Well, Loopster, it’s all been kind of leading up to this lately. Don’t know if you are going to meet with any success today or not, but we’re at least going to try it.
Lupe wasn’t worried. She wasn’t paying any attention to SPHP at all. The eastern sky was just beginning to get light, but she could see cows, lots of big, beautiful, black cows, in the pastures along I90. The cow-crazed American Dingo was busy barking for all she was worth. A little later on, NW of Sundance along Hwys 14 & 24, there were herds of deer to entertain her, too.
Wyoming Hwy 24 goes right past America’s very first national monument. Lupe’s first stop of the day was a quick one to see Devil’s Tower (5,112 ft.). Not a soul was around early on a Sunday morning in November. The sun’s first rays struck the tower while Lupe was there to see it.
Lupe and SPHP didn’t go into the national monument. Devil’s Tower is one peak Lupe is never going to bag unless she sprouts Dingo Wings. However, with a little luck, she was going to get to see the top of it today! After a good look at Devil’s Tower, Lupe and SPHP continued N on Hwy 24.
On 3 consecutive Black Hills Expeditions to the Bear Lodge Mountains, Lupe had seen distant views of both Devil’s Tower and the Missouri Buttes from a variety of vantage points. They are the most famous and dramatic landmarks in the entire NE Wyoming region. Although climbing Devil’s Tower was completely out of the question for the Carolina Dog, she was here now to try her luck climbing the Missouri Buttes (5,374 ft.).
SPHP had good reasons to believe Lupe might not make it. There are actually 4 separate buttes in the Missouri Buttes cluster. All are located within an area covering no more than 2 square miles about 4 miles NW of Devil’s Tower. The problem was, all of the Missouri Buttes are on private land. Lupe’s first hurdle was to find and secure permission from the landowner to enter the owner’s private property.
Even if permission could be secured to access the private property, there was another big problem. The only information SPHP found online about climbing Missouri Buttes was a trip report by PanamaRed on SummitPost.org indicating there was Class 3 & 4 scrambling with some exposure near the top of the highest NW Missouri Butte. Lupe and SPHP are up for some light Class 3, but anything approaching Class 4 just wasn’t going to happen.
Three miles N of Devil’s Tower junction, Lupe and SPHP left Highway 24 on Barlow Canyon Road. The gravel road crossed the Belle Fourche River, went a mile N, and then turned W.
SPHP wasn’t certain where to go, but wound up at the Lake Guest Ranch headquarters located near the NW end of Missouri Buttes Lake. Even though it was early on a Sunday morning, SPHP received a friendly reception from a couple of ranch hands. The ranch owner was available to talk to!
SPHP was invited in to talk to the owner. The Lake Guest Ranch HQ was a pretty cool place inside. SPHP was hopeful. When SPHP explained to the owner why Lupe was here – to seek permission to climb the Missouri Buttes, the response was polite, but firm. The answer was no. The owner’s insurance wouldn’t allow it, it was hunting season and dangerous, etc.
The negative response was devastating! Well, not devastating – there are plenty of mountains in the world Lupe can climb – but it was disappointing. That was that, though, nothing could be done about it. Lupe wasn’t going to get to climb the Missouri Buttes. Until …
Until the Lake Guest Ranch owner said that he didn’t even own the land the 2 highest Missouri Buttes are on. Didn’t own the land?! Who did? It was part of the Nuckoll ranch. His neighbor J.W. Nuckoll owns the land came the response. SPHP was given a phone number for the Nuckoll ranch.
Back in the G6, SPHP tried the phone number. A recording, but no response. Hmmm. Didn’t we pass a sign or something for the Nuckoll ranch on the way here, Loop? I think we did.
Not sure, SPHP. Unless it was branded on the side of a cow, I wouldn’t have noticed!
Lupe and SPHP drove off from the Lake Guest Ranch looking for the Nuckoll ranch. Along Barlow Canyon Road, there it was. A mailbox said Nuckoll, and an old building nearby said something about Nuckoll sheep and wool. This was it! A driveway led more than a mile S into a side canyon before ending at two houses. A sign on the first one said J.W. & Thea Nuckoll.
J.W. was an old-timer. He was on oxygen, but was friendly when SPHP met him. SPHP explained why Lupe was here. J.W. said he had climbed the Missouri Buttes himself. He had even climbed Devil’s Tower! That was good, that was very good. Surely he would understand?
