedral system instead. The second we saw the crowd on the other route, we were super happy with our choice. Clouds ripping overhead and the fact that there had been torrential downpours every afternoon for the last week of our trip made us a bit worried, but in the end it turned out to be a super nice day on awesome rock.
One thing is for sure. It felt really nice to be back into some crack climbing.
