Scaling Devil’s Den Inch by Inch

On a crisp and cool fall Friday afternoon, my friend’s and I decided to take a hike. Here’s a piece of advice, don’t take a friend that’s scared of heights on the steepest part of the mountain.

So, after school I picked up my little sister like I always do, then I met my friend Jared at my house, we then waited for our friend Kyle to come over. We had to send him a lot of “Where are you?” text messages before Kyle finally showed up.

Once Kyle came, I grabbed my pre-packed survival bag to take with us for the hike because you always want to be prepared for the worst. The bag contains many things that you could need if you were to be stranded in the woods like; 100 feet of rope with a carabiner attached to it, small hatchet, a reflective vest, first aid kit, flint steel, matches, candy, two knives (one back up knife and one regular), emergency heat blanket, and a rain poncho. We also grabbed six water bottles in case we got thirsty. After we had all of the essentials for our hike, we headed out into the woods.

The hike can usually take me about 30 minutes to get to the top if I go straight there. This time, it took longer because I know of this magnificent waterfall, that I wanted to show them. When we got to the waterfall, it was rushing, the waterfall is beautiful, and not man-made. There is moss all around it, and moss is a natural filter, so I wanted to try the water to see how it tasted. That water was some of the best water I had ever had! I drank one of my water bottles until it was empty, and I then filled it with water from the waterfall to take into my science class. Kyle thought I was crazy, when I dipped my hands in the waterfall and drank the water. After being on the water fall for about 20 minutes, we headed back on our way to Devil’s Den.

So, we made it to the top of Devil’s Den no problem because we followed the trail, but then we decided to go rogue. So, when you get to Devil’s Den, it is just that, a cave, or a den that could possibly harbor some dangerous fugitives a.k.a. now porcupines. Once upon a time a mountain lion used to live there, but it mysteriously disappeared one day, and I have no idea what happened to it. We never found it when we were there, and we didn’t see any signs of it. We wanted to explore around Devil’s Den a bit, and there is a ledge underneath, that you can sort of go under. So, there are two ways to get there and get back up to the top, we took the easy way down, which is an old game (animal) trail. When we decided to head back up, I asked Jared and Kyle if they wanted to go up the hard way because that was the way I was planning to go, a.k.a the “fun way”. Jared said, ” I’m following you” and Kyle said, ” Well, I’m not going to be the only one to go the easy way, I’ll follow you.”

Now, the hard way is very steep, with a lot of rocks, and loose dirt, so you have to be really careful, and watch your footing. I went up to the top first, and did it very quickly because I had done it before, Jared went up second, and got up without too much trouble. Kyle, was a different story, he made it about a quarter of the way up, when he started having a hard time with his footing, he then slipped, but caught himself before he fell. He asked for my help, so I tied my rope to a tree at the top of Devil’s Den, tossed the rope down to Kyle, and I proceeded down the rope to help Kyle. Once I got down there, Kyle said, “I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t think it would matter, but I’m scared of heights.” and I said, “Really? You tell me this now when were basically on the side of a cliff!” After learning this, I had Kyle grab the rope, so he could start back up the mountain, and I followed behind him. Everything went fairly smooth, until the last seven or eight feet.

Things started going down hill, figuratively and legitimately when Kyle started slipping again, even though we were so close to the top. I decided that, the best way would be to just drag him up the rest of the way. So, I went around Kyle and went to the top, when I got to the top, Jared was nowhere to be found. Perfect! Just when I need his help, I can’t find him! I shouted Jared’s name a few times, then he just appeared, I tossed him my bag, and water, so I could pull Kyle up. Pulling Kyle up was easier than I thought it would be because of our size difference. Once we were all back on the top of Devil’s Den, we had a quick water break and took in the view. After our little break, we headed back down the mountain, and everything went smoothly.