Part 1 of Day 14 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
5:15 AM, Windy Pass summit, Dempster Highway km 152.8 – Enthused on the way back from Lupe’s grand success at Windy Pass Peak, Distincta Peak, and Peak 5906 yesterday, SPHP mentally had the American Dingo going from one peakbagging success to the next all the way up the Dempster Highway to Mount Sittichinli.
Silly delusions! As evening faded, clouds had swept over the entire sky. The wind picked up, and blew all night. This was Windy Pass, after all. Now dark clouds draped over the mountains looked like rain. Before long, it was raining. Felt like it could rain forever.
7:14 AM, 42°F – Surprisingly, on the drive N from Windy Pass, the steady rain quickly dwindled to a mere mist, though the sky remained heavily overcast. At km 166, an unusually colored stream appeared to the R (E) of the Dempster Highway. Light green to tan waters flowed over a bed of charcoal or rust-colored rocks. The overall effect was striking! SPHP stopped to let Lupe take a closer look.
A few km farther, a sign said “Red Creek”. However, Red Creek was only a tributary of the colorful stream, which SPHP finally determined was actually Engineer Creek. In any case, Engineer Creek remained visible along the Dempster Highway for a considerable distance, growing rapidly as tributaries contributed their rain-swollen flows.
7:32 AM – At km 179, Lupe and SPHP got out for another look.
7:49 AM, 45°, km 190 – The Dempster Highway eventually angled NNW away from Engineer Creek. Dead ahead, Sapper Hill (3,019 ft.) was now in view. SPHP had expected Sapper Hill might be an easy peakbagging objective for Lupe. Instead, Sapper Hill was steep and capped by a long, ragged ridgeline. The rock formations looked so formidable, a technical rock climb might be required to reach the true summit.
8:22 AM, 45°F, km 195.5 – A nearly deserted campground was hidden in the forest at the base of Sapper Hill. Not far beyond it, Lupe arrived at a bridge over the Ogilvie River. The bridge went right over the confluence with Engineer Creek.
The Ogilvie River was a blue, green, gray color, and much clearer than Engineer Creek. Immediately downstream of the bridge, the newly combined flows hadn’t had a chance to mix yet, and the tan silt-laden waters contributed by Engineer Creek could be seen hugging the E bank.
Sapper Hill was still in sight. Around a bend in the Dempster Highway, Mount Jeckell (4,725 ft.), another peak SPHP had hoped Lupe might have a shot at climbing, could be seen, too. However, Mount Jeckell was a much more formidable undertaking. The gloomy sky and intermittent light rain didn’t make tackling either one seem like such a hot idea.
Conditions weren’t right. Lupe and SPHP continued N. The Carolina Dog would soon get to the last peak in this vicinity that SPHP had researched before she left home on this Dingo Vacation.
9:05 AM, about km 120 – SPHP parked the G6 at a pullout near the rapidly expanding Ogilvie River. Lupe’s last peakbagging candidate for a very long way was now in view. Churchward Hill (2,871 ft.) appeared less daunting than Sapper Hill or Mount Jeckell had been, and if forest didn’t interfere, views of the Ogilvie River from the summit ought to be superb. Maybe it would be worth waiting around to see if the weather might improve a bit?
10:19 AM, 50°F about km 224.5 – There hadn’t been any decent place to park closer to Churchward Hill, so SPHP had simply pulled over as far to the R (E) along the Dempster Highway as possible. An hour had been diddled away eating an early lunch and getting ready while waiting to see what the weather was going to do. Apparently not much. No rain had fallen while Lupe had been here. Just an overcast, breezy, cool day.
Far from ideal, but good enough to take a crack at it. Starting from a point only a little SE of the mountain, Lupe crossed the highway, went down into the ditch, and started up a steep slope.
The usual thick, spongy tundra of the N was underpaw. Nice and soft, but laborious to move through. The topo map showed that heading W along the lower S slopes of the mountain ultimately ought to lead to a longer, but easier route up from the SW than a direct ascent up the S face would be.
That was SPHP’s intent. The terrain never completely leveled out, but once Lupe was up the first steep embankment, the going did get easier. Loop and SPHP turned W, while still gradually gaining some elevation. So far, so good. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.
Gaining elevation at a moderate pace on the way W seemed like a good idea, but it wasn’t. Shouldn’t have gained much at all! Worked for a while, but the higher Lupe got, the steeper the terrain became. Soon SPHP was finding it difficult to make much progress toward the W. The slope was too steep. Going almost directly up the mountain was easier than making a traverse.
