Tag: Peak 6046

10:39 AM, 31°F – Intersection of USFS Road No. 710 & Hwy 385, a few miles S of Pactola Reservoir

Lupe was off to a late start, but for a good reason – two good reasons, actually.  Last week’s Expedition No. 79 – The Snow Trek, had been an 11 hour in the field ordeal, and subsequent complete social fiasco.  Big Sid, the neighbor’s dog who had been joining Lupe on recent expeditions, had been returned home late – 10 PM, and totally exhausted.  Though Loop recovered quickly, Sidney had hardly been able to move for days afterward.

The neighbors were not amused.  They’d been worried sick about Sidney being gone so long.  Apparently Big Sid had a curfew.  Who knew?  Sid’s exhausted condition had earned SPHP the rather unflattering nickname “Dog Killer”.  Sidney wasn’t going to be allowed to join Lupe on her expeditions any more.  SPHP hadn’t even bothered checking this morning whether there had been a change of heart.  Back to the old ways – just SPHP and Loop from now on.

So after The Snow Trek fiasco, something less arduous had sounded good to get back into the swing of things again.  Rushing off early for another super long day wasn’t in the cards this time around.

The other reason Lupe was off to a late start was that it had been only 6°F when she’d gotten up.  No sense in following up The Snow Trek with the Frozen Solid Trek was there?  Lupe’s adventures are supposed to be fun, not dubious episodes of “Survivor”.  Although Lupe had been eager to get going, SPHP had insisted on hanging around the house for a few hours letting the day warm up.

At any rate, Lupe was here now, and happy to be out and about again.  She trotted W on USFS Road No. 710, following it gradually up a forested valley.  A dusting of new snow that had fallen overnight was unspoiled, showing no tracks.  Snow was plentiful, but not nearly as plentiful as it had been in the higher hills W of Nahant last week.

After going a mile, Lupe reached the upper end of the valley.  Here the road leveled out as it went through an open forest of large, beautiful pines.  Beyond the pines was barren ground, all clean and white beneath a blanket of snow.  Lupe saw a big white hill (High Point 5217) only 0.33 mile away to the W.

This barren area must have burned in a forest fire many years ago.  The dazzling white snow beneath the blue sky made everything look bright and cheerful.  Lupe stayed on No. 710 as it curved to the S.  The road soon circled back to the SE, passing through another stand of tall pines on the way.

By the time No. 710 emerged from this second stand of trees, Lupe was gaining elevation again.  Off to the N was a smaller, snowy hill.  The American Dingo left the road to climb it.  From here, Lupe could see much more of the burn area.  With so few trees around, she was treated to a panoramic view to the S and W, a rare sight in the mostly heavily forested central Black Hills.

To the SE, Peak 5800 was in view only 0.5 mile away.  Earlier, SPHP had been thinking maybe Lupe should climb it.  However, the day was now so nice out that greater ambitions had started to set in.  SPHP had visions of Lupe making it all the way to Old Bald Peak (6,130 ft.).

The views were so wonderful from this small hill, that it seemed to make sense for Lupe to head W up to High Point 5917, the first snowy hill she had seen.  High Point 5917 was considerably higher than where Lupe was now, so the views should be even better over there.  Furthermore, High Point 5917 was on the way to Old Bald Peak, if Lupe was really going that far.

So instead of continuing SE to climb Peak 5800, Lupe went S back down to the road and started following it NW.  She passed through the second grove of trees again, then kept going NW, leaving the road and ultimately climbing all the way to the top of High Point 5917.

No doubt about it, the views were even better here!

After enjoying the terrific views from High Point 5917, Lupe left going SW down the hill.  She lost a couple hundred feet of elevation on the way down to a saddle leading over to the next ridge.  Right away, she had to regain nearly all of the elevation she had just lost.  When she arrived up at the first real high point on the next ridge, SPHP recognized this place.

Lupe had been here before, way back on Expedition No. 41.  This ridge would go a little farther W, and then turn N on its way up to Peak 6046 about 0.5 mile away.  Lupe had come down this way on Expedition No. 41 after climbing Peak 6046 by another route.  It had been the last day of 2012, which was how Peak 6046 had become privately known as New Year’s Eve Peak (6046 ft.).

Returning to New Year’s Eve Peak was an appealing idea.  2014 wasn’t exactly new anymore, but there was still snow on the ground and the year was still young!  Lupe set off to the W, following the ridgeline as it curved N.  The final climb up the S slope was a little steep, but soon Lupe was back on New Year’s Eve Peak again.

It hadn’t taken all that long to get here, but the mood of the day had changed by the time Lupe reached the top of the mountain.  The blue skies were gone.  Gray clouds hung low over the hills.  A chill light breeze blew in from the NE.

Lupe and SPHP sat together looking at the view to the W.  Lupe had some Taste of the Wild.  SPHP ate an apple.  Old Bald Peak was still 2.5 miles off to the WSW.  It was easy to see Lupe would have to lose hundreds of feet of elevation again to continue any farther W.  Then it would be up and down all the way to Old Bald Peak.

