Devil's Tower

Day 152: I talk about the Devil's Tower in conjunction with trips to Sulphur Creek Falls, but have rarely posted photos of it because it doesn't present itself readily to the lens, obscured as it is by vegetation. It is also difficult to capture its detail since it is almost always backlit by the sun. I believe it to be an ancient volcanic plug, exposed by erosion. In any event, its pockmarked, knobbled construction affords mosses, sedums and various other mosture-loving plants a place to take hold, and very little of its rocky structure remains visible through gaps in their blanket. It stands as gate-keeper to the Tolkienesque stronghold of Sulphur Creek Falls; you cannot go below its base without wearing heavy armour against the massed forces of devil's-club and salmonberry, and if you should be inclined to come in from above, there is no way down short of a treacherous rappel. I would estimate its height at roughly sixty feet from the narrow, mud-greased ledge I refer to as its base (although presumably it is anchored in some geologically impressive lava conduit far beneath the forested slope). Its ledge always draws a sigh of relief from my heaving chest. There, I can progress some thirty yards without struggling for every toehold, even pausing to admire its botanical garden. "That really is Suksdorfia," I say to myself as I admire a cluster of scalloped leaves which obviously enjoy the wet, north-facing wall. It is the only location outside the Park where I have observed the species. As much as any other reason, the botanical diversity pulls me back here, certain that there is some rarity on the Tower which I've failed to notice, being too set upon the goal of the falls.

Devil's Tower, Tolkein Style

Day 273: There's a long story behind this post, but the upshot of it is that I had a need to revisit this location today because my geocaching partner is still recovering from heart surgery. As much as he would have liked to make the trip with me, it wouldn't have been wise.

When I first started geocaching in 2005, it took me a while to figure out that everyone's routes and coordinates might not be the best. Typical of Crow, I didn't want to go around lifting up lamp-skirts to sign log sheets in film cans; no, I wanted to make an adventure of caching, to seek out strange new places, to get off the beaten path. One of the first caches on my to-do list was Sulphur Creek Falls. I made a couple of false starts as I tried to follow the cache owner's instructions, but it didn't take me long to realize that he was no woodsman. Nobody with any brain tries to go up a creek bed which is likely to be choked with devil's-club, or have piles of impassable boulders obstructing progress. On the advice of a more woods-savvy friend to "follow your own forest sense," I took to a ridgeline and then shot a contour directly to the base of Devil's Tower (the Washington version). Having found the cache at the base of a beautiful waterfall, I knew then that I'd be paying another visit. In fact, I made several return trips in the company of various friends...one from New York, and a memorable group expedition in the company of Kevin, another cacher, my caching partner and Indiana Jones. Oh, yeah...that'll take some explaining. Indy was a "travel bug," a little toy with a numbered tag, meant to be taken from cache to cache and logged in. We had fun photographing Indy on the trip.

Not many people were willing to make the trek into Sulphur Creek Falls for a single cache smiley, and the cache owner moved out of the area and abandoned the hide. After several years and many maintenance visits, I petitioned Geocaching to allow me to adopt the cache. They gave the original owner time to respond and when he did not do so, ownership was transferred to me. Then when I decided it was time for me to archive my other caches (not wanting to die with a legacy of plastic and metal left in the woods), I asked my caching partner if he wanted to take over from me. He readily agreed. However, he wasn't able to visit the site again, so I kept up the maintenance runs.

Recently, someone tried to find the cache and failed. For some reason, it came to the attention of Geocaching that it had not been found since 2013 and, despite my logs showing I'd performed maintenance every year, they saw fit to send Dan a "nastygram" last week, threatening to archive the cache unless he performed maintenance. And there you have the reason for today's trip...a hike I made in the cool of the morning before I'd even had my second cup of coffee. Not much to see in the way of a waterfall right now, but in the spring (the best time to go), it comes down those rocks in a veritable river. The hike is much easier now, too. There's a well-established trail once you get through the salmonberry thicket. Admittedly, you need to be second-cousin to a mountain goat to navigate portions of it, especially the last drop to creek level, but it's well worth the effort.

Sulphur Creek Falls

Devil's Tower

Day 162: Yesterday's adventure was one with multiple goals. First on the agenda was the hilariously unfortunate sally into the Skunk Cabbage bog, but also on the list were an invasive-plant patrol of the South Swofford Trail where I had previously found both English Holly and Yellow Archangel, and a trek off-trail to Sulphur Creek Falls.

Sulphur Creek Falls is only about half a mile from the trail, but the climb is steep and at this time of year, muddy and slick. That said, spring is the best time to go, because the elk tracks will be overgrown with nettles, salmonberry and devil's-club within just a few more weeks. As anyone who has spent any time negotiating cross-country routes should know, attempting to reach your destination by following a creek bed is ill-advised. It's better to attain a ridgeline when possible, or at the very least, to come in high. Following the elk whenever possible, dragging myself up by roots and branches in places, sliding back down when the forest duff collapsed under my feet, I have made this journey dozens of times, originally to find a geocache but later, simply to enjoy the falls and the privacy.

To get to Sulphur Creek Falls, one first climbs to Devil's Tower, a puzzling 60' rock thumb on the side of a steep slope. It seems an unlikely location for a volcanic plug, but I have no other explanation for this geologic anomaly. At its base, a narrow path of shattered rock takes you to the falls, although to see it clearly, you must descend approximately 100' to the creek on a steep, unstable slope. I've never found an "easy" route down, so care and caution are the by-words here, and the hiker should keep in mind that what goes down must come back up, a job which isn't as easy as it sounds. But oh, what a reward awaits you, especially when the falls is in full spate!

Sulphur Creek Falls