Good grief! The temperature, already chilly enough back at home, was dropping instead of rising. Maybe a Black Hills expedition today wasn’t such a great idea after all? Lupe had been as enthusiastic as always, though. Hopefully the morning would warm up as forecast. This afternoon it was supposed to get a little above freezing, a heatwave compared to the 14°F the G6 was registering.
By the time Lupe was on East Cascade Mountain Road off Hwy 71 approaching the Seven Sisters Range High Point (4,420 ft.), the G6 said it was 20°F out. Better, but still a crispy start. SPHP parked the G6 just N of the junction with Big Buck Boulevard (7:49 AM). A few minutes later, Lupe had permission to enter and inspect the private property to the E.
20 acres were for sale by owner E of Big Buck Boulevard. The property was all barb wire fenced and had a small, partially finished cabin on it. The acreage was tucked in a scenic spot at the base of the Seven Sisters Range High Point, and went partway up the mountainside. Although some of the land was a bit steep and rocky, most of it was horse pasture. The asking price was $100,000.
Two horses were supposedly on the property. Lupe saw no sign of them, but did see horses in pastures to the N and S. Cows at a cattle operation W of Big Buck Boulevard were mooing loudly. The property had an ambiance that an American Dingo could certainly appreciate! Lupe went to sniff around the little cabin. She got up on the deck that faced N toward the best view.
The cabin was 7 years old, but only partially completed. No heat, no power and no water. Kind of a Spartan existence. Lupe couldn’t go inside, and it didn’t take her long to complete her outside inspection. She left the cabin to head up the mountain for an even better look at the view.
Lupe kept climbing. The higher she went, the better the views were.
Lupe reached the top of the W face of the mountain near the N end. For the most part, trees hid the views. Lupe could no longer see the little cabin, but managed to find a few gaps between the trees from which she could see off into the distance.
The mountain’s true summit was clearly farther S, somewhere close to the edge of the W face. Loopster led the way S to go look for it.
Winter had made a comeback in the past week. It certainly felt like February again! When Lupe came to a small snow-free patch of ground before even reaching the high point, SPHP called a halt. Time to warm up! Lupe huddled inside SPHP’s jacket. She was shivering a little. SPHP took off a shoe to warm up a foot.
After a few minutes resting quietly, Lupe tensed up. Off to the NE, a herd of deer was running through the snow. Although quite a distance away, the deer were of keen interest to the Carolina Dog. Lupe watched excitedly until the last deer disappeared into the forest.
When Lupe quit shivering and SPHP’s foot had warmed up, it was time to carry on. The high point couldn’t be much farther.
The Seven Sisters Range High Point (4,420 ft.) wasn’t far from where Lupe had warmed up. The summit area turned out to be quite large, 200 – 300 feet long N/S and not quite as wide E/W. The whole area was thinly forested. The terrain was so flat it was hard to discern any definite exact highest spot among the snow drifts.
The best views were along the edge of the steep W face of the mountain, though the ground seemed slightly higher a little farther E. Lupe toured the summit area hoping to find a squirrel in one of the trees, but it was so cold out any squirrels must have been curled up in their holes and wrapped in their bushy tails for warmth.
Disappointed by the lack of squirrels, Lupe continued S near the W rim of the mountain. Grand open vistas were on display to the SW. Under the overcast sky, the snow made the scene look clean and white, remote and desolate. What a great place to be! Off to the E, South Knapple Canyon was in view.
When Lupe got to the area near High Point 4360 on the Peakbagger.com topo map, she had a clear view of her next peakbagging objective, Peak 4371, ahead.
Beyond High Point 4360, the ridgeline turned SE. Soon Lupe could see far below a snowy pass she would have to traverse to get to Peak 4371.
As Lupe continued SE, she discovered a snow-covered road. The road descended gradually at first, but became steep, rocky, and soft as it made a sharp turn down to the pass. Following the road made it much easier for Lupe to get down to the pass than it would have been otherwise.
