Lupe was on her way home from her adventures in western Nebraska. It wasn’t the end of her adventures on this trip, though. There was still time for one of Lupe’s Black Hills, SD Expeditions on the way! As Hwy 18 climbed into the southern hills NE of Edgemont, SPHP was looking for USFS Road No. 379. Lupe was going to climb Matias Peak (4,780 ft.).
Before reaching the top of the long hill, SPHP spotted a road heading into the trees on the N side of Hwy 18. There was room to park the G6 there, too. (11:52 AM, 59°F) Good! This was it, USFS Road No. 379! A marker proved it. Matias Peak was no more than 2 miles away as the crow flies. SPHP’s old USFS map showed no road to it, but No. 379 was supposed to get within a mile SW of the summit.
Lupe and SPHP set out on No. 379. Instead of heading NNE toward Matias Peak, the road wound its way downhill into a dry canyon to the WNW. Once it reached the bottom of the canyon, No. 379 turned N and started back uphill. Soon Lupe came to an unmarked intersection. She took the right branch, which led NE.
Lupe hadn’t followed the right branch very far when Matias Peak came into view at a minor pass.
Lupe and SPHP stayed on No. 379, and went over the pass. Lupe had already lost 100 feet of elevation when SPHP realized No. 379 was going turn NW away from the mountain and continue losing elevation. A look around at the terrain showed it would have been better to leave the road back at the pass. From there, Lupe could climb the ridge to the E.
Lupe and SPHP turned around and returned to the pass. Lupe left No. 379 and started climbing. Soon she was a very unhappy Carolina Dog. There was cactus! Lupe didn’t want to go this way. She sat down and wouldn’t move. She lifted a front paw pathetically begging SPHP for help and mercy.
SPHP checked her paws. She didn’t seem to have cactus spines in any of them. SPHP knew her paws weren’t really that sore. Just a couple of hours ago, she had been racing around having a great time at Toadstool Geological Park in Nebraska. Maybe she could smell the cactus?
In any event, whether Lupe had stepped on any or not, it was clear she knew cactus was around. She wanted to go back to the road, or be carried. The road wasn’t going to take Lupe to Matias Peak. Going back meant giving up. On the other hand, Matias Peak was still 1.5 miles away. SPHP wouldn’t be able to carry her that far, and then all the way back again.
For a couple minutes, Lupe rested while SPHP pondered. Well, let’s try it and see how it goes. There’s quite a bit of forest, and there shouldn’t be much cactus in the forest. SPHP picked Lupe up and started carrying her on up the ridge. SPHP tried to stay in the forest as much as possible, but there were still sunny little openings harboring more cactus.
Where there were boulders, Lupe was willing to scramble up on her own power for short stretches. Mostly SPHP had to carry her. After a somewhat steep, rocky section, Lupe and SPHP reached the flat top of the ridge. There was a nice view to the N.
Well, at least some progress had been made. SPHP hoped that this ridge would just sweep around to the NE right on up to Matias Peak. For a while it looked promising as SPHP carried Lupe E along the top of the ridge. It all ended at a big steep drop. SPHP put Lupe down and told her to stay, a completely unnecessary command. She wasn’t about to budge.
SPHP scouted around looking for a view between the trees. Low cliffs were just ahead. Down below was a large field. On the other side was another forested ridge. That was probably the ridge that would lead N to Matias Peak. SPHP returned to Lupe. Time for a water and rest break!
SPHP studied the topo map printed out from Peakbagger.com. It was a bit confusing at first, since the topo map was too old to show the correct location of Hwy 18, where Lupe and SPHP had started from. In a few minutes, though, SPHP was pretty certain where Lupe was. She was now at the E end of a small ridge marked toward the W end as 4,355 ft. elevation. Lupe needed to cross the field down below, and head NE toward the next ridge. That ridge would lead her N to Matias Peak.
It took a long time. SPHP carried Lupe down off the ridge, finding a way down toward the S. Then it was a long trek in the sun carrying Lupe across the field. However, Lupe was willing to climb the far ridge on her own. SPHP just kept an eagle eye out to help her avoid the occasional cactus.
Once up on the ridge, it was a steady climb, but a fairly gradual one most of the rest of the way up Matias Peak. There were small cliffs on the W side of the ridge, which provided very nice viewpoints in that direction in many places. Most of the time, Lupe and SPHP stayed near the cliffs to enjoy the views.
SPHP took many rest breaks on the way up Matias Peak. Lupe would never have made it to the top, except for the gradual development of a technique Lupe seemed willing to go along with, despite her trepidation over the scattered cactus.
The technique went as follows: SPHP carried Lupe for a little way, and then put her down. SPHP then left without her, continuing on up the mountain, scouting around to make sure there wasn’t any cactus along the way. Lupe always watched with concern as SPHP marched off, but she wouldn’t move.
After going a suitable distance, SPHP would stop, turn around and shout back to Lupe that it was “time to check the maps”. Lupe seemed to take this to mean that SPHP had somehow magically eliminated all the cactus in her way. She immediately came running full tilt to catch up.
