Hi! I am Lupe, an American Dingo (Carolina Dog), enthusiastic explorer and adventurer.
I have the good fortune to live near a 1.2+ million acre dog park in western South Dakota known as the Black Hills National Forest. Most weekends I go on a day long expedition into the mountains accompanied by my Slow Plodding Human Porter (SPHP), who carries the water and Taste of the Wild dingo food. The use of a plodding human porter does slow things down a lot, but frees me to sniff, bark, explore and enjoy the trip at a leisurely pace.
This blog is about my life and adventures as told (and occasionally embellished) by SPHP. You will find trip reports on my Black Hills expeditions to remote parts of the national forest, stories about my antics, plus tales and photos from the Dingo Vacations I go on with SPHP to the world beyond the Black Hills.
If you like dogs and adventure, are curious about what’s over the next ridge, or just enjoy the solitude, freedom and grandeur of the natural world, I invite you to follow along with me. The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe will take you to some spectacular famous places, but mostly to remote locations seldom seen by others.
I’m excited you are here! Are you ready to go adventuring? Let’s get started! I can hardly wait!
Suggestion – Start your adventures with Lupe by selecting a category:
Lupe’s Master Adventure Index
Home Page (Most Recent Post)
Black Hills of South Dakota & Wyoming
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Notes
I keep track of the mountains I climb on Peakbagger.com. Peakbagger.com has a huge database on mountains, and you can see all kinds of geographical information about where I’ve been. The topographic maps on Peakbagger.com will help readers follow my adventures.
Links on The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe are usually blue or red. Blue links open up a new tab to a separate website (often Peakbagger.com). Red links open up another page or post on The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe.
Example: To see maps, elevation, and statistics about Black Elk Peak, the highest mountain in South Dakota, click on the blue link. To see a post on one of my adventures to Black Elk Peak, click on the red link.
Thank you for visiting The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe! Enjoy your stay and return again soon. Woof!
– Adventurously Yours, Lupe
SPHP:
I’ve been meaning to leave a comment now for a long time. I live outside of Sturgis, and my dog Rizzo and I have long enjoyed the exact same kinds of Saturday adventures as you and Lupe do–particularly those all-day Black Hills back country hikes with no one else around for miles. We first saw you on Peakbagger and were delighted to discovered your own site later. We use your entries frequently for inspiration on where to go next and agree with you 100% that, even after many hundreds of Black Hills hikes, there is still more than plenty to discover. Thank you for sharing your passion with others; I assure you it’s very much appreciated and put to good use.
Sturgis?! Sounds like potential for a joint Black Hills adventure some day when the weather cools off later this fall. Would Rizzo have any interest?
Great idea! I asked him, and he seems pretty gung ho about it. He always kind of wondered whether he and Lupe might cross paths at some point, seeing as how the two seem to spend most Saturdays in the same kinds of places. Shoot me an email, and we’ll see whether they might be able to coordinate schedules!
Hi.
I stumbled across your blog after noting Lupe’s ascents of Slope Mountain and Lake Benchmark Mountain on peakbagger.com. I try to keep track of the earliest recorded ascents of every peak in Alaska and I hadn’t known of ascents to the summits of either of those peaks. Did you notice any evidence of a prior ascent on either peak? I also try to help drum up reports of noteworthy ascents for publication in the Mountaineering Club of Alaska’s monthly newsletter, the Scree. Would you be willing to submit a trip report on your ascents of those two peaks for publication in the Scree? You can email trip reports and photos to mcascree@gmail.com. I would email you a copy of the Scree that contains your trip report as a token of my thanks.
I am both surprised (shocked) and honored to hear from the great Steve Gruhn whose name I have seen on successful ascents of so many notable Alaskan peaks on peakbagger.com! Yes, there have most definitely been prior successful ascents of both Slope Mountain and Lake Benchmark Mountain. Communications equipment and two cairns exist at the top of Slope Mountain. A survey benchmark exists near the top of Lake Benchmark Mountain, though it is some distance W of the easily reached summit. My posts on both adventures will publish here on my blog this summer. Currently anticipating that Lake Benchmark Mountain will publish on July 26, 2018 and Slope Mountain on August 19, 2018, though these dates are not yet set in stone. Will send you a private email in regards to your specific requests.
Great descriptions here and on peakbagger!
Will be of good help for me this summer when my plan is to do a few(?) of the higher ones in the Black Hills.
Thx!
/Björn, Sweden
Hey Lupe,
you have been featured => https://peakvisor.com/en/news/bringing-lost-knowledge-back.html
Your adventure stories are very informative!
