Day 7 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming & Beyond!
7:07 AM, 42°F, along USFS Road No. 11 a bit N of a cattle guard between the NW & SE summits of Duncum Mountain – Last evening’s NE breeze and dense fog had been a temporary phenomenon. The SW wind which had prevailed for days was back, reasserting itself with a vengeance. No mere breeze now, wispy remnants of fog sailed over Duncum Mountain (9,831 ft.) at a tremendous pace, driven by a 30 mph gale.
Leaving the G6, even for a few minutes, was simply unpleasant. The cold wind was annoyingly strong. The morning sky a drab, depressing gray. 5 miles to the SW, the summit of Medicine Mountain (9,962 ft.) was lost in clouds.
The plan for the day had been to head N. The intrepid Carolina Dog was supposed to climb Sheep Mountain (9,813 ft.), then continue on to the Bighorn County High Point (9,257 ft.) just across the Montana border. Although there were roads to get close to these places, the G6 wouldn’t be able to manage them. Lupe had a long day ahead of her traveling many miles along an exposed 9,000 foot ridge.
Yeah, right. In this weather? The plan for the day was ludicrous. The American Dingo wouldn’t put up with it for 10 minutes, and rightly so. In complete agreement, SPHP fired up the G6 and drove S on USFS Road No. 11. This was it. Lupe was on her way out of the Bighorns. Upon reaching Hwy 14A, SPHP turned R heading W for Lovell.
6,000 feet lower at Lovell, this was an overcast, but otherwise pleasant June morning. SPHP fueled the G6, and aired up a tire with a slow leak. Time for Plan B! Lupe headed S on Hwy 310. While conditions way up in the Bighorns weren’t much fun, this might well be the perfect day for Renner Butte (5,445 ft.)!
Lupe had visited Wyoming’s Washakie County High Point in 2016. It was way up at 9,600 feet elevation in the southern Bighorns very close to Hwy 16. Yet Renner Butte, a mere foothill SW of the main Bighorn Range is Washakie County’s most prominent peak. Peakbagging hero Edward Earl had been to Renner Butte in 2009. A copy of his trip report with excellent directions to the general area was going to help Lupe get to the top of Renner Butte, too.
Renner Butte is something like 75 miles SE of Lovell. Paved highways all the way to Hyattville, though. Lupe kept a keen nose and sharp eye out for cows and horses along the way, but even livestock was scarce in this classic western sagebrush desert.
Paved Hwy 31 ended just S of Hyattville, becoming gravel County Road No. 849. Lupe was now only 7 or 8 miles from Renner Butte. Time to start paying attention to Edward Earl’s directions!
Earl mentioned two forks in CR No. 49 [sic] just S of Hyattville. Staying L at the first one brought Lupe to the critical junction. Here, Renner Butte was to the R on Hyattville Road.
Hyattville Road went SSE. After a few miles Cedar Mountain (5,711 ft.) was in sight off to the E. Cedar Mountain is higher than Renner Butte, but in Bighorn County, not Washakie County. Renner Butte was the next mountain farther SSE. Soon Lupe could see Renner Butte, too.
Half a dozen miles from the end of the pavement was a battered sign for the Renner Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Below the sign an arrow pointed L. A sharp NE turn off Hyattville Road onto County Road No. 54 was just ahead.
SPHP was driving too fast, and missed the turn. The Washakie County line was less than 0.1 mile farther, confirming the location. SPHP turned the G6 around and went back to CR 54.
County Road No. 54 curved through the N end of an irrigated field where Edward Earl had encountered some cattle. Lupe was disappointed that no cows were in sight today. On the far side of the field, the road turned E at the county line, then NE starting up into Ziesman Canyon.
A mile from Hyattville Road, SPHP drove past a barbed wire gate across a side road S of CR 54. The G6 got parked a little farther on, beyond a cattle guard Edward Earl had mentioned, at the same grassy spot along the N side of CR 54 where Edward had parked. Loopster bounded out ready for some Renner Butte action! (11:21 AM, 73°F)
The first order of business was a short hike SW back along CR 54 to the side road with the barbed wire gate.