He did! Mr. Nuckoll agreed to let Lupe and SPHP climb the Missouri Buttes. He had even more good news. When SPHP asked how difficult a climb it was, Mr. Nuckoll told SPHP about a trail to the top of the highest NW Missouri Butte. That sounded great! SPHP then asked about the NE Missouri Butte, too. Mr. Nuckoll said it was even possible to ride a horse to the top of the NE butte. Lupe would have no problem! SPHP thanked Mr. Nuckoll, and went off to tell Lupe the good news.
In just a few minutes, Lupe was on her way (8:51 AM, 53°F)! The first part of the hike started farther along the driveway, beyond the two houses. For a short distance, Lupe was on a road continuing up the little canyon. There were lots of cows around. Lupe and SPHP climbed a forested slope heading SSW to avoid them. Up above, Lupe arrived at the edge of a huge gently sloping field. The highest NW Missouri Butte (5,374 ft.) was already in view!
The somewhat lower NE Missouri Butte (5,212 ft.) is closer to Devil’s Tower, and wasn’t any farther away than the highest NW Butte. Lupe and SPHP decided to go for the NE Missouri Butte first. Even though the SE end of the butte looked the most rugged, Lupe went over to take a look at it, and see if Devil’s Tower was in view.
The SE end of the NE Missouri Butte was quite steep and rocky, but it didn’t look impossible to climb up from here. However, Lupe had already seen that the NW end of the butte was definitely easier. Lupe and SPHP went back around to the NW end, where Lupe made her ascent.
Slippery pine needles on a moderately steep slope were about all Lupe had to contend with going up. Before long, Lupe was at the true summit of the NE Missouri Butte, which proved to be near the SE end of the ridge. An old wooden cross was sticking up from a summit cairn near some of the highest rocks. The panoramic views toward the E were spectacular!
Of course, Devil’s Tower was the most striking landmark in view. Much farther away, Warren Peaks (6,650 ft.) and Inyan Kara (6,360 ft.) could be seen, too, although they didn’t show up all that well in the morning haze. Long pine-covered ridges with yellow cliffs, and the Belle Fourche River valley were off to the NE. To the W, Lupe could see her next peakbagging goal, the NW butte, which is highest of all the Missouri Buttes.
Lupe and SPHP took a break up on NE Missouri Butte. The views were really awesome. It was so wonderful that Mr. Nuckoll had granted Lupe permission to come and see this unique scene. Lupe could see the top of Devil’s Tower from here!
After 45 minutes spent enjoying the summit of the NE Missouri Butte, it was time for Lupe to go see if she could find the trail Mr. Nuckoll spoke of leading to the top of the highest NW Missouri Butte. Lupe went down the W slope of the NE Missouri Butte, and crossed the saddle over to the NW butte.
A big gash was visible on the NE side of the NW Missouri Butte, but it looked mighty steep and straight. Mr. Nuckoll had spoken of the trail up the butte making a sharp turn. SPHP didn’t think Lupe should try going up that NE gash. It didn’t look like there was any way a trail could make a sharp turn from there.
The post by PanamaRed on SummitPost.org didn’t say what route he had taken to the top, but SPHP had the impression from photos PanamaRed posted that he had climbed up from the NW. If that led to Class 3 & 4 scrambling, Lupe wouldn’t succeed in going up that way either.
Lupe started up the NW Missouri Butte from a boulder field at the base of the N face.
Lupe climbed up beyond the boulders into a zone of trees and bushes. It was steep going, but still doable. The worst part was the incredible number of low thorny bushes. They didn’t seem to bother Lupe, but SPHP had to watch carefully before grabbing on to anything.
When Lupe reached the base of the cliff, she worked her way to the W, still climbing steeply all the way among trees and thorny bushes. Her route led toward a couple of large rock protrusions sticking out to the N. About the time she got close to the first big rock formation, Lupe reached some steep grassy ground above most of the trees and thorny bushes.
It looked like there was a route continuing W (R) up a channel between rock formations. How high up this route went was difficult to see, although it looked like it might be possible to make a sharp turn to the E (L) near the top. Maybe that was the way to go? While pondering, SPHP suddenly realized Lupe was already on a very faint trail. The barely discernable trail went steeply up a ramp toward the E (L) from here.
Maybe it was best to check out the ramp first? The ramp went up to a high point where sunlight could be seen. May as well see what was on the other side of that high point, before attempting to negotiate the rocky channel.
The ramp was a relatively easy climb. In just a few minutes, Lupe and SPHP were at the top.
Devil’s Tower and the NE Missouri Butte, where Lupe had just been, were both in view from the top of the ramp. Peering S around the corner to the NE side of the butte, SPHP was surprised and pleased to see that the ramp continued. It leveled out quite a bit as it traversed the NE face of the butte.
