American Dingo – Page 223 – The (Mostly) True Adventures of Lupe

Lake Louise & The Plain of Six Glaciers Trail (7-24-14)

The hike from Chateau Lake Louise up to the end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail beneath Mt. Victoria (11,375 ft.) is one of the most popular and beautiful classic day hikes in the Canadian Rockies. Expect plenty of company on any nice day, and a hard time getting a parking place during the middle of the day. Access is from Lake Louise Village along the Trans-Canada Hwy 1 in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hike starts at the Lake Louise Lakeshore Trail in front of Chateau Lake Louise at the E end of the lake.

Lupe arrived early for this marvelous hike, which she had done once before back in 2013, but rainy overcast conditions delayed a start until mid-morning, by which time the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing at Chateau Lake Louise. Mt. Victoria was still lost in the clouds. Before Lupe even got started, a friendly Chinese lady saw her near the boathouse where they rent out canoes. She was instantly entranced with Lupe, and Lupe politely posed for several pictures near the lake.

Lupe at Lake Louise. Mt. Victoria is in the clouds at the far end of the lake.

Lupe took the most direct route to the Plain of Six Glaciers, which starts with the Lake Louise Lakeshore Trail. From Chateau Lake Louise at the E end of the lake, the trail goes right along the N shore of Lake Louise. It is an easy 2.0 km stroll gaining no elevation all the way to the W end of the lake. Beyond the lake is the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail, which continues W upstream along the N side of the valley floor. It goes through a small section where shallow glacial meltwaters were running over the trail, and then starts rising up the N side of the valley. As the trail continues W, it begins to climb faster and eventually incorporates some switchbacks.

Lupe and her new friend Bill from China not far from the Plain of Six Glaciers tea house. (Not pictured)

At 5.5 km from Chateau Lake Louise, Lupe reached a little plaza with benches near the Plain of the Six Glaciers Tea House. On the last stretch of trail prior to reaching the plaza, the son of the friendly Chinese lady had caught up with Lupe and showed an interest in her, too. At the little plaza, he started feeding chipmunks and squirrels crumbs. This activity was of great interest to Lupe, and she could barely contain her excitement. Soon the friendly Chinese lady and her husband showed up and there were several more photos taken of Lupe with her new Chinese friends.

Lupe with new Chinese friends Peiling and Bill. Next time Lupe is in China, she will be staying with them! — Lupe with new Chinese friends Peiling and her son Bill. Next time Lupe is in China, she will be staying with them!

Since Lupe is not interested in tea, she continued on the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail beyond the tea house. This portion of the trail soon leaves the forest as it approaches Mt. Victoria at the W end of the valley. The trail becomes rocky and eventually gets up on the (former) lateral moraine of the glacier coming down the Deathtrap between Mt. Lefroy (11, 293 ft.) and Mt. Victoria. The end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail is about 1.5 km from the tea house (7.0 km from Chateau Lake Louise) on steep rocky slopes above the end of the lateral moraine and just below Mt. Victoria.

Lupe near the end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail. The Deathtrap is visible between Mt. Lefroy on the left and Mt. Victoria on the right. 7-24-14

When Lupe reached the end of the Plain of the Six Glaciers Trail, no one else was there, although a few people were either coming up or had just started on their way back down. Intermittent show showers and gusts of wind made it seem like late fall or early winter instead of late July. The sky was completely overcast. A thin fog hung in the cool air. Although Lupe could see the top of Mt. Lefroy and the upper reaches of Mt. Victoria, Abbot Hut at the top of the Deathtrap was not visible. Lake Louise and Chateau Lake Louise looked very small and far away back down the huge valley to the E.

Lupe at the end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail. Lake Louise is visible far down the valley to the E.

After some photos and a bit to eat at the end of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail, the weather was deteriorating. It was time to head back to Lake Louise. Soon after getting down off the lateral moraine, SPHP heard someone calling out. It was the friendly Chinese lady wanting a few more pictures with Lupe! Lupe and SPHP wound up hiking all the way back down to Chateau Lake Louise with the friendly Chinese family.

Although language was a significant barrier, the Chinese understood and could speak enough English so a good time was had by all. Leo was the husband’s name, Peiling the wife’s name, and Bill the son’s name. Peiling even taught SPHP to say “Ni Hao Ma”. (Pleased to meet you!)

Lupe’s new friends are from the city of Foshan in Guangdong province of China, which SPHP later learned is not too far NW of Hong Kong. They invited Lupe to come and visit them! We shall see. You never know. Lupe is an adventurous dingo!