Thank you!
What? Gasp! Thank you for the mention, Denis!
Hi SPHP, I’d like to interview you some time for South Dakota Public Broadcasting, maybe a interview-ascent could be arranged, if you’d be interested. Let me know. Thanks.
Hi, Michael! If there is an ascent involved, count me in! I’ll work on that persnickety SPHP. Look for an email from us soon.
Reading of your adventures n Dingo Vacations, Lupe n SPHP. Wonderfully entertaining!
Thank you for sharing.
I too enjoy wide open places to ponder, absorb freedom, beauty n peace.
Cheers!
dani, from Dawson City, Yukon
Heard great piece featuring Lupe and SPHP on SD Public Radio Friday. Congrats! Endearing.
Hi SPHP and Lupe,
I have very much enjoyed reading up on your travels together! I have a very similar bond forged over miles and miles of trails with my shiba inu, Evee. Wherever the hooman goes, the doggo goes (she is a service animal and helps her daddy more than she’ll ever know 🙂 ) I love Lupe’s style of writing and think this a very well thorough and constructed blog (with plenty of great photos to boot!)
The two of us have our sights set on hiking Squaretop at the end of the month, following a 2 week CO trip. I’d love to pick your brain more about the path up to Granite Lake and beyond to the ridge itself. Any advice you have would be most appreciated!
Looking forward to hearing from the two of you and seeing your future exploits! Happy trails and wagging tails.
Alex + Evee
Hi, Alex & Evee,
Thank you for the kind words! Glad to hear you two are out and about enjoying exploring the world together.
Squaretop Mountain is a very beautiful and inspiring peak. I presume you’ve seen the post “Squaretop Mountain, Wind River Range, Wyoming – Part 2: Beaver Park to the Summit (7-21-18)”, which contains the vast majority of what SPHP & I know about getting to the top. However, here are a few more suggestions and observations:
First, open up one of the Squaretop Mountain links in the post that will get you to the topo map on Peakbagger.com so you can follow along. Instead of camping at Beaver Park as we did, we recommend camping at Granite Lake the night before summit day to allow plenty of time to reach the summit plateau and linger up on Squaretop as long as you’d like.
A thin line of trees divides Beaver Park into N and S sections. We camped in the S section, and never did venture beyond that line of trees into the N section. The day after I climbed Squaretop, SPHP was told that a use trail going up to Granite Lake leaves the W side of the N section of Beaver Park. Supposedly there is a large white boulder near the start of this trail. A trail would certainly be an improvement over simply bushwhacking the 1,200 foot ridge like we did. Granite Peak is easily seen from Beaver Park, so even if you can’t find the trail, just bushwhack up the ridge a little S of Granite Peak, and you ought to be able to find Granite Lake easily enough once the terrain levels out. SPHP and I never actually went to the lake, since we climbed the ridge well S of it, then went W taking a shortcut to the big cirque/valley S of HP11383.
The relevant portions of Finis Mitchell’s book Wind River Trails are quoted in my post. Mitchell said to cross the outlet stream (at the N end of Granite Lake, supposedly no problem), then to continue partway around the lake (presumably counterclockwise) looking for a tiny stream coming down off the mountain. Finis doesn’t say how far this tiny stream might be from the outlet stream, but SPHP thinks it probably enters the lake somewhere along the NW shore. Mitchell says to follow this stream above timberline to a lot of snow leading to a break in the ledges that allows you to get up to the Squaretop plateau.
SPHP suspects Mitchell’s route gets you to the plateau directly W of Granite Lake about 0.33 mile straight S of the summit, although this does not agree with what he says about still being 1.5 miles from the N end of the mountain. The big view of the Green River Lakes from the N end would be only half that far at most. (On the topo map look E to Section 31, a mile on each side, to get an idea of the scale.) Note: We never went this way, and this route looks very steep on the topo map. Try to find a use trail along the tiny stream confirming this is a reasonable route.
The other option is to go the way we did up the big cirque S of HP11383. From Granite Lake, follow the main inlet stream at the S end, which will lead you up to this region. Most of this route isn’t as steep as Mitchell’s would be. The really steep part is the last 200 or 300 feet climbing out of the upper end of the big cirque to the lower reaches of the plateau. On our way down, we discovered a faint use trail with some cairns that was a somewhat convoluted route, but safer than the way we went up. When you get to the base of the headwall at the upper end of the cirque, cross over to the S side of the stream, and continue a little way SW along the base of a huge knob of rock above you looking for the faint trail and cairns. The “trail” winds up the rocky knob, at first out of sight of the stream, which cascades down from the plateau much higher up than this stream is actually shown on the topo map. Don’t get too far from the stream – the idea is to reach the much gentler upper valley it comes down from. Once there, you’ve got it made. Turn NW crossing the stream again and keep climbing up to the plateau. You will reach it a full mile S of the summit.
