9:49 AM, 54ºF – At the end of USFS Road No. 599, SPHP parked the RAV4 at a big circular turnaround. Lupe hopped out. Nice and warm for early November, but she was here a little later than she ought to have been if she wanted to climb both White Tail Peak (6,962 ft.) and Peak 6962.
No need to decide which peak to shoot for yet, though. The first mile would be the same for either one. Eager to get going, Lupe headed NW into a dense forest, following an old barbed wire fence up the valley of the North Fork of Castle Creek.
The forest was sort of a mess, full of deadfall. SPHP’s progress was slow. Fortunately, Lupe didn’t have far to go, before the forest opened up a bit. Ducking through the barbed wire fence, she quickly came to the North Fork of Castle Creek. Although small, the stream had decent flow.
Beyond the creek was a larger clearing with a big stand of aspens at the far end. Turned out there was an open lane through the aspens. A faint trail ran through it. Following the trail, Lupe came to another meadow. To the N were some limestone cliffs, part of the S end of White Tail Peak.
SPHP was surprised when the trail persisted instead of fading away. Certainly made life easy! A mile from the start, Lupe came to a place where the valley divided. The North Fork of Castle Creek forked here, too. At a muddy spot, the trail crossed one of the tributaries.
Decision time, Loopster! White Tail Peak or Peak 6962?
Seems like an awfully long time since we’ve been to either one, SPHP.
Oh, it has been for sure! 4 years since we were last at White Tail Peak, and 6 since Peak 6962.
Either one is fine with me, SPHP. Do you have a preference? Maybe we can still get to both today?
We’ll give it a shot. If I had to choose, I’d say White Tail Peak. Best views, although we really ought to explore Peak 6962 more thoroughly.
Best views won out. White Tail Peak it was! The American Dingo left the divide bearing R as she continued up the branch of the valley to the NW. This decision soon paid off with the discovery of the still considerable remnants of a melting snow bank to frolic on.
0.25 mile from the first divide, the valley split again. What was left of the North Fork of Castle Creek came from the L. The valley to the R (NE) was completely dry. Loop was now 1.5 miles SW of White Tail Peak as the crow flies, so that was the way to go.
Soon after entering the NE branch, the valley deteriorated into more of a big, steep-sided ravine. A dense forest grew here, partially choked with deadfall. If it wasn’t for another unexpected path that wound through it all, passage would have been difficult. Lupe came to a sign for a defunct research area. A little farther on, she passed another.
The path in the ravine was steeper than the nearly level trek back by the North Fork of Castle Creek. Before long, the path climbed partway up the L side of the ravine, well above a V-shaped bottom. As Looper kept going, she got past the densely forested section into more open territory. Here the ravine curved N and broadened out.
The path ultimately led to the S end of an old abandoned road. This was USFS Road No. 190.1O. Lupe followed the road N to a large clearing, part of which held the charred remnants of a giant burn pile left over from a logging operation.
By now the ravine had virtually melted away. This was a more gently sloping region. Heading NE past the charred area, Lupe came to another old road that went E. No sign, but this had to be USFS Road No. 190.1P.
Taking No. 190.1P, the road climbed E for a little way, then flattened out as it turned S. Half a mile on No. 190.1P brought Lupe to a small, flat clearing where the road ended. This was high territory near the end of White Tail Peak’s long SW ridge overlooking the valley of the North Fork of Castle Creek, but other than a partial view to the SE, trees effectively hid the views.
A higher part of White Tail Peak’s SW ridge was only a little farther NE. Abandoning USFS Road No. 190.1P, Lupe crossed an open slope littered with deadfall. This led to a somewhat steeper, but still easy climb in a live forest. Near the top, Lupe began encountering small limestone outcroppings.
Lupe reached the S end of the upper portion of White Tail Peak’s long SW ridge. Lots of trees up here, too, but also some nice views from rocks along the edge.
Beyond the valley of the North Fork of Castle Creek, peaks along the E edge of the limestone plateau were in sight. Peak 6962 was closest. Flag Mountain (6,937 ft.) was next, then Green Mountain (7,164 ft.) and Copper Mountain (6,920 ft.). Even Medicine Mountain (6,878 ft.) could be made out.
Far to the SE, Black Elk Peak (7,231 feet) was visible way beyond Reynolds Prairie.
White Tail Peak (6,962 ft.) is located along the E edge of the limestone plateau country, a large elevated region of the western Black Hills, much of which lies close to the Wyoming border. It’s a complex peak involving multiple ridges extending out from an unremarkable summit. Some of the best views are from two ridges, a long one and a short one, that both extend out to the SE.
The end of the long SE ridge was a favorite spot on White Tail Peak. Lupe had a good view of it from here.
The plan was to visit both of the SE ridges. On the way there, Lupe could tag White Tail Peak’s summit, which was still more than 0.67 mile away. After lingering a few minutes at the S end of the SW ridge, the American Dingo headed N.
For a little way, Lupe continued to gradually gain elevation. Eventually the ridge leveled out. Forest hid most of the views, although Loop did come to one spot with a view to the W. Nothing too scintillating, just more forested ridges not quite as high as White Tail Peak.