Click here to see Lupe’s post on her July 21, 2013 adventures on The Plain of Six Glaciers trail at Lake Louise!

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Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 118 – Redfern Mountain & Signal Knob (2-7-15)

February 7, 2015 was the second day in a row of record high temperatures in the Black Hills region. Lupe couldn’t miss an opportunity like that in what is normally winter, so she and SPHP headed out into the central Black Hills for a little peakbagging. Redfern Mountain (6,075 ft.) and Signal Knob (6,200 ft.) were the goals for Expedition No. 118.

It was already 55 degrees at 9:55 AM when SPHP parked the G6 just off Mystic Road only 0.33 mile E of Redfern Mountain. Lupe headed W straight up the mountain. There was almost no snow around, so Lupe and SPHP had an easy climb up through the forest.

Conditions were very pleasant at the top of Redfern Mountain – sunny, calm and, of course, unseasonably warm. Surprisingly, the summit area was level, mostly open ground. Consequently there were nice views of the central Black Hills region in almost every direction. For some reason there were 3 US Geological survey benchmarks in close proximity to one another all marked “Redfern” and “1950”, plus a sign on a post.

Looking SSE from Redfern Mountain. Harney Peak is the highest point towards the left.

Lupe’s second objective of the day, Signal Knob, was visible over 4 miles off to the WNW. It looked like a fairly low pine-covered hill rising above some immediately surrounding open prairie ground, although most of the intervening terrain from Redfern Mountain was pine forest. Quite a bit of snow was visible on the slopes of Signal Knob.

Lupe on Redfern Mountain. Signal Knob is low snowy hill surrounded by prairie visible in the distance.

After enjoying the views on Redfern Mountain, Lupe headed down the NW slope to start the trek to Signal Knob. On the way to Signal Knob, Lupe had to cross Slate Creek. Slate Creek is a small stream, only a few feet wide in most places, but had pretty good flow in it. Fortunately, the creek was still frozen over in places, and Lupe easily crossed the creek via the ice.

Looking back at Redfern Mountain after Lupe crossed Slate Creek.

Beyond Slate Creek, Lupe climbed through the forest all the way up to a high point shown on SPHP’s topo map as Peak 6099, less than 2 miles E of Signal Knob.

From Peak 6099, Lupe had to lose a fair amount elevation again as she continued on heading generally W or NW. She regained most of it by the time she reached the high prairie surrounding Signal Knob.

The summit area on Signal Knob was clogged with deadfall timber. A short distance to the N, there was some private property where a couple of 5th wheel trailers were parked. Fortunately, the true summit was on USFS land.

Lupe took a Taste of the Wild break on Signal Knob. She used her nose to bury a couple of pieces of a granola bar SPHP offered her, apparently planning a return expedition in the not too distant future. Despite all the deadfall timber, enough pine trees were still standing to prevent there from being any really decent views. At least the pines helped to block the wind which was by now starting to pick up out of the NW.

After a brief rest break at the summit, it was time to start heading back to the G6. However, being the intrepid dingo that she is, Lupe naturally wanted to explore more new ground along the way. So instead of heading E, she headed W into a rather stiff NW breeze on Slate Prairie Road to USFS Road No. 187.

The sky was now rather dark and even threatening looking off to the W. As Lupe headed N along No. 187 towards Deerfield Trail No. 40, a light rain started. Lupe turned E on Deerfield Trail No. 40 and followed it for at least a couple of miles. The rain continued intermittently for a while, but it never became heavy and eventually just quit.

Lupe had explored the entire Deerfield Trail No. 40 back in 2012. So at the 2nd of two rock quarries that she came to along the N side of the Deerfield Trail, she left it to take USFS Road No. 241.1B (unmarked) heading S up a low ridge. By the time the top of the ridge was gained, however, there was so much deadfall timber everywhere, that No. 241.1B was completely lost in the debris. Lupe stayed fairly high up on the ridge and worked her way S through the deadfall timber. For SPHP it was dreadfully slow going.

Fortunately, before too long Lupe came to another road, which was marked No. 241.1C. No. 241.1C very quickly met up with No. 241 (unmarked at this point), which was free of deadfall timber, but covered with snow and ice for quite a distance as it wound down a narrow little valley.

Lupe followed No. 241 a good mile and a half, all the way down through Dougherty Gulch back to Mystic Road. The valley was beautiful even in February. After passing a junction with No. 241.1A, there was even a small creek.

