Here’s a story for you. It’s actually a continuation of yesterday’s journey to Devil’s Tower. And I wouldn’t be bringing it up if we’d only gone and walked around, then driven back to Rapid City. But, as tends to happen, an awkward scene arose…and tonight I’ll tell you all about it.
Let me start by saying that Devil’s Tower is fabulous. A friend of mine visited once and climbed it–all the way to the top. Ever since then I’ve wanted to visit. Now I have, and it is as cool in person as his photos made it look. Maybe even cooler.
The great mass of stone seems to come out of no where. It’s only transition from earth to sky being a tier of boulders and crumbled rock around its base. A paradise for fools like me who love to walk along uneven terrain and scramble up rocks.
But alas, as you know, I’m working with an injury. So there was no fun bouldering for me. Derek and I decided that we should stick with the paved trail that goes around the tower. Even that was a challenge. You see, months of inactivity has rendered me physically useless. So the ups and downs of what was marked as an “easy” hike left me winded and in need of frequent breaks. Meanwhile all the elderly who had stopped off during their RV trips “out west” were whizzing by me with legs that worked perfectly.
It was along this trail, at one of my all-too-often bench stops that Derek said to me, “I think I’m going to walk up closer and walk on the rocks instead of the trail.” I sat there, just a touch confused. He was going to leave me to be passed all alone by 70-year-old speed walkers? Then I got a grip. It would be more fun that way…and just because I couldn’t do it didn’t mean no one should. So I watched him walk up to the rocks, then turned to follow an off shoot of the trail to an overlook.
When I got back to the main trail I looked up toward the tower to see if I could see Derek, wondering if he had gotten too far ahead of me. What I saw nearly made me fall over. I spotted him alright. Waaay up high. So high I could hardly see him, above the tree line, all the way up to the point where ropes are required to climb higher. I just couldn’t believe it. He was not just walking along, “a little closer.” He had scaled half of the tower. He was standing where this circle is drawn.
I whipped out my phone. Ah, yes, service. Perfect.
I called him. Why I expected the call to go through, I have no idea–but it did. His ring tone bounced off of the rocks and echoed back to the trail as loudly as if he was standing next to me. The mechanic tee-tee-tee-tee of his Verizon ring tone split the sounds of nature like a hot knife through butter. Awkwardly, this got the attention of all of the other trail walkers around me–who started looking around, then realized there was a man, half way up the tower taking a call.
A crowd was forming and I didn’t want to make a scene. No one likes a naggy wife. So I nonchalantly turned aside and said casually, “Please do not go any higher.” Then added, “Are you insane?”
But, there is no privacy on a crowded Labor Day weekend hike at Devil’s Tower, and soon the group had gotten larger and put the two calls together. There was pointing, laughter, photo snapping, and wry comments about how he “…must not have gotten permission,” and “Look at the guy who climbed all the way up there to take a phone call.” Hardy, har, har.
In Derek’s defense, once he had gotten to the tower base, there really wasn’t any other way to go but up. He had expected the tier of boulders to curve back down, but it never did. He told me he was actually about to turn around when I called.
The crowd dispersed, chuckling, after our conversation ended. Naturally there were a few over the shoulder comments about “keeping a closer eye on that one…” as they all wandered away and I parked it back on a bench to wait for Derek.
When he met up with me I must have shot him one of those looks. Those looks. He just laughed and said, “What?” What indeed. But I just said, “Well, that was exciting.” And we kept walking–together this time–and I told him all about it while we finished the trail.
