Tag: Lupe

Start – 10:57 AM, 52°F, intersection of South Rapid Creek Road (USFS Road No. 231) & USFS Road No. 191.

Lupe’s summer of 2017 adventures were over.  Her friend, Australian adventurer Luke Hall, who had recently paid her a visit here in the Black Hills, was gone.  Things were finally back to normal!  For the first time since early June, it was just Loopster and SPHP setting out on a Black Hills, SD expedition.

This expedition was looking promising, too!  Cows, so many beautiful cows, were right here near the start!  Lupe was thrilled.  The cows less so.  In fact, they looked on with deep concern.  Wasn’t that one of those ferocious American Dingoes?!

The cattle needn’t have worried.  They didn’t get chased, barked at, or devoured.  Instead, SPHP started SSW on USFS Road No. 191, leading Lupe up Long Draw.  When Lupe reached an intersection 0.5 mile later, she turned W on No. 191.1A.

In the next 0.5 mile, No. 191.1A curved S, then W again.  Lupe reached another junction.  She had been this far once before over 2 years ago on Expedition No. 138.  That time she’d stayed in Long Draw, continuing W on No. 191.1A.  This time, just for something different, she turned SSW up Lessering Draw on No. 191.1C.

Lupe had seen a small stream in Long Draw.  A tiny, trickling tributary of it was here in the lower end of Lessering Draw.  When the road entered a pine forest, Lupe spotted an abandoned cabin near the tiny stream.  The Carolina Dog went to investigate.

SPHP wouldn’t let Looper go inside the old cabin for fear of rusty nails or broken glass, but she did peer in to see what it was like.  “Dilapidated” pretty much sums it up.  Clearly, many years had passed since this cabin was inhabitable, even in the most rustic sense of the word.

Lupe returned to No. 191.1C continuing SSW.

Not far from the old cabin, Lupe re-emerged from the forest.  The road curved W passing through a lovely large meadow surrounded by low forested hills.  Aspen trees, greatly in the minority along the edge of the pines, were showing a bit of fall color.

As Lupe proceeded through the meadow, No. 191.1C faded away to little more than a grassy track.  At the far end was a barbed wire fence.  An opening in the fence brought Lupe to USFS Road No. 125.

The Carolina Dog and SPHP continued W on No. 125.  The road passed through a narrow, forested part of upper Lessering Draw, which soon divided.  Lupe stuck with No. 125, as it curved N up one of the ravines to a minor pass.

Right at the pass was a barbed wire fence running roughly SW/NE.  Lupe went over a cattle guard to get past it.  (American Dingoes are highly skilled at crossing cattle guards!)  From here, No. 125 went N down the other side of the pass.  SPHP surmised it was heading for Maitland Draw.

Lupe needed to go more W than N.  White Tail Peak (6,962 ft.), her objective for the day, was 1.5 miles WNW of the pass.  Lupe left the road to follow the fence line WSW up a forested slope.  Upon reaching a ridge, she abandoned the fence to follow the ridge NW toward High Point 6346.  On the way, White Tail Peak came into view.

Loop easily leapt up onto the rock formation at the top of the ridge.  She stood astride High Point 6346.  That done, she pressed on to the NW toward White Tail Peak.  She was looking for the easiest way to get there with minimal elevation loss.  As it turned out, she could soon turn W toward the mountain without having to lose much at all.  She even came across a road leading W.  The road soon forked at Point 6424.

The road Lupe had been following was USFS Road No. 190, which angled NNW from here.  A side road going SW was marked No. 190.1A.  Lupe and SPHP had been on No. 190 before on prior expeditions to White Tail Peak.  Lupe could eventually work up and around to the summit that way.  A more direct route, though, would be to scale the mountain’s SE slope.  Today, Lupe had a special reason for doing so.

It looked feasible.  Lupe and SPHP left both roads behind, heading NW up a grassy slope of open forest.  Scattered deadfall provided the only obstacles.  The Carolina Dog purposely headed for the area between the mountain’s short and long SE ridges.  After traveling some distance, Lupe arrived at the edge of a golden forest.