SPHP really enjoyed the hike along No. 241. Daugherty Gulch seemed quite remote. The valley was beautiful even in February. The valley became broader and more open as Lupe continued heading downstream.

Lupe at the E (lower) end of scenic Daugherty Gulch.

When Lupe reached Mystic Road at the E end of Daugherty Gulch, she was still about 3 miles N of where the G6 was parked. Lupe crossed Mystic Road to the E and got on the Mickelson Trail. Lupe followed the Mickelson Trail S for a bit over a mile to USFS Road No. 530. There she left the Mickelson Trail and completed a somewhat dull hike along the wide gravel Mystic Road the rest of the way back to the G6.

It was 5:48 PM, but still 52 degrees out, by the time Lupe reached the G6. It was getting dark, but not quite dark enough yet to see any stars. Lupe had a big drink of water before hopping in the G6 for the ride home. Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 118 was over.

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Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 119 – Meade County High Point & Custer Peak (2-13-15)

After a couple of weeks of very warm weather (including two straight record setting days), colder weather was on its way to the Black Hills. So Friday, February 13, 2015 was Lupe’s last chance for a while to get out for an expedition on an unseasonably warm day.

SPHP decided on the Meade County, SD High Point (5,460 ft.) as the main objective for Lupe on Expedition No. 119. Although the roads remained quite muddy, much of the snow had melted so that only scattered large patches were still around. SPHP parked the G6 at the intersection of USFS Roads No. 151 (Old Ridge Road) and No. 151.2G . This point is at least a couple miles SW of the Meade County HP. (There are much closer and better access points, but SPHP often parks miles from the intended destination so Lupe can enjoy the fun of exploring the region.) It was 48 degrees when Lupe set out from the G6 at 10:34 AM under mostly clear skies.

Lupe followed No. 151 heading N for about 1.5 miles. Here she left the road and went ENE through a still snowy forest (northern exposure) down towards the saddle at the W end of Virkula Gulch, which was snow-free.

P1050910 — Lupe near the saddle at the W (upper) end of Virkula Gulch.

After crossing the saddle, Lupe started the climb up the hill shown in the above photo. Close to the first high point, she came to some rocks where there was a view back to the WNW towards Terry Peak (7,064 ft.).

The snow on the ski runs at Terry Peak to the WNW can be seen beyond Lupe in the distance.

Near the rocks, a jeep trail headed E. It made a short climb up to a big nearly level area above 5,400 feet which was heavily forested.

SPHP hadn’t checked the maps and initially thought the Meade County HP was somewhere around here, not realizing Lupe was still in Lawrence County. Consequently Lupe explored the thick forest looking for the highest point. Towards the E side of this area Lupe found a rocky jeep trail. She followed it N to where there was a cliff with a very nice unobstructed view of the big valley Elk Creek runs through.

Still in Lawrence County, Lupe stands near the edge of the N cliff. Elk Creek flows through the valley below.

A NW wind made it quite breezy here, although back in the forest the breeze had been barely noticeable. Even though the view was better here, SPHP led Lupe back S to a point along the S edge of the high ground with a sunny and less windy view of Virkula Gulch. While SPHP chomped an apple and surveyed the view of Virkula Gulch, Lupe took a little Taste of the Wild break.

Finally consulting the maps, SPHP suddenly realized the Meade County HP was still close to 0.75 mile farther E. So once the break was over, Lupe headed E back to the rocky jeep trail. She followed it SE down off the high ground. Before Lupe had lost much elevation, the big limestone rock outcropping at High Point 5401 came into view. Lupe left the jeep trail and made the easy climb up HP 5401 from the W. The views from HP 5401 are the best available in the general vicinity of the Meade County HP.

P1050913 — The rock at the left is the summit of High Point 5401. The W end of Virkula Gulch is beyond Lupe. **Custer Peak** **(6,804 ft.)** is the sharp peak on the far horizon near the center of the photo.

From HP 5401 it was also easy to see the heavily forested hill close at hand to the E which is the site of the Meade County HP. (Due to thick forest, this hill had NOT been visible from the hill W of HP 5401.) Lupe left HP 5401 and headed E to climb this hill. Although the hilltop seemed fairly level, it had been easy to see from HP 5401 that the highest point on this hill was towards the N. This also agreed with the topo map SPHP had printed out from Peakbagger.com showing the Meade County HP near the NNW end of the hill.

