The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe

7:42 AM, 20ºF, Black Hills, USFS Road No. 282 just N of Hwy 16, W of Jewel Cave National Monument – A bank of fog filled the valley beyond the hill Lupe now stood on, paws in an inch of new snow that must have fallen overnight.  It had been 37ºF when the G6 pulled out of the driveway this morning, with a high in the 50’s expected.  So much for that.  20ºF here!

SPHP hadn’t bothered to check the forecast for anywhere else.  After passing Crazy Horse, everything had changed on the way into Custer.  Snow on the ground, and the temperature plunged as SPHP drove into a dense fog.  Stayed that way W of Custer, but this hill was a high point.  High enough to be above the fog.

I don’t know, Loopster!  Had no idea it was going to be like this.

We’re going to keep going aren’t we, SPHP?

I suppose.  Newcastle isn’t that much farther.  Guess we can go see how things are down on the plains, but if it’s all socked in, or any colder than this, that’ll be it.  No sense in doing Mile High Hill (5,280 ft.) in the fog!

9:01 AM, 32ºF, corner of Lynch Road & Piney Creek Road – A mile back, SPHP had turned S off Hwy 450 at MP 37.1.  Now Lupe stood near the old Darlington school.  Conditions were considerably improved.  What had ultimately proven to be merely an extensive ground fog had broken up on the way here.  Blue sky now!  A heat wave, too, at a balmy 32ºF.

Lupe had been at this intersection several times in the past few years, as SPHP tried to figure out if it was even possible for the American Dingo to get to Mile High Hill.  This was as far as she’d ever gotten, but a little new information had been gleaned during each visit.  Last time Loopster had been here a few months ago, Piney Creek Road had been a sea of mud, but not now.  Mile High Hill was a go!

The big question was how close the G6 could get to it.  Piney Creek Road (Piney Canyon Road on the topo map) might still be 4WD territory.

Still 9 or 10 miles to go just to get to the Rochelle Hills, a region of flat-topped ridges hundreds of feet high.  Incredibly, as the high point of the Rochelle Hills, Mile High Hill’s claim to fame was that it was one of only 19 “peaks” in the entire mountainous state of Wyoming with at least 25 miles of isolation, meaning no higher ground in a 25 mile radius in any direction.

Not expecting much of a climb, Lupe had plenty of time to stop at scenic points along the way.

Piney Creek Road was fine for miles, although gravel so coarse that the G6 occasionally scraped bottom had been dumped in various low spots.  These points were all passable, but the whole road eventually began to deteriorate once it turned S a couple of miles from the Rochelle Hills.

However, the road soon turned W again, starting up Piney Canyon.  Here, Piney Creek Road had recently been repaired with a fine layer of reddish gravel.  Smooth sailing for the G6 the rest of the way up to the junction with Rochelle Hills Road!

13 miles from the Darlington school, right after Piney Creek Road went over a buried pipeline, the G6 reached the junction up on a plateau of sagebrush grasslands and scattered stands of junipers.

Turning SE on Rochelle Hills Road, SPHP drove slowly.  Rochelle Hills Road wasn’t nearly as good as Piney Creek Road had been.  Rocky and pot holey in spots, but still quite passable for the G6.  Although Mile High Hill was supposed to be on USFS land, “No Hunting or Fishing without permission on the Two Rivers Ranch” signs were posted on barbed wire fences.  The road crossed a couple of cattle guards along fence lines.

SPHP was watching for a 4WD road that veered off to the L.  This road was shown less than 2 miles from Piney Creek Road on the topo map, and went all the way to Mile High Hill.  Unfortunately, no sign of it.

At about 2 miles, SPHP did pass a road on the R (S) with a brown wand saying “1171D”, which seemed right, and shortly after “1171D”, a road appeared on the L marked “1171”, but the map showed nothing here, and that was the reverse of the expected order.  Off to the E, a tower could be seen at the far end of a vast field.

Maybe “1171” went over to the tower, which might have been installed since the map was created?  In any case, it was clear that Rochelle Hills Road was soon about to head down off the plateau.  Turning around, SPHP drove NW very slowly.  Nothing seemed any different than before, and the lack of any definitive landmarks other than some convoluted ravines made it hard to tell exactly what was what.

Back at Piney Creek Road, another check of the map yielded no further clues.  Turning around again, SPHP drove SE on Rochelle Hills Road once more, this time parking the G6 at a big flat area just past an open green gate.  This was a high spot (Point 5145 on the topo map) which couldn’t be too far W of where the missing road to the L was delineated on the map.  Lupe hopped out.

You seem to be lost, SPHP!