After going through the gate, Lupe followed the side road up onto a low sagebrush covered ridge. She soon came to an intersection where she stayed to the L.
The road followed ridges and hills SE at first, but curved back toward the NE before too long. Though there were a few dips, Looper was gaining elevation most of the time. The American Dingo came to a high point from which she could see N into surprisingly colorful Ziesman Canyon.
Renner Butte appeared as a series of cedar covered hills to the SE.
Except when SPHP led her to nearby viewpoints, Lupe never left the road as it wound through grasslands dotted with sagebrush. The grass hid lots of cactus, and rattlesnakes were a potential deadly threat.
The day was getting sunnier. Though the temperature was only in the low 70’s, it felt hot trudging uphill. Lupe and SPHP stopped several times for water.
The road ultimately headed E for the N end of Renner Butte.
When Lupe reached the cedars, she discovered they weren’t tall enough to shade the road. Another discovery was that the cedars apparently suck up nearly all available water. The ground between them was often quite bare. Far less sagebrush, grass, or even cactus grew up here among the cedars than down below. SPHP still discouraged Lupe from leaving the road. The whole region looked like prime rattler country.
From the N end of the ridgeline, Lupe still had to travel nearly a mile SE to get to the summit of Renner Butte (5,445 ft.). The ridge hike featured beautiful red and white rock formations.
Along the highest part of the ridge, the road stayed near the NE edge of Renner Butte. Although the topo map showed the road going right over the 5,445 foot summit, all the highest ground was clearly SW of the road. Lupe had seen at least 3 separate high points about the same elevation, each separated by several hundred feet. The topo map appeared to be in error. Every one of these high points was well SW of the road.
Fearing snakes for Lupe’s sake, SPHP didn’t like having to leave the road, but the high ground was only a few hundred feet away. As Lupe headed for the southernmost high point, SPHP scouted ahead staying on bare ground away from the cedars as much as possible.
The southernmost high point looked like it might be the true summit of Renner Butte. Lupe discovered a large, crudely built cairn here. SPHP figured this had to be the large cairn Edward Earl had mentioned.
Clearly, there wasn’t any higher ground on Renner Butte (5,445 ft.) E or S of where the large cairn sat. However, the two other high points Lupe had noticed from the road were visible back to the NW. Situated near the SW edge of the ridge, they both still appeared to be very nearly the same elevation.
Of course, Lupe had to visit these other potential true summits as well. She set off heading N along the SW edge of Renner Butte.
The terrain soon brought Looper so close to the road again, that she crossed it to have a look at the views to the N and E while she was still up here. Stock Pond 4831 and a seasonal lake SE of Renner Reservoir could be seen in a wide valley below.
As Lupe returned to the SW side of the road, expectations rose. At one of the next two high points, the Carolina Dog ought to find the 5 stone cairn Edward Earl had personally constructed!
Despite a seemingly thorough search, the central high point disappointed. No sign of a cairn at all.
SPHP was now nearly certain Looper would find Edward Earl’s 5 stone cairn at the northernmost high point! However, when she got there, no cairn was in sight. Lupe did find a couple of different groups of 5 white stones. Perhaps one of them was Edward’s cairn? If so, the cairn had toppled over sometime during the past 9+ years.
So disappointing! With hope fading, Lupe and SPHP continued NW until it became clear there was no more high ground to explore. Lupe saw more rocks, but never did find Edward’s cairn.
Either SPHP hadn’t permitted Lupe to search sufficiently, or Edward’s handiwork was no more. Kind of sad. However, it had still been fun to follow his directions to seldom visited Renner Butte. Somewhere along the way, at one of the 3 high points Lupe had checked out, she had surely made it to the top of Washakie County, Wyoming’s most prominent peak.
Lupe and SPHP returned to the road. The sky, which had been fairly sunny earlier, was now clouding up. A 10 mph NW breeze helped make the downhill return trek back to the G6 pleasant. Trotting happily amid panoramas of arid western scenery, Lupe found many delicate, beautiful living things not yet withered by the coming scorching heat of mid-summer days. (2:19 PM, 73°F)
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