In the end, SPHP decided the change in weather meant Lupe shouldn’t continue W looking for Old Bald Peak.  Instead, the original idea of climbing Peak 5800 returned.  It was much closer to where the G6 was parked.

Even that never happened.  After leaving New Year’s Eve Peak, Lupe made it all the way back E to the NW face of Peak 5800.  By then, the mountaintops were all hidden in the clouds.  Beneath the dark, foggy sky, the gloom was thicker than ever.  Tiny snowflakes fell.  The top of Peak 5800 was no more than 200 feet higher, but Lupe would have to start by climbing a slippery snow-covered boulder field.

SPHP hesitated.  Snowflakes swirled in the cold breeze.  Maybe this wasn’t the day for Peak 5800, either.

And that was it.  Lupe and SPHP left the mountain.  Lupe took a shortcut going N down a long slope through a snowy forest.  On the way, she heard gunfire.  Now she was desperate for SPHP’s protection.  SPHP urged her onward.  Lupe reached USFS Road No. 710 again.  Still, she didn’t feel safe until she was back in the G6 (3:07 PM, 32°F).

Barely 4.5 hours.  Not much of an expedition compared to The Snow Trek ordeal a week ago.  Too bad big Sid hadn’t been along today, he would have loved it!  The shorter day would have been better suited to his needs.  Who knew, though, if Big Sid would ever come along again?

As for Lupe, she hadn’t made it back to Old Bald Peak (which she had visited once before) or to the top of Peak 5800, but maybe she still would some day.  At least, she’d had a good time, and seen some beautiful sights.  And whether the calendar said it was the right day for it or not, she had enjoyed her journey back to the cold, lonely summit of New Year’s Eve Peak.

Links:

Next Black Hills Expedition            Prior Black Hills Expedition

Expedition No. 41 – New Year’s Eve Peak (12-31-12)

Expedition No. 112 – New Year’s Eve Peak (12-31-14)

Expedition No. 147 – Silver Peak & Old Bald Peak (11-24-15)

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Start – Intersection of Hwy 385 & USFS Road No. 710, 10:26 AM, 40°F

Lupe was late, a whole week late, but it wasn’t her fault.  She’d spent the last several days of 2017 in the Denver area visiting babies Felix and Owen, and having adventures with cousin Dusty.  The weather had been frigid, anyway, in the Black Hills.  It was still 5 below zero when Lupe returned home on New Year’s Eve 2017, and that was the high on New Year’s Day 2018.

Loop had climbed Peak 6046 for the first time on New Year’s Eve 2012 way back when she was barely 2 years old.  Since then, returning near the end of each year or the beginning of the next, had evolved into a tradition.  As far as the American Dingo and SPHP were concerned, Peak 6046 had become New Year’s Eve Peak (6,046 ft.).  Now, even though Lupe was a week late, returning to New Year’s Eve Peak seemed like a must for her first Black Hills, SD Expedition of 2018.

It’s odd that it would matter, but this year felt a bit different due to the later date.  SPHP decided to shake things up a bit.  Lupe would take a slightly different route from her favorite one in recent years.  Instead of following USFS Road No. 710 W up a valley N of Peak 5800, Lupe would start by climbing Peak 5800 instead.  She’d only been on Peak 5800 once before.  She’d climbed the mountain from the W after visiting New Year’s Eve Peak first on New Year’s Day 2016.

Lupe didn’t care what route SPHP wanted to try.  The Carolina Dog was just glad that it was finally warm enough to go out on an expedition in the hills!  So instead of taking USFS Road No. 710, SPHP had her skip the road entirely and head SW straight for Peak 5800.

Despite the recent bitter cold temperatures, this part of the Black Hills hadn’t received much snow so far this winter.  Several inches blanketed the NE slopes of Peak 5800, but that was only half as much as Lupe was used to seeing in this area in recent years.

Without any definite route in mind, Lupe and SPHP wandered up the mountain.  Peak 5800 has two NE ridges.  Looper soon chanced upon on the one farthest S, which ultimately leads to the lower SE part of the big main summit ridge.  The Carolina Dog was in snowy forest most of the way up.  As she got higher, she started coming to rock formations, some of which provided decent viewpoints.

Lupe reached the top of Peak 5800’s long, broad summit ridge near a high point close to its SE end.  This high point wasn’t the true summit, which was still some distance to the NW.  Since the broad ridge isn’t heavily forested, Loop already enjoyed some rather nice panoramas.

After a look around from the SE end of the summit ridge, Looper sniffed her way NW to the true summit.  An easy 10 minute stroll and she was there.

The sweeping views from Peak 5800 were actually grander than what Lupe would see from New Year’s Eve Peak, but Loop was still going on.  A chilly W breeze encouraged her not to linger too long at Peak 5800’s summit.  She left it heading W, and was soon picking her way down through boulders on the mountain’s W face.