Yes, and no, Looper!  We’ve got to be close to where I thought we could just follow the 4WD road shown on the map all the way to Mile High Hill, but I haven’t seen it.  Might have to just head NE from here.  See that reddish road heading up onto a ridge about a mile away?  A couple of big ravines between here and there, but if we can get to it, I’m thinking that might be the road that goes to Mile High Hill.

The sign doesn’t help?

Sign?  What sign?

The big one on the green gate.

Huh?  Oh!  That sign.  Actually, I hadn’t noticed it, Loop, was always busy looking the other way for the non-existent 4WD road.  Let’s check it out!

In addition to the sign on the green gate, two smaller brown signs were along the barbed wire fence.  Hiking and horseback riding permitted.

Glad you pointed this sign out, Loopster!  Doesn’t explain what happened to our missing road, but at least I’m now 100% certain we’re parked on USFS land, and not on the Two Rivers Ranch.

So we’re going to start for Mile High Hill (5,280 ft.) from here?

Yeah, seems to be the thing to do.

11:02 AM, 38ºF, Rochelle Hills Road, green gate at Point 5145 – Crossing Rochelle Hills Road, Loopster set out heading NE across a grassy plain.  Sagebrush was ahead, and beyond it a ravine draining to the N.  Worried about cactus for Looper’s sake, SPHP was relieved to see little or none.

Upon reaching the sagebrush, the Carolina Dog turned E.  Descending a small side ravine, she followed it down to the big one, crossed it, and started up the other side.

Continuing E through pine forest over a small hill, Lupe soon saw a gray and pink-sided ridge in the distance.  A road was already in sight not too far away!  Loop headed down to it.

Didn’t take Loop long to reach the road.  Well, that was easy!  No worries about cacti now!  This road might even be No. 1171, if it curved this way instead of going to the tower?  Lupe could check that out on the way back.  In the meantime, she followed the road N.  Near the bottom of a gentle slope was a marker for the buried pipeline.

Continuing N, the American Dingo passed W of low pine-forested hills.  The road then began to curve NE.  Directly ahead was the reddish road SPHP had seen from the G6.

Beyond the reddish segment, which led up onto a ridge, the road curved SE climbing more slowly.  Things were matching up with the topo map.  Seemed like Loop must be on the right track!  SPHP felt confident that the Carolina Dog really was on the road to Mile High Hill.

A high spot was ahead.  The road curved N again just before getting to it.  Looper left the road to take a look, and was rewarded with impressive views of the upper NW Keyton Creek drainage.

Returning to the road, it immediately swooped down into a minor saddle to the N.  After climbing up onto a plateau on the far side, the road again resumed a SE course.  A vast region was visible ahead.

After a longer trek SE along this plateau, the pattern repeated.  The road again curved N.  Lupe again left to take a look from a high point near the edge, before returning to head N.

After passing a minor grassy drainage beyond which a long ridge, one of the Pumpkin Buttes (6,052 ft.), could be seen on the far horizon, Looper came to a little hill.  From here, the road wound down into a deeper and wider saddle than the first one.

Once up onto the next ridge, the road turned SE for a third time.  While the road had never ventured far from the S edge of the high country, the Keyton Creek valley was now so close that Lupe could sometimes see down big side ravines.  A NW/SE oriented fence appeared, and the road ran straight alongside it for a while.

The road eventually curved S away from the fence after getting past a large ravine.  This region featured the first significant rock formations Lupe had come to.  She snooped around a bit before continuing on.

The road now wound S or E for a while, always staying fairly close to the edge of the plateau.  Lupe was now getting E of the Keyton Creek valley where it broadened out onto the wide open plains beyond the Rochelle Hills.  Periodically checking on the views, it was amazing how beautiful it all looked from up here!

On a stretch heading E, the road eventually came to the fence line again.  This time, there was a gate.  After going through the gate, the road again paralleled the fence for a while, but on the other side.

Before going too much further, the fence turned NE in order to avoid the edge of the plateau.  The road turned, too, staying within the fence.

By now, Lupe had come a long way.  She was easily 4 or 5 miles from the G6, perhaps more the way the road had wound around.  Couldn’t be too much farther to Mile High Hill.  Ducking under the fence, the Carolina Dog continued a short distance SE, venturing out to a point.

Along the edge here, the upper layers of rock looked volcanic – brittle and laden with unusual minerals.  Bright oranges and yellows!  Deep reds and purples!  About 0.33 mile E, across a deep ravine, was another point.  This point was topped with a layer of intensely red-orange stone.  Nearly surrounding it, steep slopes dropped to a band of chalky white cliffs, and thence to the prairie 600 feet below.

A narrow ridge connected Red Point to a slightly higher, forested plateau only a short distance to the N.  Mile High Hill (5,280 ft.)!

