The patio was damp, but that was all. It must have sprinkled overnight. Plenty of clouds were still around. Normally, even a little rain would help clear the air. Not this time. It was hazy. Very, very hazy. Otherwise it was a beautiful day in early May. SPHP hoped the haze would burn off before too long. Lupe didn’t care whether it did or not. She was charged up and ready to roll!
A couple miles before reaching the starting place for her peakbagging efforts, Lupe and SPHP made a quick stop to see Bridal Veil Falls in Spearfish Canyon. Later in the season Bridal Veil Falls often slows to a trickle, but the falls were beautiful this morning.
Bridal Veil Falls was looking great! The falls were probably near maximum springtime flow, barring a thunderstorm. Only 6 days ago on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 170, Lupe had found several inches of snow up on Kirk Hill (5,345 ft.) and Tetro Rock (5,562 ft.). The weather had really warmed up since then, especially the last 3 days which were near 80°F. Lupe loves the snow, but she wasn’t likely to find any remaining today. Bridal Veil Falls wasn’t going to get any more of a boost from melting snow, either.
After admiring the falls, Lupe and SPHP continued S on Hwy 14A going up Spearfish Canyon. SPHP was looking for USFS Road No. 186.2A, but doubted it would be marked as such. A little less than 2 miles from Bridal Veil Falls, there was a road to the E with a street sign that said Cleopatra. Right away, SPHP knew this was it! The little parking area close to Spearfish Creek was full, but SPHP found another place to park nearby (10:50 AM, 61°F).
SPHP knew this place. Lupe was at the confluence of Spearfish and Squaw Creeks. (“Maurice” on the Peakbagger.com topo map.) A trail goes up Squaw Creek perhaps a mile from here to the Devil’s Bathtub, a pool of water fed by a small waterfall. A hiking trail to the Devil’s Bathtub is popular with local residents, but is not marked and not well known to tourists.
Lupe wasn’t going to the Devil’s Bathtub today, however. Instead she was heading for Little Crow Peak (5,885 ft.), a nearby peak along the E rim of Spearfish Canyon. At least, that was the plan. SPHP had to find USFS Road No. 186.2 first. The Peakbagger.com topo map showed No. 186.2 winding E up out of Spearfish Canyon from somewhere above Squaw Creek.
Lupe and SPHP crossed the bridge below the confluence of Spearfish and Squaw Creeks. Lupe then started out on the low road leading to the Devil’s Bathtub trail. After just a few hundred feet, the trail left the road to cross Squaw Creek for the first time. Lupe didn’t cross the creek. If USFS Road No. 186.2 was still in existence, it would be somewhere higher up on this side of the canyon.
SPHP scanned the forest above to the E. It did look like there might be some terrain a short distance higher up that could be level enough for a road. Lupe was just past the last private cabin near Squaw Creek. Time to find out if USFS Road No. 186.2 was actually still up there somewhere or not, and if so, what kind of condition it was in. Lupe and SPHP started climbing up the steep forested slope.
Lupe didn’t have to climb far at all! She popped out of the forest onto a very nice little road. The road was rocky and narrow. Heading SE, it climbed steadily up the side of the canyon. There was no marker, but that wasn’t surprising. This almost had to be USFS Road No. 186.2. Lupe and SPHP started following it up.
No. 186.2 wound around some, but generally worked its way E for more than a mile. It was a rather steep climb the entire way. Lupe came to several grassy side roads, but she always stayed on the main road. The rocky road went relentlessly up and up. Lupe followed at SPHP’s heels much of the time. Lupe found the road a bit dull.
The map showed a power line crossing the road, but Lupe didn’t come to one. After Lupe had gone more than 0.75 mile, SPHP looked back down to the W. A swath of the forest had been cut in a straight line leading to the road. The old power line must have been here at one time. By now, Lupe was high enough to see a high forested hill off to the NW. That had to be Little Crow Peak (5,885 ft.)!
Lupe and SPHP stayed on No. 186.2 until it finally quit gaining elevation. As soon as the road leveled out, Lupe left it heading N into the forest. As Lupe reached the top of a broad forested ridge, she came to another road. The road was faint, but its existence was good news. It was going WNW toward Little Crow Peak.
The faint road didn’t go all the way up Little Crow Peak, but it did bring Lupe to a point just E of the final rise. The climb through the forest was pretty easy. As Lupe got higher up on the mountain, she encountered quite a bit of deadfall timber, but by then Lupe didn’t have much farther to go.
Fairly large rock outcroppings started appearing about the time the terrain began leveling out. Lupe was getting close to the summit of Little Crow Peak. Suddenly, SPHP spotted a cairn up on some high rocks a short distance ahead. Lupe was almost there!
