Day 6 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Bighorn Mountains & Wind River Range of Wyoming!
Hah! So easy! In a 20 mph NW wind, Lupe stood next to the little cairn at Duncum Mountain’s true summit. Less than 10 minutes ago (7:14 AM, 47°F), SPHP had parked the G6 at the highest point of USFS Road No. 11 just E of the summit. Except for what appeared to be a diffuse haze from the smoke of distant wildfires, the sky was clear.
Lupe had views in every direction from the treeless, flat mountaintop. The last time she’d been here a little over a month ago, she hadn’t seen a thing. Duncum Mountain (9,831 ft.) had been shrouded in dense fog.
SPHP had practically gotten lost in the fog back then. Seemed silly now. The top of the mountain, although big and flat, wasn’t nearly as large as it had seemed in the fog. The long, deep depression E of the cairn didn’t seem nearly as big as it had before either.
Duncum Mountain has 2 summits, one to the NW where Lupe was now, and one only 1 foot lower a mile to the SE. Lupe had already been to the SE summit in June. She had gotten to see more there, since the fog had just been rolling in. By returning to the NW summit this morning when it was possible to get a look around, it felt like Loop had taken care of some unfinished business.
The most important view from Duncum Mountain for the Carolina Dog today was of Sheep Mountain (9813 ft.) 5 miles to the N. That’s where she would be heading next.
All corked up and excited by her breezy romp on Duncum Mountain, Lupe returned to the G6. (7:35 AM). SPHP drove N on USFS Road No. 11. Two miles led to a junction where USFS Road No. 110 curved off to the E on its way to Boyd Ridge. Lupe and SPHP stayed on No. 11.
A second junction was only another mile N. USFS Road No. 111 (Marble Quarry Road) headed off to the NE. No. 11 continued N toward Sheep Mountain. SPHP parked the G6 at the intersection. Looked like No. 11 (actually No. 11.01) deteriorated significantly from here.
Sheep Mountain was only 2 miles away. Lupe and SPHP set off on paw and foot down No. 11. (8:26 AM, 51°F)
20 minutes later, the Carolina Dog was back. Why, No. 11 wasn’t so bad! A short initial stretch was rough, but the G6 ought to be able to sneak through. The road got better just down the hill. Lupe and SPHP piled in. Carefully, carefully SPHP nursed the G6 through the rough zone.
Lousy idea! The good stretch of road wasn’t that long. The G6 managed to make it all the way to a third junction S of Sheep Mountain, but SPHP vowed never again! High clearance would have made all the difference in the world. Of course, Pontiac always boasted of building excitement into every vehicle. The excitement of wondering if you are ever actually going to get there or not.
Still, the G6 was a trooper. Lupe was practically at Sheep Mountain’s S slope. SPHP parked near the junction of USFS Road No. 105, which goes to Hannans Coulee, and No. 11. (9:05 AM, 51°F) Lupe hopped out and started climbing.
The S end of Sheep Mountain was a big, rounded, grassy slope dotted with big rocks. Lupe was in for a long, but easy climb. She came to a couple of larger rock outcroppings on the way.
The top of Sheep Mountain was a vast plain, slightly higher toward the far N end where large, vertical-sided, flat rock formations appeared to delineate a sharp edge. To the Carolina Dog’s immense disappointment, not a single sheep was to be seen.
As Lupe approached the rock formations, it began to dawn on SPHP that what had seemed like a complete cake walk might not be so easy after all. Deep fissures scarred the N end of Sheep Mountain dividing massive platforms of rock into separate islands in the sky.
Loop might not even be able to get close to the summit!
The situation wasn’t as worrisome as it first appeared. The long fissures weren’t necessarily continuous. Lupe crossed one at a merely shallow spot. She was soon next to the highest platform, located along the NW side of the mountain. Here, though, the fissures prevented her from getting any closer.
This wasn’t going to work. Lupe circled back around to the SW looking for a way to enter the fissure separating her from the highest platform.
Yes! There was a way!
Lupe went through the fissure. Even though the rock platforms were only 25 or 30 feet high, she reached the far end without seeing a way up. Here she discovered another fissure perpendicular to the one she had just come through. Turning L, this second fissure ended at two windows opening onto cliffs.
From the W end of the second fissure, Lupe saw a place where she could scramble up to a narrow shelf along the N side of the highest platform. Whether it would lead to a route to the top or not wasn’t clear, but it looked worth trying.
Lupe could travel along the shelf easily enough, but overhanging rock forced SPHP to crawl 8 or 10 feet before being able to stand. The top of the platform wasn’t all that much higher, but this N end presented no opportunity to get up there. It appeared possible, though, that the shelf might extend around the corner leading into the first fissure.