Close to her destination, Lupe returned to the road, which went N a short distance before winding E.  The plateau was narrower along in here, but soon broadened out.  The American Dingo had reached Mile High Hill.

Mile High Hill was scarcely any higher than the approach to it.  Toward the N, a spacious area of grasslands dotted with pines sloped gradually downhill.  Since the road curved that way, this was the end of the road trek.  Slightly higher ground was to the SE, so Lupe headed that way looking for the true summit.

Ducking under the fence again, Loopster caught sight of a giant deer!  Startled by her approach, the giant deer took off, racing away through an open forest.  In seconds, it vanished below the edge of the plateau.  A brief, but exciting introduction to Mile High Hill for the Carolina Dog!  However, the giant deer had been alone.  Loop encountered no more during her search for the true summit.

The region in the biggest 5,280 foot contour on the topo map, where the true summit was marked on Peakbagger.com, was flat as a pancake.  No cairn or any discernable highest spot.  However, along the SE edge of the plateau were several rock outcroppings.  Lupe visited what appeared to be the highest one, easily scrambling to the top.  Whether it was any higher than the pancake was debatable.

The second largest 5,280 foot contour shown on the map was near the S end of the plateau.  Continuing in that direction, Lupe came to a mound of stones 4 or 5 feet high, topped by the gray, weathered branches of a dead tree.

Impossible to say for sure, Looper, but I think this is it!

The true summit of Mile High Hill, SPHP?

If I had to guess, and I do, since the trees prevent us from having a clear view of the other high spots, yes, I’d say this pile of stones is the summit.  Congratulations on reaching the top of Mile High Hill (5,280 ft.)!

40 or 50 feet from the edge of the plateau, the true summit wasn’t much of a viewpoint.  Lupe continued S to the edge where the ridge leading to Red Point was in sight.

Gone were the morning’s blue skies!  The ground fog hadn’t returned, but high overhead a vast mournful blanket of dismal gray increased a sense of ancient remoteness, silence, and loneliness.  The wind picked up, gusting unpredictably out of the W at 15 mph, seemingly purposely gathering and concentrating its force in sudden blasts designed to thwart Lupe’s advance as she headed for Red Point.

Most of the ridge was forested.  Lupe was already close to the end when she reached a flat spot beyond the last of the trees.  Bordered by colorful rock formations, gritty red soil and tufts of grass covered Red Point.

Just ahead, a short, gravelly red sand slope led SE down to a smaller airy platform at the far end of the ridge.  The multi-colored rocks down there were every bit as impressive as the sweeping views.

Going back up to the larger high spot where the precipices weren’t quite so close, Lupe curled up on SPHP’s lap.  55ºF, certainly warm enough, but the wind still made it seem a bit cool.  What a vantage point, though!

The E edge of the Rochelle Hills region stretched miles away to the SW, well beyond the lower end of the Keyton Creek valley.  To the SE, a tan plain broken by long gullies extended to the horizon.  The Miller Hills, a smaller line of ridges than the Rochelle Hills, were visible to the SSE.

To the W, Lupe could see the region where the giant deer had run off to and some of the territory she’d been by on the way here, including the point where she’d first seen Mile High Hill and Red Point.

A glorious half hour spent in grand isolation at Red Point shot by.  Time to move on.  More to see up on Mile High Hill!  Returning briefly to the true summit, Lupe then explored N along the E rim, stopping at various high points and scenic spots along the way.

One more sizable 5,280 foot contour existed on Mile High Hill.  It was N of Point 5272 along the E rim, well to the N of the other high points Lupe had visited.  Loop went all the way to it, posing on a small rock near the fence that seemed to be the highest point.  She then kept going N until it was clear nothing higher was out this way.

On the horizon, beyond a nearby lower hill, was the long blue line of home.  The Black Hills!

Home.  Nearly 3:00 PM already.  Probably time to start back.

Mile High Hill had been fun!  A great, easy trek, and surprisingly scenic, an unexpected delight.  SPHP was glad the American Dingo had finally made it here.

The wind weakened.  Only a gentle breeze as Loopster crossed the long plateaus on the way back.  Never really was much cactus to speak of.  The Carolina Dog roamed fearlessly, pausing every now and then to see the sights.  Far to the NW, long ridges of the Pumpkin Buttes came into view for a while.

Loop followed the road all the way.  In the end, it did hook into Rochelle Hills Road.  Yup, she’d been on No. 1171 all this time.

Nothing left except a 0.60 mile march on Rochelle Hills Road to HP5145, the green gate, and the G6.  Curly tail held high, the Carolina Dog trotted NW, her fabulous Mile High Hill adventure, years in the making, finally complete.  (End 4:43 PM, 59ºF)

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