Tom and Jim's Trip to climb Devil's Tower
Lost Key Story
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Story: After the end of the climb on the second day, both Tom and Jim returned to the car to head back into town for a bite to eat. Jim asked Tom for the key to the vehicle he was suppose to have in his pocket. Unfortunately, when Tom checked his pockets, there was no key. It was quickly realized that at some point during the climb, the key fell out of Tom's pocket (Tom actually remembers hearing metal drop at one point of the climb but could not figure out at that time what it was that dropped). Since the base of the Monument is large talus boulders, they figured there was little chance of actually finding the key at the base of the Monument, but, with no real other option at hand, they went to look for it anyway. They followed the path to their climbing location and briefly looked around. It became obvious that this was a futile effort and, since it was getting dark, they decided to try to head to town to see what they could do. When they returned to the Monument's parking lot, there was only one vehicle, other than their disabled truck, in the parking lot. Since it was a number of miles into town, and they did not know how long it would be before the owners of the one remaining vehicle would return, Tom drew the short straw to head cross country to get to the Ranger Station before it closed in the hopes that someone turned in the key. Jim waited at the Monument hoping to hitch a ride when the owners of the other vehicle came back. About a half hour later, the owners came back to their vehicle and Jim told them the story and asked for a ride into town. They kindly agreed and drove down to the Ranger Station to catch up with Tom. Tom informed them that the Ranger Station was closed and had probably been closed all day long. They then continued out of the park, through the Prairie Dog Colony and into town and dropped Tom and Jim off at the post office. Tom and Jim called their friend Shane back home and asked that he FedEx a spare key out to them in town. The only problem was that the only FedEx service to that location took 3 days. Tom and Jim were stuck. With nothing better to do, they decided
to go to the local saloon and grab a burger and a beer.
They spoke with the owner of the saloon who asked how their
day went. Tom and Jim explained that they had a great
day climbing but lost their car key and were now stuck in town
for the next 3 to 4 days. The owner explained that
someone from the Monument had found a key at the base and gave
it to him hoping he would turn it into the ranger tomorrow since the station was
closed today. In total disbelief, the
owner of the saloon held up the key to Jim's truck. He
offered Tom and Jim his pickup to drive back to the park, get
their truck and come back for a burger and beer. The
photo is of Jim posing after we returned to the vehicle with
the key. End of
story! |