Toward the N end, as the SW ridge merged into the rest of the mountain, the terrain began to rise again curving toward the NE. Lupe came to a little high point, but this wasn’t the top yet.
Beyond this high point the terrain was fairly flat. The territory to the N contained the shattered remnants of a forest killed by pine bark beetles. Staying in a live forest, Lupe went ENE along the edge of the dead zone. Even the live forest contained plenty of deadfall, but she didn’t have far to go before reaching a road.
This road was USFS Road No. 190.1Q. Following it E, the Carolina Dog quickly arrived at the true summit of White Tail Peak (6,962 ft.), a small, flat clearing full of broken limestone slightly elevated above the level of the surrounding terrain.
No. 190.1Q went right through the clearing. Not much to see here, so Lupe paused only long enough for a photo before continuing on. The good stuff was a little farther. Gradually losing elevation, the road wound SE through the forest, finally coming to the end of White Tail Peak’s short SE ridge.
Lupe arrived to find an American flag wrapped around a tree. Plenty of room to move around a level limestone platform here, and great views to the S and E. In addition to all the major peaks Loop had seen from the SW ridge, both Custer Peak (6,804 ft.) and Terry Peak (7,064 ft.) were in sight, too.
A 30 minute break was taken for water, a shared chocolate coconut bar, Taste of the Wild, and an apple, all consumed while enjoying the views. Pressed for time on a November day, Lupe then left the short SE ridge following No. 190.1Q almost all the way back to the summit.
100 feet before reaching the summit again, Lupe turned L (SW) onto a much fainter jeep trail leading down into the forest. Heading S, the jeep trail soon leveled out just E of, and 40 feet below, a narrow limestone spine along the start of the long SE ridge. The road continued another 0.25 mile, coming to an end at a viewpoint where Loop could see the short SE ridge which she had just been to.
This was not the end of the long SE ridge. However, the jeep trail went no farther due to a minor, but sudden drop ahead. Easily negotiating the drop on paw, Lupe continued on. A short climb followed by a gradual descent and the forest gave way to a big clearing. The end of the ridge was now just ahead.
Unobstructed, the views to the S from the end of White Tail Peak’s long SE ridge were wonderful! Stretching from E to W, they encompassed a vast expanse of the central Black Hills. Lupe enjoyed the marvelous scene from lofty perches along the edge of limestone cliffs.
1:03 PM, end of White Tail Peak’s long SE ridge – This was the premier viewpoint of the entire mountain, but whether Lupe could stay a while depended on what else was actually going to be on the agenda.
Gotta love White Tail Peak! Magnificent view, isn’t it, Loop? What do you want to do, though? Still interested in Peak 6962?
Will we have enough time for it, SPHP?
Probably, but the sun will be down before 4:30 PM. Sort of depends on how hard it is to get up there. Coming from the W like we did the only other times we’ve been there, the deadfall was terrible. If it’s like that coming from the N, we might not have enough daylight. In any case, we’d have to get going right away, if we don’t want to be stumbling around in the dark on the way back.
Well, if we don’t try for Peak 6962, what are our other options?
Oh, we’ve never really fully explored White Tail Peak’s N ridge. That might be pretty interesting. Could hang out here for a while then head that way. Plenty of time to do that.
Right or wrong, ambition won out. Peak 6962 had been more or less part of the plan all along. Lupe was soon heading back N again. Along the way she stopped briefly to admire a great view of the valley of the North Fork of Castle Creek, the same valley she’d explored earlier in the day that would serve as her return route, too.
After going over White Tail Peak’s true summit again, Lupe followed USFS Road No. 190.1Q farther N than where she’d reached it on the way up. She then abandoned the road to turn SW down a broad valley. This was a shortcut back to the burn area close to No. 190.1O, allowing Loop to avoid having to retrace her earlier exploration of the SW ridge.
The shortcut worked great! Loopster made it back to the North Fork of Castle Creek where the valley first divided NW of Peak 6962 with time enough for a quick ascent. Crossing the creek, she took the branch of the divide she hadn’t explored this morning. A mile S, then a mile E, and the American Dingo would be back at Peak 6962’s summit for the first time in over 6 years!
Didn’t happen. Should have stayed up on White Tail Peak enjoying the views and exploring the N ridge! Lupe didn’t get far heading S through the valley before coming to serious deadfall. No fortuitous, unexpected paths through it all here! When a slow, miserable trek demonstrated no sign that the deadfall was going to end anytime soon, that was it.
Sorry, Loop. It’ll be dark by the time we can force our way through 2 miles of this nonsense.
Are we done then, SPHP?
Yes, afraid so.
A pleasant mile back E through the valley of the North Fork of Castle Creek was all that remained of Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 283. Along the way, Lupe discovered the scattered bones of some big animal, which made for some interesting sniffing. She still made it back to the RAV4 before the sun was down.
Guess, the good news is that we still have reasons to come back to visit both Peak 6962 and White Tail Peak another day, SPHP!
Come to think of it, that was good news! (End 3:30 PM)
Links:
Next Black Hills Expedition Prior Black Hills Expedition
Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 209 – White Tail Peak (10-1-17)
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