The road did not continue up Peak 4371. Upon reaching the pass, Lupe left it. She enjoyed a snowy romp over to the base of Peak 4371’s NE ridge. The NE ridge was the steepest part of the climb up the mountain, but wasn’t bad at all. When Lupe was halfway up, the ridgeline turned W gaining elevation at an easier pace.
Peak 4371 had looked fairly heavily forested from a distance. SPHP wasn’t certain if Lupe would find any clear views from the top. On her way up the W ridge, Looper agreed to pose for a photo at nice viewpoint, just in case the summit was buried in trees.
Lupe didn’t reach the summit of Peak 4371 until she made it all the way to the far W end of the mountain. The summit area here was much smaller than at the Seven Sisters Range High Point, though there was still plenty of room to move around. The whole area sloped moderately down toward the E. A rock very close to the W edge of the mountain was clearly the true summit.
Trees were at the summit of Peak 4371, but the top of the mountain wasn’t buried in them as SPHP had feared. Views could be seen in most directions, although Lupe often had to move around a bit to get a clear look. The whole summit area was only 50 or 60 feet in diameter, so it didn’t take Lupe long to explore it.
The best view from Peak 4371 was a sweeping panorama to the SSW. Lupe was fortunate to be here on a day when the white snow made the scene particularly beautiful. Lupe could see her next peakbagging objective, Peak 4310, plus a couple other peaks of interest.
Lupe left the summit of Peak 4371 following the SE ridge. She was losing elevation steadily, but it was soon apparent that she was going to have to lose it even faster. Below to the S, she could see the wide pass leading to Peak 4310. The slope leading down to it was rather steep.
This time there wasn’t any road to follow. Lupe started directly down the steep S slope. She had barely left Peak 4371’s SE ridgeline, however, when suddenly Lupe wanted to stop. Exactly why wasn’t clear. Nevertheless, only 10 or 12 feet below the edge of the ridge, Lupe and SPHP stopped to rest on a small rock ledge.
Even though it had warmed up enough to be helpful by now, SPHP let Lupe huddle inside the jacket. She wasn’t shivering, though, like last time. Maybe she had stepped on a cactus under the snow? Maybe she had heard something that had made her nervous? Her reason for wanting to stop wasn’t clear, but Lupe seemed happy resting right here. At least the view of Peak 4310 was splendid.
Another idea. Maybe Lupe was hungry? She was! She devoured an entire bowl of Taste of the Wild. The poor Carolina Dog was famished! Climbing two mountains already had built up an appetite.
While Lupe was crunching happily away, SPHP noticed what appeared to be a structure near the W end of Peak 4310 where the true summit was supposed to be. A house or some sort of outbuilding? A tower was in view near it, too. Using the camera’s telephoto lens, SPHP saw that the structure was a shed of some sort, not a home. A road could also be seen winding up the NW side of the mountain to reach a high saddle E of the true summit.
Even after dining, Lupe was perfectly content right where she was. However, it was time to press on. Puppy, ho! Picking a way down the steep, snowy slope took a while, but Lupe made it down to the pass. From the pass, she took the road up to the high saddle in the middle of Peak 4310. On the other side of the saddle, off to the SE, was another surprise. A rather nice cabin was situated in a wooded area.
Peak 4310 has two high points at opposite ends of the mountain. The true summit is to the W. Slightly lower High Point 4304 is to the E. Lupe went to check out High Point 4304 first, passing to the N of the hidden cabin.
At High Point 4304, Lupe found a large rock. From it, she had a great view to the SE down Red Canyon. She could see Angostura Reservoir, the largest lake in the Black Hills region. The lake is formed by a dam on the Cheyenne River.
The view toward Angostura Reservoir was the best, but Loop could also see Flagpole Mountain (4,320 ft.) to the S.
Having seen what there was to see from High Point 4304, Lupe headed W to visit the true summit of Peak 4310. She passed by the hidden cabin again.