It did! As soon as Loop made the turn, she saw a route up. In a flash, the American Dingo scrambled to the top of Sheep Mountain (9,813 ft.).
This had to be it, didn’t it? Old boards and smooth wire like Lupe had seen at many other summits were scattered around. A crude circle of big rocks surrounded the “Sheep” benchmark. Yeah, this was it!
Nails were sticking out of the old boards. First thing SPHP did was to toss all the boards into one big pile so Looper wouldn’t get hurt. Then, after discovering the survey benchmark, it was time for a look around.
Off to the NE was another rock formation that looked like it might even be a few feet higher than this one. Hard to tell, but it certainly had to be close to as high as Lupe was here, if not higher. Hmm. Maybe she could check out that high point, too?
As it was, if this was good enough for the surveyor, it was good enough for Dingo work. The Carolina Dog was claiming a successful ascent of Sheep Mountain (9,813 ft.), whether she ever got over there or not!
In all directions, Lupe had sweeping views of typical Bighorn Mountain high country. Sheep Mountain isn’t in a particularly rugged part of the range. The overall impression was one of vastness.
Once again, the views to the N were of particular interest. Lupe’s final objective, the Big Horn County High Point (9,257 ft.) at the Montana border was less than 5 miles NNW as the crow flies. A line of sheer cliffs could be seen in that direction. Beyond them were two more distant high points. Hard to tell from here exactly where the Big Horn County High Point might be, but it had to be somewhere in that vicinity.
The sights from Sheep Mountain were beautiful, but with such a long trek ahead, Lupe stayed up on the summit platform only half an hour. She wanted to spend at least some time seeing if she could get over to that competing high point to the NE.
As Lupe was about to start back down, SPHP suddenly spotted a second survey marker. Loop had gone right by it on the way up. This marker also said “Sheep” and had an arrow pointing toward the benchmark in the circle of rocks.
Once back down at the W end of the second fissure again, Lupe headed E through it. She emerged at a flat, open area. To the N was a wall of rock.
Getting past the rock wall was easy enough. Lupe dropped down a slope to the E, then turned N again. Soon she had worked her way around to the backside of the competing high point.
The competing high point was only a 20 or 25 foot high scramble, but it was steep with exposure. SPHP considered it, but ultimately decided against an attempt. Lupe could have climbed up easily enough, but she wasn’t going to, not if SPHP wasn’t. Nah, not worth it. A little too scary. The top looked narrow and precarious.
Beyond yet another smaller rock formation to the N, Sheep Mountain dropped off sharply. Lupe and SPHP retreated S back around the rock wall, through the fissures, and headed SE. As soon as it was practical, Lupe started down the E slope. She turned NE, passing through bits of forest, which she enjoyed, ultimately returning to USFS Road No. 11.01.
Upon reaching No. 11.01 again, a 4 mile trek N began. The road switchbacked around a little on the way down Sheep Mountain’s N slope. N of Point 9162 Loop traveled W of the road through a forested area to get out of the sun and wind. However, the forest soon ended, and Loopster returned to the breezy, open road.
By the time Lupe reached a saddle S of High Point 9118, she had lost nearly 1,000 feet of elevation.
Looper now had to regain a quarter of that 1,000 feet going up and over High Point 9118. She came to two intersections on the way. First, USFS Road No. 103 angled off to the L on its way to Cookstove Basin. Higher up, a faint No. 101 disappeared into sparse grass E of No. 11.01.
From the top of High Point 9118, Lupe had a nice view of Sheep Mountain back to the S.
She could also see N most of the rest of the way to the Montana state line. From here on, the elevation changes along No. 11.01 were minor. The road became an easy, breezy stroll along the open, rolling spine of the Bighorn Range.
Approaching the Montana state line, No. 11.01 curved W, then back to the N as it entered the Lime Creek drainage. A rough unmarked road, which may have been USFS Road No. 647, headed up a ridge to the W. Lupe followed No. 11.01 all the way down to a fenced-off cattle guard. The American Dingo had made it to the Montana border!
The Big Horn County, MT High Point was only 0.67 mile W from where Looper reached the Montana border. Still on the Wyoming side, she turned W following the fence, but soon came to a second fence which had fallen over leaving 4 strands of barbed wire laying on the ground. To avoid this hazard, Lupe left the fence line and took the unmarked road (No. 647?) WSW.
This road climbed steadily, and angled even farther away from the fence heading SW along the SE side of a big drainage. Soon Lupe could see the big hill the fence had headed for on the far side of the drainage. That hill had to be the Big Horn County High Point!
Heading around the SW end of the big drainage without losing elevation, Lupe then turned NNW. She discovered a jeep trail, and followed it up to the Big Horn County High Point (9,257 ft.).