Lupe happily sniffed her way through the magical forest of gold.  Above the golden forest, her climb steepened.  Would she would encounter a blocking line of limestone cliffs?  SPHP knew cliffs rimmed large portions of the upper E and S sides of White Tail Peak.

No cliffs appeared.  The American Dingo’s ascent didn’t even get all that steep before the terrain started leveling out again.  Lupe came to a faint road.  She followed it a little S, reaching a line of ragged limestone outcroppings.  This had to be it!  The spine of White Tail Peak’s long SE ridge.

This was Lupe’s 4th Black Hills, SD Expedition to White Tail Peak.  Yet to SPHP there had always been something lacking on her prior visits.  Long ago, so long ago it had been before there was a Carolina Dog, SPHP had been here alone.  Tattered, cobwebbed memories existed of a grand viewpoint at the end of a long march S.

To SPHP those memories were the essence of White Tail Peak.  SPHP had always wanted Lupe to see those sweeping views, but she had never run across them again.  Were the memories real, dreams, or confused with some other place?

On all of her prior expeditions here, Lupe had visited a limestone ledge SE of the summit where she’d enjoyed some very nice views.  However, they had never seemed as dramatic as SPHP’s old memories of White Tail Peak.  A sense of disappointment always lingered.

On one occasion, Lupe had specifically gone looking for the site of SPHP’s old memories.   Somewhere W of her usual limestone ledge, she’d found a much longer ridge going S.  Her exploration of it revealed some different vantage points.  However, none seemed familiar or measured up to SPHP’s expectations.  This wasn’t the place, either.

Today the plan was for Lupe to find out the truth.  SPHP had never allowed her to do a truly thorough search before.  And most helpfully, for the first time, SPHP had brought along a topo map.

The topo map revealed that White Tail Peak has 3 ridges protruding to the S – a short SE ridge, a long SE ridge, and a long SW ridge.  Studying it had convinced SPHP that Lupe had never been to White Tail Peak’s long SE ridge.  The long ridge she had visited must have been the long SW ridge.  The other times she had only been to the limestone platform near the end of the short SE ridge.

Her successful ascent from the SE up a visible gap between ridges made SPHP confident Lupe now stood on the long SE ridge’s limestone spine right at this very moment!  All that remained was to follow the ridge however far S or SE it went.

It was exciting to think Lupe was on the verge of discovery!  First, though, SPHP thought it best to go find White Tail Peak’s non-descript summit.  May as well make certain of locking in a successful full ascent before doing anything else.  Peakbaggers think like that.  Instead of going S, Lupe followed the faint road N.

Within minutes, the American Dingo reached a junction.  Ahh, so this was the turn SPHP had always missed or dismissed before!  Lupe was practically at the summit, it was only 100 feet to the NW.  She went up to claim her peakbagging success.

Lupe had visited the short SE ridge every other time she’d come to White Tail Peak.  Though the views didn’t completely measure up to SPHP’s old memories, they were still impressive for the Black Hills.  It wasn’t far away.  Lupe might as well go take another look at them while she was here.  It was tradition now!

Looper and SPHP followed a familiar winding road SE through an immature pine forest.  A few minutes brought Lupe to her usual White Tail Peak viewpoint.  Time for a break and a look around.  This was still a favorite place!

SPHP relaxed munching an apple.  Lupe devoured Taste of the Wild.  Water for all, though it wasn’t much needed.  The day had gone from mostly cloudy to overcast and noticeably cooler than before.  While Lupe and SPHP watched, even lower clouds streamed in from the NW.  A chill breeze blew way up here.  The incoming clouds were low enough so wisps of fog sailed by.

The low gray clouds were all part of one huge one.  The monstrous cloud fanned out rapidly, spreading gloom across the Black Hills.  Sunshine fled its influence, retreating far to the SE.  The apple gone and Lupe satisfied, it was time for a few photos.