Of course, Lupe knows what checking the maps normally involves, so SPHP had to actually sit down, get out the maps and take a look at them for a few minutes each time. Then it was time to carry Lupe for another stretch, before putting her down again. Rinse and repeat. Over and over. It was slow, but not nearly as slow as trying to carry Lupe the entire distance.
Fortunately, Lupe never did run into any cactus. She continued to believe in the power of checking the maps. As Lupe and SPHP got nearer the summit, an unmarked dirt road appeared, temporarily curving closer to the W from somewhere off to the SE. Lupe was perfectly willing to trot along without fear on this road. Lupe and SPHP began to make rapid progress toward the summit.
Near the end of the climb, Lupe had to leave the road again, which now curved back around to the E of the summit. The field to the NW had quite a bit of cactus in it, especially higher up. SPHP went back to carrying Lupe all the time, but it wasn’t too far to the forest at the base of the final short steep climb to the summit.
There didn’t seem to be any cactus around on the final stretch up through the rocks and trees. Lupe climbed up under her own power. The top of Matias Peak is a flat forested ridge of moderate length running SW/NE. Lupe found the very highest rocks to be somewhat closer to the NE end.
Lupe and SPHP were pleased to find that although the entire summit ridge was forested, there were several good viewpoints from Matias Peak.
Lupe and SPHP lingered up on Matias Peak for a while. When it was time to go, Lupe’s confidence had returned to the point where she was running around like normal in the forest. She came down off the short steep part at the SE end of the summit under her own power. However, when she reached the grassy area where SPHP had seen quite a few cactus on the way up, SPHP insisted on carrying Lupe the rest of the way down to the dirt road.
Rather than retrace Lupe’s scenic, but slow approach route, SPHP decided Lupe should just stay on the dirt road to see where it went. Lupe didn’t worry about cactus while on the road, but was still cautious enough not to make forays off to either side. SPHP didn’t have to carry Lupe at all.
The dirt road wound around a little bit, but eventually straightened out and headed due S across open fields. It reached Hwy 18 at the top of the long hill NE of Edgemont just W of a bridge over a deep ravine. There was a big paved pullout on the N side of Hwy 18 where the dirt road reached it. Even at the highway, the dirt road wasn’t marked with any sign or number.
If Lupe and SPHP would have started up Matias Peak from this point, instead of on USFS Road No. 379, Lupe would have had a much easier, though less scenic time reaching the summit. The dirt road headed almost straight toward the summit gaining elevation at an easy pace. Only the last little part of the climb would have been off the road.
The last part of the return trip from Matias Peak was a not-so-fun trek W along busy Hwy 18 for about 0.75 mile as the highway slowly curved SW. It was all a gradual downhill slope, which was fortunate, since Lupe wanted to be carried part of the time. SPHP had to oblige.
Lupe didn’t like the highway traffic, or the scattered cacti and broken glass waiting for her on the shoulder and in the ditch. SPHP was in complete agreement. Both Lupe and SPHP were quite happy when the G6 finally came back into view (4:17 PM, 70°F).
Before completing the drive home, Lupe had one final mission. When Lupe’s trip to western Nebraska had started just 2 days ago, the last peak Lupe had climbed with new friend Jobe Wymore before leaving the Black Hills was Cicero Peak (6,166 ft.). SPHP had been so interested in Jobe’s mountaineering stories, SPHP had forgotten the camera case up on top of the mountain. Now Lupe was going to go back up Cicero Peak to see if it was still there.
SPHP parked the G6 at the start of USFS Road No. 338 (Cicero Peak Road) (4:55 PM, 60°F). Somehow Lupe knew right away. Maybe the air smelled different. Maybe she remembered from being here before. However she knew, Lupe was certain there wasn’t any cactus here! Suddenly she was free to race happily through the forests again without a care in the world.
Lupe explored, while SPHP hiked the 1.5 mile road back up to the summit of Cicero Peak. It was a gradual, easy climb. Near the top, Lupe discovered what may be the last snow she will find in the Black Hills this spring. There wasn’t much left, and the snow was melting fast, but it was clear Lupe loved it. She ate big mouthfuls. She rolled on it to cool off. The snow tasted and felt great!
As Lupe neared the summit, the question was, would the camera case still be there? SPHP wasn’t even completely certain that was where it had been left behind.
Lupe went around to the highest rocks just W of the summit tower. Sure enough, Lupe found the camera case laying among the highest rocks! The carrying strap looked like a squirrel had nibbled on one edge of it. The squirrel hadn’t done it much harm, though. Apparently camera case carrying straps lack that nutty taste squirrels crave.
Finding the camera case again made Lupe’s Cicero Peak mission a complete success! All that was left was the descent back down the mountain.
On the way down, Lupe saw smoke from a forest fire to the SE. She saw Matias Peak, where she had just been, looking small and insignificant far away on the S edge of the Black Hills. She glimpsed the strange rock to the NW that Lupe and SPHP know as “Cracked Molar” (officially Beecher Rock?). Sharp-eyed Jobe had noticed it two days ago.
The thing that made Lupe happiest, though, was seeing, tasting, and feeling the last of the cold melting snow one more time.
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