Author: Lupe

After nearly two weeks of weather too cold for a pleasant outdoor experience, Lupe was really, really ready for another Black Hills Expedition.  She had been thoroughly bored for days on end.  Saturday, March 7th arrived with a forecast high in the low 50’s after a couple of pretty nice days which helped to melt some of the snow around.  SPHP was ready to get back into action, too.

Lupe’s main peakbagging goal for the day was to climb Custer Mountain (6,089 ft.), located roughly 3 miles ESE of the town of Custer in the southern Black Hills.  (The Black Hills also feature a Custer Peak, which is considerably higher and better known.  Custer Peak is in the north central Black Hills.)  At 9:01 AM, SPHP parked the G6 near the intersection of USFS Roads No. 342 & 341, just 0.75 mile N of Custer Mountain.  Conditions were sunny, calm and 41 degrees F.

Lupe started out heading W on No. 341.  She hadn’t gone too far before it was  time to leave the road and start climbing the mountain to the S.  The climb was moderately steep heading through a Ponderosa pine forest typical of the Black Hills.  Due to the northern exposure there was a small amount of snow, not even half an inch, still on the ground.

SPHP could see through the forest that there were two high points above that might be the summit of Custer Mountain.  Lupe climbed up to the W high point first, but once there, it didn’t take much exploration to establish that the true summit of Custer Mountain was to the E.  After a brief break, Lupe headed past some nice rock outcroppings down into a little saddle that led to the final climb up the rather steep NW slope of Custer Mountain.

Pine bark beetles had killed large numbers of trees.  Although there was still a standing forest of living trees, there was a lot of deadfall timber to contend with on the ground too.  The climb up to the summit of Custer Mountain was consequently quite slow.  The summit itself was a bit surprising.  Having seen Custer Mountain from the S back on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 109 on 12-13-14, SPHP had expected a fairly large flat summit area, but instead there was a narrow rocky spine running N/S at the highest point.

The rocky spine was easily climbed and Lupe posed for a couple of photos up there.  There weren’t any distant views from the actual summit due to the surrounding forest.  After a brief time at the top, Lupe climbed down off the rocky spine and headed SE down into a small saddle which led to another close-by high spot.  This second high spot was much more level and had some open ground affording some fairly decent views to the SE.

Lupe had already accomplished her main peakbagging goal for the day, which was to climb Custer Mountain.  It was still very early in the day, so SPHP paused to consider what the plan might be from here.  Originally SPHP had supposed Lupe would next head over to Mt. Coolidge (6,023 ft.), about 2 miles to the ESE.  However, the view to the S was more interesting.  In that direction were three of the peaks Lupe had climbed back on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 109.  Kruger and Daisy Peaks were 1.5 to 2 miles away.  Northeast Cicero Peak was 4 miles away.

SPHP decided Lupe would skip Mt. Coolidge in favor of Kruger, Daisy and NE Cicero Peaks.  It would be a considerably longer day, but a more challenging and interesting day too.  The decision made, Lupe headed SW down off Custer Mountain.  After losing nearly all the elevation gained climbing Custer Mountain, she emerged into a valley, where loggers had greatly thinned the forest.  She followed a logging road down the valley to USFS Road No. 343.

A 0.25 mile hike along No. 343 brought Lupe to an intersection with USFS Road No. 337.  Lupe turned S on USFS Road No. 337.  Eventually Lupe left No. 337 to hike through the forest, and then through a field to the base of Kruger Peak (5,838 ft.).  She climbed Kruger Peak from the NW.  (The photo featured at the start of this post is of Lupe on the upper slopes of Kruger Peak with a view back to the NW towards Custer Mountain.)

There is a fairly flat area up on the top of Kruger Peak with a couple of rocky high points at the E and W ends.  Lupe visited both high points since neither was noticeably higher than the other.  SPHP and Lupe paused for a little while to enjoy the Kruger Peak views, and take a water and Taste of the Wild break.

After Kruger Peak, Lupe headed for Daisy Peak (5,948 ft.).  She lost about 100 feet of elevation heading down the saddle at the SW end of Kruger Peak.  From there she climbed up the N slope of Daisy Peak to arrive on top of the ridge extending NW from the summit.  SPHP had Lupe go to the end of the ridge for a few photos back towards Custer Mountain.  A five minute stroll SE along the narrow ridge then brought Lupe to the broader, grassy, rounded summit of Daisy Peak.