Although Peak 4310 was the lowest hill Lupe climbed on Expedition No. 193, the true summit was the most barren and open here. Consequently, the views were amazing! The summit area was larger than Peak 4371’s, but smaller than at the Seven Sisters Range High Point.
With fantastic views in practically every direction, Lupe and SPHP lingered on top of Peak 4310 longer than anywhere else. A medium-sized flat rock was at the true summit of the mountain. Lupe and SPHP sat here for a while admiring the wintery scenes all around. SPHP ate an apple. Lupe sat contently on SPHP’s lap, enjoying being petted and adored.
Upon reaching Peak 4310, Lupe had achieved all of her primary peakbagging goals for Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 193. Yet the position of the sun, seen dimly through the clouds, indicated it was only mid-day. Lupe had a few secondary goals in the general area. Maybe she still had time to climb another peak, if she got back to the G6 soon enough?
After the apple was gone, Lupe and SPHP spent an extra 10 minutes on Peak 4310, simply wandering around looking at all the splendid views again. Before departing, Lupe returned to the rock at the true summit. It was a little sad to be leaving such a great place.
To return to the G6, Lupe had to retrace her entire route. She took the road from the high saddle on Peak 4310 all the way back down to the pass leading to Peak 4371. She climbed Peak 4371’s steep S slope, passing by her prior rest stop at the little rock ledge just below the SE ridgeline. Here she turned for one last look at Peak 4310. It was as beautiful as a Christmas card.
Since it was on her way, Lupe tagged the rock at the true summit of Peak 4371 again. Then she went back down the E ridge along the N side of the mountain. Where the E ridge angled NE, the Carolina Dog climbed up on a big rock outcropping for yet another look around.
As Lupe continued down the NE ridge to the next pass, the sun made its best effort of the day to break through the clouds. Patches of blue sky began appearing. The day felt warmer. Snow softened and began to melt.
Down at the pass, Lupe got back on the road leading up to the Seven Sisters Range High Point. Approaching High Point 4360 again, she saw another herd of deer up there. The Carolina Dog raced off to investigate, perhaps with the intention of procuring dinner, but the deer had a huge head start on her. They were long gone well before she reached High Point 4360.
As far as Lupe was concerned, it was still an exhilarating experience!
SPHP went back up to High Point 4360 with Lupe to see where the deer had been. No telling if this had been the same herd Lupe saw early in the day when she stopped at the snow-free spot to warm up. Probably not, since this was the opposite S end of the mountain, and those deer had been heading N.
Back to the road. Lupe didn’t have much farther to go to reach the Seven Sisters Range High Point again.
Lupe had to leave the road to return to the Seven Sisters Range High Point summit. Another mountain successfully ascended for a 2nd time today!
This time, Lupe didn’t linger very long. She already knew there weren’t any squirrels to be found here! She continued N along the scenic W rim of the mountain.
Lupe went all the way back to the N end of the mountain for a final look at the view there. Then she started down the W slope where she had originally come up early in the day. SPHP took a long time to picking a way down the steep slope, but Lupe eventually arrived back at the rustic cabin and 20 acres for sale (2:04 PM, 35°F).
With 3.5 hours left before sunset, it seemed like Lupe ought to be able to climb another peak today. However, the G6 fell just short of making it up a long snowy slope on West Cascade Mountain Road. SPHP wasn’t even certain this was the way to Peak 4340, so decided to forget this one until the snow was gone. Miles farther N, the road to Peak 4160 was a muddy, sloppy mess.
So that was it. No more peaks. Expedition No. 193 was over. Oh, well! Lupe didn’t care. She had a wonderful time barking at cows and horses all the way home. SPHP didn’t really care either. What a wonderful day it had already been, roaming the Seven Sisters Range with the plucky Carolina Dog, exploring an unexpectedly gorgeous part of Lupe’s world!
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