Towards the far N end of the hill was a small area noticeably 2 or 3 feet higher than the rest of the ground around it. On this high ground stood two large pine trees about 10 or 12 feet apart. The bases of their trunks seemed to be on the very highest ground. Just a few feet NW from the easternmost tree was a very small whitish limestone cairn. Lupe posed for a photo next to the cairn, which as near as SPHP could tell, appeared to mark the Meade County HP. (This is the photo featured at the start of this trip report.) Before leaving, SPHP lifted up and then carefully replaced several of the larger rocks forming the cairn hoping to find a survey marker, but there was nothing.

There were no views from the cairn in any direction other than the thick forest. Lupe did scout around a short distance to the N, but it was soon clear there wasn’t any higher ground on this hill anywhere farther N. Before heading S to see what could be seen from the S end of the hill, Lupe returned briefly once more to the Meade County HP cairn so SPHP could retrieve the backpack. Soon Lupe was at the S end of the hill, which presented a pretty view of the E end of Virkula Gulch.

Lupe above the E end of Virkula Gulch at the S (opposite) end of the hill the Meade County HP is located on.

Having achieved her main objective by reaching the Meade County High Point, it was time for the return trip to the G6. Lupe returned by nearly the exact same route. She didn’t climb HP 5401 again, but did go to the N end of the hill to the W where the cliffs with the view of Elk Creek valley were for one more look.

It was 50 degrees and only 3:36 PM when Lupe arrived back at the G6. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left. Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 119 was not over! SPHP thought it might be interesting to explore USFS Road No. 151.2G to the W, but just before setting out on it, Lupe heard a gunshot from that direction. Lupe hates gunfire and immediately hopped into the G6.

SPHP knew Lupe wasn’t about to hop back out of the G6 again here with gunfire around. So the idea of heading NW towards the Strawberry Hill area on Hwy 385 came to mind. From there Lupe might find a way to Anchor Hill (5,800 ft.) which she has never climbed before. Lupe got to have a nice long ride in the G6 while hanging her head out the window, which is great good fun!

Upon reaching Strawberry Hill, SPHP turned onto Gilt Edge Road. It was only a couple of miles to Anchor Hill, but the area was full of homes and private property. Gilt Edge Road ended down in a deep valley at what appeared to be an EPA superfund site connected with the old Gilt Edge gold mine. It was clear Lupe wasn’t going to find easy access to Anchor Hill from anywhere along Gilt Edge Road. SPHP turned the G6 around, drove back to Hwy 385, and headed S.

SPHP had one more idea for Expedition No. 119. Lupe could climb Custer Peak (6,804 ft.) which she had seen from HP 5401 earlier in the day. At 4:42 PM, SPHP parked the G6 at the sharp turn in USFS Road No. 216 about 0.5 mile SE of Custer Peak. No. 216 to the NW was closed to vehicles from here for the season by a gate across the road. It was 44 degrees out when Lupe hopped out of the G6. The sun was still shining up on Custer Peak.

Lupe headed NW on No. 216 up the E side of a scenic valley that is one of SPHP’s favorites. About a mile from the G6, she left No. 216 and crossed over a saddle beyond which she turned E. A spur road heads toward Custer Peak and eventually winds clock-wise around the mountain on up to the summit. However, the spur was covered with so much snow it made the hike difficult for SPHP. It was actually easier going directly up the W slope of Custer Peak, even though it meant working through a considerable amount of deadfall timber. (Pine bark beetles killed the trees a few years back.)

Lupe actually got up into the sunlight while on the upper slopes of Custer Peak, but by the time she reached the old abandoned lookout tower at the summit, the sun had set. A steady breeze was blowing out of the NW. SPHP had hoped for a dramatic sunset, but the sky was almost totally clear. Everything just faded unspectacularly into twilight. Lupe posed for a few photos to document her ascent, but they didn’t turn out that great in the low light conditions.

Lupe on the rock wall around the old lookout tower on Custer Peak shortly after sunset.

On the way back, SPHP didn’t want to have to try to scramble down through the deadfall timber in the dark, so Lupe took the spiral road from the summit back down the mountain. There were feet of snow on much of the road and it was slow going for SPHP, although Lupe could mostly trot along on top of the snow without breaking through.

The stars were out and the Milky Way was on brilliant display by the time Lupe reached the G6 again at 6:55 PM. It was 39 degrees and calm. Lupe stood sniffing the air for a few extra minutes and then hopped into the G6 for the ride home.

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