At the summit of Daisy Peak there was a bit of a breeze out of the SW.  The sky was also starting to cloud up a bit more, although it was still mostly clear.  Lupe and SPHP spent some time enjoying the views, which were unobstructed in most directions except the NW.  Lupe obliged SPHP by posing for an assortment of photos.  Then it was time to move on towards NE Cicero Peak, still 2 miles to the S.

Lupe headed S down off Daisy Peak following along or just W of the ridge line.  At the saddle between Daisy Peak and a smaller hill to the S, Lupe turned SW and proceeded to work her way S around the smaller hill.  She reached a faint road which she followed up to the SE.  The road faded into just a single track trail which reached a broad level saddle area in the forest.  The trail then linked up with USFS Road No. 337.1A (unmarked) just S of the smaller hill.

Lupe followed No. 337.1A heading E and gradually losing elevation as the saddle area was left behind.  Before long Lupe reached the intersection with No. 337.1B (marked).  No. 337.1B headed S up a long valley towards a high ridge about 0.5 mile N of NE Cicero Peak.  SPHP was impressed with the scenery in this valley back on Black Hills Expedition No. 109 when Lupe had come down the valley from the S, and enjoyed the trip up the valley from the N as well.

Part way up the valley, No. 337.1B is overgrown with young pine trees.  It soon dissolves into a single track trail.  Lupe and SPHP headed up the trail towards the closest prominent rocky point along the high ridge to the S.  Lupe left the trail to turn a bit to the E and climbed up to the top of the high ridge just E of the prominent rocky point.  At the rocky point, SPHP took another photo or two looking back towards Daisy and Kruger Peaks.

From the high ridge, Northeast Cicero Peak (6,240 ft.) was back in view again.  This ridge sweeps around to the SE and then turns SW to head up to the summit of NE Cicero Peak.  The whole ridge has only a few living trees on it, so the views are great.  There are rock outcroppings scattered along the ridge, some deadfall timber, and plenty of rocks hidden in the grass.  Lupe followed this ridge all the way around to gain the summit of Northeast Cicero Peak.

The summit of Northeast Cicero Peak is broad, flat and grassy.  There is a single big rock at the NE end which is the highest point and true summit.  Perhaps 30 feet to the W is a low flat row of exposed rocks running N/S which is nearly as high.  At this row of rocks, Lupe was ready for a rest.  She had water and ate the rest of her Taste of the Wild.  It was getting cloudier.  A cool breeze out of the SW was getting stronger.  Perhaps 1.5 hours or a bit more remained before sunset.

Lupe posed for more photos on NE Cicero Peak.  She then left the summit area heading SW.  At the end of the ridge to the SW was an exposed grassy area with the best views to the S of Cicero Peak.  SPHP took a couple more photos here, before heading NW down into the forest.  The going was a bit slippery since there was still some snow in this part of the forest.  Lupe headed down towards a ridge forming a saddle between NE Cicero Peak and the next hill to the W.

Lupe headed N down over the ridge and entered a big valley heading W.  She lost lots of elevation as she went NW towards the valley floor.  Eventually she picked up a jeep trail or USFS road which was much more level.  The road headed N for a while and then turned NW starting to lose elevation again.  It came to an open field where there was another road that ended in a big flat turn-around area at its E extremity.

Lupe left the road she was on to head N past the turn-around circle.  A single track path disappeared into a forested valley.  Lupe followed that path which continued gradually losing elevation.  After 0.25 mile at most, the path reached a larger valley.  USFS Road No. 337 was along the W side of this valley.  Lupe followed No. 337 or paths paralleling it in the nearby fields and forests all the way back to USFS Road No. 343.

By the time Lupe reached USFS Road No.343, it was dark out.  Lupe turned E on No. 343.  She followed it and then USFS Road No. 342 the rest of the way back to the G6.  The stars were blazing in the night sky by the time Lupe reached the G6 at 7:32 PM.  It was now 35 degrees out.

After a mere 10.5 hours, Lupe still wasn’t ready to get in the G6.  SPHP backed it out and turned the G6 around while Lupe sniffed the air for a few more minutes.  As mysterious and exciting as the night air and sounds were, Lupe finally decided she was ready.  She hopped into the G6 and curled up for a fitful snooze during the ride home.

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