The top of the mountain was pleasant, but unremarkable. A 300 or 400 foot wide clearing of nearly level ground was surrounded on most sides by conifer forest. The only significant views were to the S or SE where there were few interfering trees. The barbed wire fence along the Wyoming/Montana line divided the clearing into roughly equal parts, half in Wyoming and half in Montana.
The highest ground was a bit lumpy and more toward the W side of the clearing, but still out in the open. A closed gate in the fence wasn’t far from the forest. SPHP did not open the gate. Instead, Lupe snuck under it. She was now in Montana.
SPHP had read trip reports saying a cairn was supposed to be close to this gate. Lupe found no cairn, but did find 5 white stones laying next to one another 10 feet NE of the E end of the gate.
A 5 foot yellow wand stood 20 feet E of the gate, and 5 or 6 feet N of the fence. Next to it was a short vertical pipe capped with a survey marker saying “Big Horn”. The base of the yellow wand was cracked and in poor condition, but for now the wand still stood swaying in a gentle breeze.
Lupe sniffed a little way into Montana. 70 feet NW of the gate, right along the edge of the forest, she made a discovery. White rocks spelled out a 2 word message. Only the “O” in the first word was legible, but the second word was clearly “land”. No doubt the message was intended to be “Crow Land”.
Trip reports SPHP had seen online had indicated “No Trespassing” signs were along the fence both here at the Big Horn County High Point, and back where USFS Road No. 11.01 reached the Montana border, but Lupe and SPHP had seen none at all anywhere today.
Short lengths of barbed wire were scattered around the area near the fence by the cairn remnant and the survey marker. Not a good thing. Lupe and SPHP retreated back into Wyoming.
It was a beautiful day, 60° F with puffy white clouds sailing by. The W wind had blown 15 to 20 mph most of the way here, but now it was only a soft breeze. Lupe liked the idea of resting in the shade at the edge of the forest. SPHP noticed she was licking her L front paw.
Close inspection revealed a couple small pieces of some dark material stuck in the fur between her pads. They didn’t look all that significant, but perhaps they were causing some abrasion? SPHP pulled them out. Lupe kept licking. When that grew tiresome, she took a nap.
Close to an hour went by. Better get moving. SPHP hoped Lupe’s paw was OK. Coming up lame way out here wouldn’t be good. Having seen what sights Montana’s Bighorn County High Point had to offer, Lupe and SPHP followed the jeep trail down the S slope.
No sense in going way back to where USFS Road No. 11.01 reached the Montana border. Lupe could take a more scenic and shorter route now that she knew the lay of the land. A trip to High Point 9222 was in order to see how the world looked from the top of those cliffs she’d seen much of the day.
High Point 9222 was awesome! A narrow neck of rocky terrain led to a platform of rock jutting out to the S beyond the rest of the line of cliffs. This platform had several lobes. Lupe had tremendous views not only of the cliffs nearby, but of a huge 270° panorama to the SE, SW, & NW.
After taking in the wonderful views from High Point 9222, Lupe traveled E, ultimately going SE around the upper NE slopes of High Point 9203, then on down to intersect USFS Road No. 11.01 again. Lupe kept licking her front L paw, but at least it didn’t seem to be getting worse.
Looper was all the way back to the saddle S of High Point 9118 again, when SPHP suddenly realized a line of showers was approaching from the W. It became a race to get back to the G6 before they hit. Following the road, Lupe climbed the lower N slopes of Sheep Mountain.
When No. 11.01 eventually began to lose elevation E of Sheep Mountain, the Carolina Dog left the road cutting S along the mountainside. This was somewhat of a shortcut, but still a long way. Lupe ended up passing NW of High Point 9586 on Sheep Mountain’s SW ridge before returning to No. 11.01 again.
Raindrops began falling several minutes before Lupe reached the G6. (6:21 PM, 61°F) Fortunately, the shower didn’t amount to much, and soon blew on by. The G6 made a slow, careful escape of the lousy section of road back to the intersection with No. 11 and No. 111 (Point 9422).
Lupe was at Highway 14A when the sun reappeared below a cloud bank as it sank rapidly toward the horizon. The Carolina Dog was famished! She devoured a whole can of Alpo. She followed up with a helping of Taste of the Wild. She was thirsty, and lapped up a bowlful of water.
And Lupe was tired! Duncum Mountain, Sheep Mountain, and the Big Horn County, Montana High Point had been a long day. The G6 was parked E of Bald Mountain (10,042 ft.) when Lupe curled up on her pile of pillows and blankets and fell fast asleep.
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Bucking Mule Falls, Porcupine Falls & Duncum Mountain, Bighorn Range, Wyoming (6-14-18)
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