Lupe scrambled up onto the rocks next to the cairn. Initially, SPHP thought this might well be the summit of Little Crow Peak. Peering to the W through the forest, though, it looked like there might well be a higher point not too much farther away.
The true summit proved to be roughly 150 feet W of the cairn. Lupe climbed up a larger rock formation there to claim her Little Crow Peak peakbagging success!
Forest hid the views in almost every direction. It hardly mattered. The entire sky remained very hazy. If the air had been clear, there was quite a nice view toward Terry Peak (7,064 ft.) to the SSE. As it was, the camera could barely detect Terry Peak in the haze, although it was visible to the naked eye. Lupe and SPHP took a rest break up on Little Crow Peak before continuing on.
When it was time to leave, Lupe went back E down the mountain, a little S of the way she had come up. This route avoided some of the deadfall timber, and brought Lupe to more interesting rock formations. It proved to be a somewhat easier way back to the faint road.
Lupe and SPHP followed the faint road ESE all the way until it reached USFS Road No. 186.2 some distance E of where Lupe had left it to climb Little Crow Peak. At least SPHP thought Lupe was back at No. 186.2, but she really wasn’t.
Lupe’s next peakbagging goal was Spearfish Peak (5,800 ft.). The original plan was to follow No. 186.2 E and then SE from Little Crow Peak. The Peakbagger.com topo map showed that No. 186.2 would reach an intersection with another road that wound its way several miles N along the top of a long ridge. That road would bring Lupe to a point close to Spearfish Peak where she should be able to climb it easily enough from the SE.
As Lupe and SPHP headed ENE along No. 186.2, it didn’t take too long for SPHP to realize something was wrong. The road should have gone almost due E just S of a slightly higher ridge to the N, but it didn’t. Lupe passed several side roads, but they didn’t look as well traveled as the road Lupe was on. They didn’t seem right either, and SPHP was reluctant to take them.
Lupe reached an intersection with a grassy road that continued NE. An ancient small bus was rusting away next to this side road. The main road turned E and started climbing again. SPHP pondered for only a moment. Lupe took the main road E.
The main road Lupe was following E led up onto some high ground. SPHP soon realized Lupe was on the ridge N of USFS Road No. 186.2. She was traveling the section line between Sections 10 & 15. There was supposed to be a power line here, according to the map, but none was present. The road was level at times, and at other times went up and down steep ravines.
As Lupe reached the E end of the high ground along the ridge, she came to a misspelled sign for the Carbonate Camp Cemetery. Lupe found 5 old gravesites here. Each grave was marked with a ring of small stones. There were no headstones, only a wooden board sticking up at the head of each grave. The boards were so old and weathered, any information that might have been on them about the deceased had long ago worn away.
E of Carbonate Camp Cemetery, the road soon wound steeply down into the upper reaches of Rubicon Gulch. Continuing E, the road went up and down over several steep hills. Lupe was delighted and SPHP was amazed, when she found several patches of snow still melting on the road.
At the final low point on the E side of Rubicon Gulch, a small stream flowed out to the NW from a culvert under the road. This stream eventually goes over Bridal Veil Falls, but it was much smaller up here. On the S side of the road was a slough, which SPHP naturally dubbed Rubicon Slough. The surface of Rubicon Slough was almost entirely thickly covered with gray-green duckweed. The water’s surface was scarcely visible.
A little SE of Rubicon Slough was a metal building, and a fence with a No Trespassing sign. The land to the S was likely part of the Richmond Hill mining operations. It was now clear that if Lupe had actually returned to No. 186.2 after leaving Little Crow Peak, it would have taken her into that private property. It was a good thing Lupe came the way she did. This route was a shortcut, too! Lupe had saved more than a mile coming via Carbonate Camp Cemetery and Rubicon Slough.
From Rubicon Slough, a very rocky road went NE up a ridge. Lupe and SPHP followed it. Near a power line at the top of the ridge, another road came in from the SSE. This was the road that would wind N following the long ridge to Spearfish Peak. It intersected the road from Rubicon Slough just S of a small private cabin.
A couple of Private Property signs near the little cabin had been spray painted over with black paint for some reason. Lupe continued N on the road, which SPHP now believed was USFS Road No. 220, although Lupe and SPHP never saw any marker for it. The road went past some other private property. At a fork in the road, Lupe stayed to the NW. She passed by some land for sale.
From the land for sale, the road went downhill and passed beneath the power line again. Spearfish Peak was now visible to the N. Lupe had come clear around the upper end of Rubicon Gulch, and was finally getting closer.