Up and up! Sooner or later, Lupe was going to reach the rock formations near the top of Churchward Hill. Hopefully, the Carolina Dog was far enough W to avoid getting topped out below insurmountable cliffs.
Loop was not amused by this turn of events. The were-puppy appeared, attacked SPHP several times, and delivered a stern, shrill message.
I thought we were going W! What are we doing here? Are you out of your mind, SPHP?
The top of Churchward Hill was more than 1,100 feet higher than where Lupe had left the G6 down at the Dempster Highway. The climb nearly got so steep that SPHP wasn’t going to be able to make it, if the incline got any worse, but by the time the first rock formations appeared, the news was good!
Lupe wasn’t stuck at the bottom of a continuous line of cliffs. She could go between the rock outcroppings. Furthermore, the climb already was no longer quite as steep. Only a short distance above the first rocks, the situation improved greatly. The slope was rapidly decreasing. Gonna make it!
Within minutes, the American Dingo was up on top. Everything was easy now, surprisingly easy. Although the entire climb had been through forest, the top of Churchward Hill was mostly open ground. With few trees and little in the way of spongy tundra up here, it was easy to move around, and the views were going to be great!
Two high points of nearly the same elevation were separated by several hundred feet. Lupe had come up quite close to the E high point, which was where the great views of the Ogilvie River ought to be, so she went over there first. A tripod stood next to a circular cairn built around a survey marker. Nearby, a sign about the survey marker stood facing SE toward a cliff. Weird! If the sign had been any closer to the cliff, no one could have read it without risking an unduly speedy descent.
Too bad it wasn’t a prettier day! The views would have been stunning! Lupe cringed at the viewpoint along the E edge of the mountain in an unpleasantly cold 20 mph S wind. The dull, gray sky did nothing for the mood, nor for the scenes on display. Yet even under these conditions, the Ogilvie River from on high was an impressive sight.
Churchward Hill’s commanding views of long stretches of the Ogilvie River were the main scenic highlight, but not the only one. Beautiful mountains could be seen in most directions, the highest being off to the S. Many peaks E of the river looked like fun, relatively easy climbs, if Lupe had a way to get over to them, but she didn’t.
Although in the upper 40’s °F, the S wind sweeping over Churchward Hill felt cold and damp. Lupe and SPHP retreated a little down the N slope to escape the worst of the breeze, then sat together enjoying the views. The Ogilvie River flowed N toward a long ridge in the distance. This ridge was the start of the 1,000 foot high Eagle Plain plateau.
If it had been a little nicer out, it would have been fun to stay longer. As it was, at least Lupe had gotten to visit Churchward Hill (2,871 ft.). Half an hour on the forlorn, windswept summit beneath the somber sky, and the American Dingo was ready to move on.
Before leaving, Loopster visited the W summit, too. Though less of the Ogilvie River could be seen from here, looking back toward the E from a little wall of rock at the highest point, it did seem like this W end might well be the true summit of Churchward Hill.
On the return, Lupe took a different route. Instead of heading nearly straight down the S slope the way she’d come up, she explored the route that SPHP had originally intended to take during the ascent.
This really was a better, though considerably longer, way to go. Lupe left the summit continuing W along a mostly open ridge that provided a much more gradual rate of descent. This ridge was capped by a broken line of limestone formations. The rockier terrain made for easy travel.
At the far W end, the ridge ended abruptly, dropping off sharply from a final massive rock.
From the W end of the ridge, Lupe still had considerable elevation left to lose. She headed SE down into the forest, and was soon back on deep, spongy tundra. Didn’t seem as bad going downhill, though. Turning gradually E, Loop actually had a lot of fun exploring the boreal forest.
The Carolina Dog got to roam a lot farther on the way back than she had on the way up, but eventually the final steep embankment leading down to the Dempster Highway appeared.
1:20 PM, 53°F, km 124.5 – It was still early afternoon when Lupe reached the G6. Churchward Hill had been a success, and had probably been the best possible choice that could have been made on this gray day. Plenty of time to do more, though! From up on Churchward Hill, off to the N Loop had seen the long ridge of the vast Eagle Plain plateau. Beyond the plateau was the Eagle River, and beyond that …
SPHP fired up the G6. The Dempster Highway curved a little passing through a narrow spot between the cliffs of Churchward Hill and the Ogilvie River. The road then headed N. By nightfall, for the first time in nearly a year, the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood would return to the true Arctic.
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
The Dempster Highway Travelogue Guide
Want more Lupe adventures? Choose from Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska Adventure Index, Dingo Vacations Adventure Index or Master Adventure Index. Or subscribe free to new Lupe adventures.