Category: Black Hills

Fog!  Must be just a ground fog, though.  Stars could still be seen above.  With any luck at all, we’ll drive out of it, Loop.  Lupe whined.  She couldn’t see them, but she could smell ’em.  Cows were hidden out there in the foggy darkness!  The Carolina Dog barked, leaping from window to window trying to catch sight of them.

On the way up to Warren Peaks, the G6 did emerge from the fog.  Lupe was going to get to see sunrise from the highest point in the Bear Lodge Mountains after all!

It was cool and a bit windy when Lupe arrived up on Warren Peaks (6,650 ft.) (7:18 AM, 38°F).  For almost the end of October, conditions were actually exceptionally nice.  Off to the ENE, Lupe could see a thin layer of very low clouds.  That had to be part of the fog she’d gone through to get here.  To the W, the Bear Lodge Mountains were acting like a dam, holding back a sea of more substantial low clouds.

Lupe and SPHP watched the sunrise develop.  Just for fun, Lupe took a little stroll down to a slightly lower hill SE of the fire tower.

Lupe returned to the summit of Warren Peaks.  Sunrise was taking longer than anticipated.  The sun was above the horizon, but obscured by clouds.  SPHP was still interested in watching the display, but Lupe was ready for action!

This was Lupe’s third expedition in a row to the Bear Lodge Mountains in NE Wyoming.  Once again, she had 3 peakbagging goals for the day.  The first one was Bull Hill, only a mile N of Warren Peaks.

When SPHP finally quit dawdling watching the sunrise, Lupe and SPHP drove N on USFS Road No. 838.  Before going to Bull Hill, SPHP wanted to check out a viewpoint a short distance NW of Warren Peaks, the same viewpoint where Lupe had seen Devils Tower and Missouri Buttes in twilight at the end of the day on Expedition No. 179.  Now that it was morning, maybe it would be possible to get a clearer view?  (7:49 AM, 38°F)

Heh.  No view at all.  The white sea of low clouds trapped to the W of the Bear Lodge Mountains blanketed all of the territory in that direction.  Lupe and SPHP went on.  SPHP parked the G6 near the intersection of USFS Roads No. 838 and No. 847 (8:06 AM, 38°F).

Getting to Bull Hill (6,394 ft.) was easy.  Lupe trotted E down USFS Road No. 847 to a side road with a Bull Hill Road sign.  She followed Bull Hill Road around the N side of a forested ridge, then SE up the Whitetail Creek valley.  Bull Hill Road curved E, going up and over a saddle.  At the saddle, Lupe was directly S of Bull Hill.  She left the road, climbing up a pasture to the open forest at the top of the mountain.

Lupe and SPHP explored the top of Bull Hill.  Toward the E was a nice view of Crow Peak (5,787 ft.) in South Dakota, but Lupe had just seen essentially the same view from even higher Warren Peaks.  After a short stay on Bull Hill, Lupe headed back to the G6 (9:31 AM, 45°F).

Lupe’s next peakbagging goal, Ragged Top, was back to the S a few miles, not really all that far away.  After a short drive, SPHP parked the G6 at the intersection of USFS Road No. 838 and an unmarked road on the E side of No. 838.  (This intersection is a few hundred feet N of the start of No. 838.1B on the W side of No. 838, and marked as 6,374 ft. elevation on the Peakbagger.com topo map.)

To get to Ragged Top (6,260 ft.), Lupe didn’t really have to gain any elevation at all.  In fact, she would lose a little on the way there.  Ragged Top is the high point at the SW end of a mile long ridge.  The G6 was already parked near the higher NE end of the ridge.  Lupe cut through the forest on the W side of USFS Road No. 838 to reach No. 838.1B.  She followed the road SW toward Ragged Top.

USFS Road No. 838.1B ended at a meadow at a high point.  Lupe was more than half way to Ragged Top, but would have to do some bushwhacking from here.  American Dingoes are great at bushwhacking!  Lupe descended into a saddle leading to a lower forested hill along the ridge.

The saddle area was forested, too.  What’s more, the forest floor was densely carpeted with low juniper bushes.  Lupe found easier traveling over less vegetated ground along the SE side of the ridge.  When Lupe climbed up the forested hill on the SW side of the saddle, she reached the first significant rock outcroppings.