Sorry we can’t tell you more about Granite Lake and Mitchell’s route, but although SPHP intended to, we didn’t actually go that way.
Good luck, and have fun!
– Lupe
Hello,
I’m interested in some of your photos. May I ask you to contact me via the e-mail address I provided?
Many thanks,
–David.
Sure! Email sent. Let us know how we can help.
Haven’t seen anything in the last couple of months….hope you two are still adventuring and concurring the mountains!
Smoke just chased us out of Wyoming, but otherwise all’s well, Mike! We’re getting ready for the next Dingo Vacation at the moment. Hope your summer of 2021 is going great!
Lupe, you have inspired me in so many ways. I have mimicked some of your adventures, even though some humans (not my mom she knows I can do anything) thought it was impossible. I am shocked we have never crossed paths before but maybe we will one day!!! My mom is very grateful for this site and all the cool BH hikes you post, especially the more off the beaten path ones!
– Sadie dog, border collie
Off the beaten path is where it’s at, Sadie! Thank you for the kind words, and glad to hear that you are out adventuring in the Black Hills, too! Maybe we will run into each other somewhere out there one of these days? That would be a blast!
Greetings!
I am very fond of this blog and of Lupe! What a life! Where will Lupe be heading this summer?
Cheers!
Gina
So glad to hear that you enjoy our adventures, Gina!
Wyoming is so close and wonderful, I almost always start out there. At least some time spent in Montana and Colorado is likely. The Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood may be returning to Canada & Alaska, if SPHP can manage to cope with the restrictions. If not, there are oh, so many beautiful mountains out West!
Hope you’ve got some marvelous adventures upcoming, too, Gina!
Loving the adventures so far!!! Keep it up!! 🤩 Does SPHP’s legs ever want to fall off with all that climbing? 😜 Both of you must have legs of steel!
Looking forward to more summer adventures!
Glad to hear that you’re enjoying my adventures, Gina!
More are on the way, but they’ll eventually run out while I’m off adventuring this summer. Never fear, SPHP will get back to writing up my Summer of 2022 Dingo Vacation adventures shortly after we get back this fall. The current late response is because I just recently (and temporarily) returned from some fun ones!
Happy adventures to you, too, in the meantime!
PS: SPHP always keeps a spare leg or two in the pack in case any fall off.
Loved meeting Lupe on her visit to Deadhorse, AK! Enjoy your future journeys!
Hi, MollyFae!
It was great to meet you at Deadhorse Camp, too! So nice that you took time out of your day to come and see me!
I had a great time along the Sagavanirktok River in Deadhorse, but wish I could have gone on the Arctic Ocean tour with SPHP. SPHP now claims to have actually been swimming in the Arctic Ocean, after merely wading in it in 2017. Yeah, swimming, I bet! For like 3 nanoseconds.
Still, I’m jealous, because SPHP now has a genuine Arctic Polar Bear Club Certificate of Membership for braving the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and I don’t. Maybe you can use your influence to get me a spot on the tour next time we’re up there?
Are you still in Deadhorse now that the Arctic Ocean tour has shut down for the season? What do you do during the off-season?
Lupe, this is directed to your SPHP. When I worked at a newspaper in western Nebraska in 1991, I think I did a photo/news story on SPHP when he and several others were in the process of setting a world record for bagging high points of 48 contiguous states. While moving recently, I found the photo and would be glad to share a digital copy, if you’d like. If so, let me know how I can get it to you.
Oh, David, you made our day! To think that SPHP would ever be capable of such a feat! However, once we stopped laughing, we realized we do know who you may be referring to.
Dennis Stewart and four other climbers received recognition in The Guinness Book of Records (1993-1995) for setting the World Record in 1991 for climbing the high point of each of the 48 contiguous states in the shortest time – 30 days, 10 hours, and 52 minutes. Dennis appears in my post Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 304 – Getting High in the Black Hills with Peakbagger Dennis Stewart (5-5-22).
We’re certain Dennis will be thrilled to hear from you and see the photo. We’d love to get a copy of it, too! I’ll be sending you an email shortly with details.