USFS Road No. 220 wound around to the W of the power line, but generally headed N toward Spearfish Peak. The road stayed up on the ridge. Sometimes Lupe could see Little Crow Peak to the SW. Eventually Spearfish Peak came into view. It wasn’t much farther N now!
USFS Road No. 220 eventually crossed under to the E side of the power line again, but Lupe did not. Instead, she followed a road going N beneath the power line for a little way. When a side road turned NW toward Spearfish Peak, Lupe took that one. It soon ended at the edge of the forest. A faint single track trail went up the SE ridge of Spearfish Peak. Lupe was able to follow it all the way to the top.
The rock formation at the top of Spearfish Peak was only a few feet high. Lupe immediately claimed her second peakbagging success of the day! Lupe found a survey benchmark right next to the highest rock.
Like Little Crow Peak, Spearfish Peak was heavily forested. Once again, the only open views were to the S. Unfortunately, the haze hadn’t dissipated at all yet.
It seemed like it had taken a long time to get to Spearfish Peak from Little Crow Peak. Lupe and SPHP were both ready for another break. SPHP ate the last apple. Lupe had Taste of the Wild. Water was the only other available provision. Lupe curled up to rest at SPHP’s feet.
Apparently, this haze was going to hang around all day. Strange, and a little frustrating. Approaching Spearfish Peak, there had been some big views evident off to the NE, but it had been impossible to actually see much. It was too bad, but there was nothing to be done about it.
When the rest break was over, Lupe posed for a few more summit photos. Then it was time to go.
On the way down again, the faint trail up the SE ridge was so faint that SPHP lost it entirely. It turned out Lupe was coming down well to the N of the trail. Lupe finally reached it again, not too far from the road.
Once Lupe was back on the road, all she had to do was retrace her earlier route back to Little Crow Peak. The return trip seemed to go considerably faster. SPHP didn’t have to keep stopping to check the maps anymore.
Lupe and SPHP were taking another break in the forest near the start of the faint road to Little Crow Peak when an ATV roared up the main road from the W. Surprisingly, the ATV stopped at the intersection. The driver spotted Lupe and SPHP right away and waved. SPHP waved back. Lupe growled. Within a minute, another ATV roared up and stopped. The two drivers got on their cell phones.
The first driver got off his ATV and came to talk to SPHP. Did SPHP know where the road to the Cleopatra Mine was? Not really, although the Cleopatra Mine was somewhere up Squaw Creek beyond the Devil’s Bathtub. The ATV’s weren’t that close to it here. The Cleopatra Mine was on a hillside, but a lot lower down than this.
SPHP mentioned how hazy it was. The ATV driver said the haze was smoke from the huge wildfire going on up near Ft. McMurray in Canada. SPHP was surprised, but it made some sense. That would explain why the haze hadn’t dissipated all day long. On the other hand, Ft. McMurray was an extremely long way N, way up in northern Alberta.
The ATV’s roared off. Lupe smiled. It was evening now. American Dingoes like this time of day. There was still time to go back up Little Crow Peak one more time. So, Lupe did. The cool evening air energized her. She raced through the forest sniffing. She found a few squirrels to bark at. She heard wild turkeys gobble in the woods. She climbed Little Crow Peak again.
Lupe and SPHP lingered on Little Crow Peak. It was cooler out now, and getting a little chilly. Finally, SPHP was ready. Lupe headed back down the mountain. SPHP had been collecting Lupe Treasures since leaving Spearfish Peak. SPHP resumed collecting along No. 186.2 on the way back to the G6. Lupe stayed on the alert for squirrels.
The way down seemed very long, steep, and rocky. No wonder it had been tough going up in the morning! Lupe stayed on No. 186.2 all the way down. At the bottom, SPHP wanted to see where No. 186.2 joined Cleopatra Road. It came out between private cabins just N (downstream) of the bridge over Spearfish Creek.
It had been a pretty long day. The light was fading. Someday Lupe would have to return to go see the Devil’s Bathtub. It was way too late to do that now. Time to go home (8:37 PM, 52°F).
For miles, Lupe rode in the G6 with her head out the window. She was hoping to see a deer, but there weren’t any down in Spearfish Canyon. Finally, Lupe gave up. She pulled her head back inside, curled up on the seat, and heaved a great sigh before falling asleep. At least there would be Alpo at home!
Lupe Treasures collected: 4 glass bottles, 4 plastic bottles, 30 aluminum cans.
Links:
Next Black Hills Expedition Prior Black Hills Expedition
Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 258 – Spearfish Peak & Little Crow Peak (11-19-20)
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