From here on, the now undulating ridge to Ragged Top was much narrower than before.  Lupe passed by, or went over, several more rock formations along the way.  The last part of the ridge turned S as Lupe approached the final high point – the small summit known as Ragged Top.  Soon Lupe was surveying the situation from the top of Ragged Top.

The best views were actually from rocks farther S where the ridge ended.  Lupe could see both Inyan Kara (6,360 ft.) and Sundance Mountain (5,824 ft.) beyond a bank of clouds sneaking out to the E from the sea of clouds to the W.

Lupe was still at the S viewpoint, when a sudden loud explosion echoed up from the valley below!  Gunfire!  Lupe ran to SPHP.  That was it for the photo session.  More gunfire rang out every few minutes.  No way Lupe was letting SPHP get more than a foot away.  The final photo of the Ragged Top summit, taken from the S, had to be Lupe-less.

Lupe had made it to Ragged Top, but she didn’t want to be there now!  With gunfire going on sporadically, all she wanted to do was hide.  Time to get the Carolina Dog out of here!  SPHP led the way back to the G6.

When Lupe reached the forested saddle again, she decided to slink along hidden pathways between the low juniper bushes that dominated the forest floor.  In this manner, she slunk along all by herself clear up to the edge of the meadow where USFS Road No. 838.1B had ended.  As far as the American Dingo was concerned, her slinking worked just fine!  Lupe didn’t get shot.  Not even once.

At the meadow, Lupe and SPHP took a break.  Lupe curled up on SPHP’s lap, so SPHP could pet her and hold her.  This was most reassuring.  It certainly helped that the gunfire stopped, too.  Lupe and SPHP shared a chocolate coconut granola bar.  Things were looking up!  Things were also looking like a mess.  SPHP noticed Lupe treasures scattered along the edge of the forest.

Cleanup ensued.  As Lupe and SPHP continued back to the G6, more Lupe treasures were encountered, this time in the form of empty shotgun shells.  By the time Lupe was back at the G6 (12:07 PM, 55°F), she had two grocery sacks full of treasures.

Lupe had one more peakbagging goal for Expedition No. 180, but it was a long way N from here.  On the way, Lupe and SPHP stopped again (12:15 PM, 55°F) at the viewpoint NW of Warren Peaks where she had seen Devils Tower (5,112 ft.) and Missouri Buttes (5,374 ft.) a week ago.

The clouds were gone!  Devils Tower and Missouri Buttes were in view to the NW.  The air was rather hazy, but it was much easier to see them now than at sundown last week.

Lupe had a great time in the G6 traveling N to start her journey to her 3rd and final peakbagging goal of the day.  She rode with her head out the window, with the wind in her face.  She saw lots of deer in the forest, plus cows to bark at near Hwy 24.

When SPHP finally parked the G6 (1:17 PM, 61°F) again, Lupe recognized this place.  She had been here before.  She was at the intersection of Planting Spring Road (USFS Road No. 881.1) and USFS Road No. 830.  Two weeks ago on Expedition No. 178, she had stumbled onto this junction on her way to Bald Mountain (4,800 ft.).  Now it was the starting point for her journey to Lone Tree Hill (4,600 ft.).

The first part of Lupe’s route to Lone Tree Hill she had already been on before.  Lupe and SPHP set out going WNW on USFS Road No. 881.1.  Almost right away, Lupe passed by a rather elaborate tent and camper setup on the N side of the road.  Several guys planning on going deer hunting occupied the camp.

Once past the hunters, Lupe had a blast running around in the woods along No. 881.1.  She made good time to the intersection with USFS Road No. 881.1A, which leads to Bald Mountain.  Lupe did not take the turn to Bald Mountain, staying instead on No. 881.1.  The road quickly turned N.

No. 881.1 eventually angled NW for a while.  When it finally turned W, Lupe could see sky between trees at the far end of a slight rise ahead.  Lupe was about to reach the W edge of the large flat ridge she had been traveling along.  Lone Tree Hill (4,600 ft.) was supposed to be off to the NW beyond the edge of the ridge.  Would she be able to see it?