Once below the boulder field, Lupe and SPHP headed NW across rolling fields and hills.  This is a favorite area.  A fire had burned the forest here years ago.  Young pines now dot the landscape in some places, but most of the terrain is grassy.  Sharp rock formations exist scattered along the edge of high ground overlooking territory that slopes S down toward the Horse Creek valley.

Approaching High Point 5917 from the SE, Lupe rejoined her usual route to New Year’s Eve Peak.  She turned W staying S of High Point 5917, and crossed a saddle leading to the SE end of New Year’s Eve Peak’s S ridge.  On the W side of the saddle she faced two steep snowy climbs in succession.  Neither was particularly long, but the first one was both longest and steepest.

Looper reached Pistol Point, a traditional stopping point on the way to New Year’s Eve Peak.  SPHP had named it Pistol Point after a large rock that looks like the handle of a big pistol jutting up out of the ground.  The Carolina Dog could see the top of New Year’s Eve Peak (6,046 ft.) from here.

After climbing around on the rocks checking out the views from Pistol Point, Lupe headed W.  She was already on New Year’s Eve Peak’s S ridge, which soon swept around to the N.  The ridge became narrower, rockier, and more heavily forested as Lupe continued on, before finally widening out again upon reaching New Year’s Eve Peak’s upper S slope.

A few more minutes and Lupe was there, standing atop the boulder at the summit of New Year’s Eve Peak (6,046 ft.).

The first two times Lupe had climbed New Year’s Eve Peak, the summit area had all been heavily forested.  It had been hard to get much more than a glimpse of a view in any direction.  New Year’s Eve Peak used to have a shady, dark, gloomy feel to it, an atmosphere which fit in with being here alone at the end of a dying year.

Sometime during 2015, loggers had come.  When Lupe had arrived on New Year’s Day 2016, the S end of the summit area and part of the S slope below it had been cleared.  Lots of slash and dead logs had been left to stumble around upon.  The affected area was relatively small, but the logging created good, open views to the S and SE.  Ever since then, the summit has been brighter and cheerier.

Somehow Lupe and SPHP preferred it the old way, yet that didn’t mean there was any reason not to take a look around.

A chilly 20 mph W wind was blowing.  It had been 40°F when Lupe and SPHP left the G6 this morning.  It didn’t feel like the day had warmed up a bit since then.  Lupe and SPHP sat huddled together at the W edge of the summit facing the cold wind, pondering the beautiful winter scene, the passage of 2017, and start of 2018.

Lupe munched on Taste of the Wild.  She had been eating snow, and didn’t want any water.  SPHP hadn’t brought anything else.

It’s funny what the mind is capable of.  Every other time Loop had been here, the mood had been melancholy, especially when she’d been here right on New Year’s Eve.  There was something psychologically depressing about watching the sun sink toward the horizon, and the light of day disappear for the last time on a year that had been part of the unknown future not so long ago.  A year now rapidly passing away never to be seen or experienced again.

The years when Loop had been here on New Year’s Day instead of right on New Year’s Eve, some of that sadness still lingered.  However, it was already being counterbalanced to a degree by the hope, brilliance and excitement of the new year just beginning.

Perhaps it was partially because Lupe was here earlier in the day today than on previous years, while the sun was still relatively high in the sky.  As the Carolina Dog and SPHP sat facing the cold wind, it no longer felt possible to truly mourn the passing of 2017.  Surprisingly, with only 2% of 2018 now history, the new year no longer seemed quite as completely bright and shiny as it had been a week ago, either.  The mind had already made the adjustment and moved on.

It only felt cold.  And like Lupe really had arrived late.  Not terribly late, but late.  It was good to be here, though, together again, on top of New Year’s Eve Peak peering out at the quiet, familiar wintry scene last gazed upon a little more than a year ago.  Loopster’s 2018 adventures were now underway.  That was a good thing.  2017 had been a fabulous year, and 2018 was still a 98% clean slate with many adventures to come.  Her annual pilgrimage to New Year’s Eve Peak complete, Lupe was ready to press on.

Puppy ho!  She was right, no sense sitting in the cold wind too long.  Lupe returned briefly to the summit boulder.

Even though this year’s experience wasn’t quite the same, coming here today had been better late than never.  Lupe and SPHP bid farewell to New Year’s Eve Peak, promising to return again, hopefully right when New Year’s Eve finally rolled around again many adventures from now.  Then Lupe led the way down the mountain’s S slope to retrace her route along the S ridge back to Pistol Point.

It felt good to be moving again.  Lower down the W wind was demoted to a mere breeze.  The slanting afternoon sunlight highlighted details of the terrain.  Growing shadows added contrast.  All the way back to the G6, Lupe ran and played in a beautiful world.  2018 was finally off to a good start!  (3:42 PM, 33 °F)

Links:

Next Black Hills Expedition                      Prior Black Hills Expedition

Expedition No. 187 – New Year’s Eve Peak (12-30-16)

Expedition No. 242 – New Year’s Eve Peak, Peak 6070 & Peak 6043 (12-17-18)

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