The ramp’s continuation was an easy walk, but didn’t go very far. It soon ended at place where a few rocky steps up brought Lupe onto the moderately sloping NE part of the summit area. The good news was that Lupe was almost to the top! A short walk through a forest of junipers would take her to the summit of the highest NW Missouri Butte. Her peakbagging success was assured!
The bad news was that Lupe’s nemesis was here, too, in great profusion! The first thing SPHP saw upon gaining the summit area was cactus. Lots of big cacti clusters were scattered around. Lupe would have to be carried the rest of the way to the true summit.
So, Lupe wound up being toted the last 150 feet to the true summit of the highest NW Missouri Butte. She took her summit break there, under strict orders not to move around. She wanted to be where SPHP was anyway, so it all worked out fine.
PanamaRed had posted a photo of the Missouri Buttes USGS survey benchmark, but at first SPHP didn’t see it. A brief search revealed it partially hidden by a bush along the very NW edge of the summit, a little way W of the highest rocks.
The best views from the NW Missouri Butte in the vicinity of the true summit were the panoramic views to the W and N. Junipers blocked the views in other directions. Even though the air was rather hazy, it was still possible to see the outline of the Bighorn Mountains to the W. Off to the NW and N, there was nothing higher than NW Missouri Butte anywhere in sight.
After 25 or 30 minutes relaxing near the true summit, it was time to explore the SW part of the summit area, which was hidden by juniper trees. SPHP had to carry Lupe for fear of the cacti, but she didn’t mind getting a free ride. From the SW end of the summit area, it was possible to see the Lake Guest Ranch HQ and Missouri Butte Lake.
Lupe also had a clear view of the 2 lower S Missouri Buttes.
Lupe and SPHP returned to the summit for a final look around. Lupe then got carried back down to the NE end of the summit area near the start of the ramp. Before taking the ramp down, Lupe checked out the views from this end of NW Missouri Butte.
Lupe took the ramp all the way back down to its beginning on the steep grassy slope near the large rock protrusions where SPHP first noticed the very faint trail. Now that it was clear there actually was a trail, it was possible to see it continuing on down the mountain.
The trail went down to a much larger boulder field than the one Lupe had crossed coming up. This area was well to the W of the area of trees and thorny bushes below the cliff Lupe had been in earlier. Lupe went all the way down the boulder field, passed through a couple of stands of trees, and reached the pasture below the N face of NW Missouri Butte.
From near a stock pond, it was possible to get a good look at the best route up the mountain.
Lupe had climbed both the highest Missouri Buttes. Her Expedition No. 181 was an unqualified peakbagging success! However, there was still a lot of daylight left. Why not go take another look from the top of the NE Missouri Butte? A few hours had gone by, and the sun would be shining from another angle. There was only a little bit of cactus up there that SPHP had seen at the far SE end. Lupe could avoid it easily.
Lupe was fine with going back up. So once again, she climbed the W slope and then followed the summit ridge SE to the top of the NE Missouri Butte. With the afternoon sun now lighting up the near side of Devil’s Tower, the view was even better than earlier in the day.
Lupe and SPHP spent another 30 beautiful minutes up on the NE Missouri Butte. Then it was time to call it a day. SPHP had told Mr. Nuckoll that it would be great to get a chance to talk to him some more when Lupe returned from Missouri Buttes. It was probably best to get there well before the Nuckolls wanted to have their supper.
Lupe left NE Missouri Butte for the 2nd and final time. She liked crossing the huge, wide open pasture, and going through the forest on the way back. Before long, she was back at the Nuckoll’s house (3:26 PM, 55°F).
No one was around. SPHP checked both homes, but there was no one to thank for the wonderful day Lupe had on the Missouri Buttes. No telling where the Nuckolls had gone, or when they might return. SPHP left a note in the door.
Then a very lucky American Dingo, one which had been to the top of the two highest Missouri Buttes, enjoyed a noisy evening drive past herds of cattle and deer on her way home.
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Thanks Lupe, to take a photographer with you to share your explorations! 😂👍
The best pics collection and description of the area around the big stump Ive seen until now.
regards
johan
DACH/middle europe
Hi, Johan!
Since I can’t climb the “big stump”, Missouri Buttes is the best way to get a look at its summit. Really quite a cool perspective, especially from the somewhat lower, but closer, East Missouri Butte.
It’s SPHP’s duty to serve not only as my porter, but also chauffeur and photographer. Glad to hear you enjoyed the pics! Even better in real life, of course. Hope you get a chance to visit Missouri Buttes sometime, although it’s admittedly quite a jaunt from middle Europe.