The Peakbagger.com topo map showed No. 881.1 ending (near elevation 4,768 ft.) before reaching the edge of the ridge.  The road didn’t actually end.  Instead, it curved SW on its way down to a somewhat lower area.  Lupe and SPHP left the road going W through the forest, and up the slight rise.

Lupe arrived at the edge of a N/S running line of small cliffs.  There weren’t any discernable breaks in the cliff line.  Due to the forest, the only relatively clear view was off toward the SW, where Lupe could see Devils Tower and Missouri Buttes on the far horizon.

It was hard to see between the trees, but there did seem to be a large hill off to the NW where Lone Tree Hill should be.  That had to be it!  Lone Tree Hill appeared to be poorly named.  Although some of the slopes below the line of rock at the summit were bare or sparsely forested, there were plenty of trees on Lone Tree Hill.

Aptly named or not, from a distance Lone Tree Hill looked like an easy climb.  There was one problem, though.  Lone Tree Hill stood off by itself a mile NW of the ridge Lupe was on.  How could Lupe get safely down off these cliffs to cross the low ground between here and there?

The topo map showed only one semi-promising route nearby.  A ravine to the NE trended W to the lower ground Lupe needed to reach.  SPHP hesitated.  No. 881.1 had turned SW where Lupe had left it, heading down toward lower territory, too.  Maybe the road would take Lupe safely down below the cliffs?  That might be a lot easier than bushwhacking through a steep ravine!

Lupe and SPHP left the cliff edge to return to No. 881.1.  Once there, Lupe followed it SW.  The road lost some elevation, but then started to level out and turn S.  It looked like it was going to continue S, staying above a band of cliffs.  Hmmm.  Not good.  Lupe left the road briefly, entering a small ravine leading W.  No dice.  The ravine quickly cliffed out.  The drop was only 15 or 20 feet.  Didn’t matter, it may as well have been 10 times that much.

OK.  The ravine to the NE really was the only reasonable possibility.  Of course, there must be other routes, but they would all be significantly longer.  Lupe had made good time getting to the cliffs.  Even so, it was late enough in the day so the amount of time left before sunset was something to keep in mind.  The afternoon was clouding up.  It wouldn’t be a good idea to still be wandering around in a trackless forest trying to find and bushwhack back up a steep ravine after dark, especially with no moon or stars to help stay oriented.

Better get a move on!  Lupe and SPHP headed back up the road.  Lupe regained all her lost elevation, before leaving the road again to go try the ravine to the NE.  The ravine started out fine.  Gradually, Lupe lost elevation again.  She found an animal trail to follow.  Rock formations appeared on the slopes of the ravine, but Lupe didn’t come to any cliffs on the way W.

The NE ravine route worked!  Lupe lost over 400 feet of elevation.  She found herself safely down in a tall grove of white-barked aspens where the ground leveled out.  She was actually having a great time exploring this remote forest.  SPHP was confident Lupe was going to successfully climb Lone Tree Hill now!

Lupe had been going W down the ravine.  Now it was time to turn NW.  The tall aspens gave way to a forest of scrub oak.  Lupe romped around among fallen leaves looking for squirrels in the oak trees.  She found several squirrels, much to her delight and the squirrels’ annoyance.  Sometimes scrub oaks grow in dense clusters, but this forest was more open than that.  It wasn’t hard to move around.  Lupe was making great progress again.

Lupe turned N upon reaching a long saddle leading to Lone Tree Hill’s S Ridge.  By climbing the S ridge, Lupe could get to the lower E end of Lone Tree Hill’s summit ridge.  As Lupe progressed along the saddle, she encountered areas of open ground interspersed between stands of forest.

Lupe reached the S ridge.  Her climb up Lone Tree Hill was about to begin in earnest.  She immediately encountered a new obstacle.  The scrub oak forest was now behind her, and the S ridge leading up was all pine forest.  At least it had been.  The pine forest was devastated!

A tangle of dead trees, most laying perpendicular to Lupe’s route, was blocking the way forward.  It looked like a tornado had hit this place!  The trunks of many trees had simply snapped.

Progress became excruciatingly slow, as Lupe and SPHP struggled over, under, and around the deadfall timber.  Fortunately, the S ridge wasn’t very long.  Lupe only had to gain 200 feet of elevation to reach the lower E end of Lone Tree Hill’s summit ridge.  This was taking forever, though!  SPHP started to worry about how much time was going by.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lupe and SPHP picked a way up through the shattered forest.  “Lone Tree” Hill, indeed!  If, only!  That “Lone Tree” term had been used rather loosely, hadn’t it?  As in, “Lone Tree” means less than 10,000 trees.  Silly SPHP had been expecting like, maybe, one tree – perhaps a few more, if one counted little trees springing up around the big one.  Not this!  Who had named this place, anyway?  Must have been an Indian 300 years ago.  The name hadn’t been justified in at least that long.

As Lupe starting getting close to the E ridge, the deadfall gradually diminished.  Then, finally, she was out of it.  Hallelujah!  Lupe reached the lower E end of Lone Tree Hill’s summit ridge.  The top of the mountain was in view not too far to the W.

Lupe started making good progress again.  She headed for the higher W portion of Lone Tree Hill’s summit ridge.  Near the top, she encountered more deadfall timber.  The deadfall slowed SPHP down, but not Lupe.  Lupe went straight to the top of the mountain.  She had made it!  Lupe stood on the summit of Lone Tree Hill.

The true summit of Lone Tree Hill was a bit W of where Lupe had come up.  The mountain featured a band of rock and very small cliffs along the S edge of the summit ridge.  Views toward the S were generally quite good.  By moving around the summit, it was possible to see a long way in almost any direction.

The far W end of the summit ridge was a bit lower than the rest of it, but had hardly any trees.  Lupe had a 270° panoramic view from here!  It was a great place to take a break, and celebrate Lupe’s final peakbagging success of the day.

Lupe and SPHP shared water and chocolate coconut granola bars.  Lupe had her Taste of the Wild.  SPHP consumed an apple.  The sun was getting lower, but Lupe would have time to get back to the road before dark.  Actually, it was getting hard to even tell where the sun was.  The sky, which had been at least partly sunny and blue in the morning, was now a boring, indistinct, gray smudge in almost every direction.

Lupe lingered on Lone Tree Hill as long as possible.  Best to enjoy the moment!  Lone Tree Hill was the type of small peakbagging objective that Lupe might well never ever return to again.  It was sort of far from home, sort of hard to get to, and there are higher and more dramatic places to go.

Yet, being on Lone Tree Hill was great!  The sweeping views of the wide open spaces, forested hills, and long dark ridges of remote NE Wyoming were wonderful.  And even if the pine trees weren’t alone on Lone Tree Hill, Lupe and SPHP were.  The solitude and serenity was unbroken, except by the distant mooing of cattle and occasional twittering of small birds.  Lone Tree Hill was good for the spirit.

As it always does, the time came to start for home.  No devastated S ridge for Lupe this time, though!  It would be much easier to head right on down the mostly barren S slope of the mountain from the W end of the summit ridge.  Lupe was ready.  The return trip was something to look forward to, too!

The busy American Dingo made the most of the return trip.  She stopped frequently on her way down the mountain to scan the scene below.  She streaked across meadows, sniffed around in forests, barked at squirrels, saw some deer, found and climbed back up the ravine onto the big ridge, ultimately returning to USFS Road No. 881.1.  She traveled the road in fading light, as the forest darkened and grew more mysterious around her.

The deer hunters were in their big tent, talking and laughing, when Lupe passed by again.  Brightly glowing light escaped the tent at various openings.  Smoke drifted out a black smokestack.  Sounded like good times going on inside.

The hunters didn’t see the American Dingo trot by.  She was almost to the G6 (6:09 PM, 54°F), her day’s adventures nearly over, destined for a long ride home to a late Alpo dinner, warm bed, and sweet dreams of a day spent alive and free in the Bear Lodge Mountains of Wyoming.

Note:  Lupe treasures gathered on Black Hills, WY Expedition No. 180 included 19 aluminum cans, 9 plastic bottles, 3 glass bottles, 48 shotgun shells.

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