The photo session over, Lupe and SPHP left the short SE ridge, retreating NW back to White Tail Peak’s summit.  Enveloped in a thickening fog, the mountain was growing colder and gloomier by the minute.

Good grief!  After coming all this way, suddenly there wasn’t any point in exploring the mountain’s long SE ridge.  Even if it led to the views SPHP remembered, Lupe wasn’t going to be able to see a thing.  Disappointment reigned.

Nothing could be done about it.  May as well forget about the whole thing.  Another time.  Would have had some nice fall colors, too.  Should have gone there first!  Sigh.

Reluctantly, SPHP led Lupe on the road N, away from the still unexplored long SE ridge.  May as well head for USFS Road No. 190.  It would take her E down off the mountain.  Maybe Lupe could explore some sort of an interesting loop on the way back to the G6?

Lupe went all the way N to No. 190, and began following it E.  She’d already lost some elevation, and was about to lose a bunch more, when suddenly the sky brightened.  Uncertain, Lupe and SPHP paused.  The trend continued.

Apparently conditions weren’t going to continue deteriorating after all.  It wasn’t going to be so bad.  The monstrous cloud wasn’t as dark or low as before.  The breeze was dying down and the air felt warmer.  Maybe Lupe could see something from the long SE ridge after all?

Worth a shot.  Back Lupe went.  To the summit again and beyond.  Lupe made the turn onto the faint road, which wasn’t so faint near the intersection.  She reached the limestone spine of the long SE ridge where she’d been before.

OK, this was it!  The moment of discovery was at hand.  Lupe explored S.  Up and down, onto and off of the discontinuous limestone spine.  Multiple times.  For a while, the forest hid everything.  Lupe went on, now heading SE.  She lost elevation, but not too fast.  Didn’t this have to be it?

Then there it was.  A first small limestone ledge with a view to the SW, a view worthy of what SPHP remembered.  Lupe was on the right track!  Naturally, she went over to see this glorious sight.

To the SW, Lupe saw a broad canyon, created over eons by the North Fork of Castle Creek.  The creek wasn’t visible, but far below aspen trees glowed with the fleeting glory of early autumn.

Across the gaping canyon was Peak 6962, a remote mountain so alike to White Tail Peak (6,962 ft.), the summit was even the exact same elevation.  Just below its forested upper reaches, limestone cliffs extended around the N and E edges of the mountain.  Cliffs like those Lupe now perched above.

Looking SE along the edge of the long ridge Lupe was on revealed a series of similar viewpoints nearby.

Traveling onward, Lupe checked out viewpoints along both sides of the long SE ridge.

At the far SE end of the long ridge, Lupe finally found the big, nearly flat, open viewpoint SPHP remembered.  Even on an overcast day, the panoramic views were fabulous!

Perhaps on some bright sunny day, Lupe will return to White Tail Peak for a 5th time to see it all again beneath crystal blue skies.  For now, though, SPHP was content.  Lupe had rediscovered this glorious vantage point overlooking a vast portion of the central Black Hills.  White Tail Peak was everything dim memory had credited and cherished it as.

A cool breeze still blew.  Hours had flown by.  Time for the intrepid Carolina Dog to move on.  Puppy ho!  Lupe headed NW, back the way she had come.

As soon as practical, SPHP looked for a way for Lupe to get down off the long SE ridge.  She soon came to one.  Safely down, Lupe roamed the long slope to the SE, passing the same golden forest on her way back to the junction of USFS Roads No. 190 & 190.1A.

Lupe had fun on the way back to the G6.  SPHP led her N on USFS Road No. 190 hoping to make a nice loop.  The American Dingo wound up going much farther N than anticipated.  A trail or road shown on the topo map failed to materialize.  An unmarked side road SPHP did try did not turn E as hoped.  Instead it began to fade away somewhere W of High Point 6217.

The failing road had to be abandoned.  Lupe bushwhacked E a long way.  Deadfall slowed progress considerably.  The sun must have set or was close to it.  Light was fading.  Hurry, hurry!

Yes!  A road!  Good deal, and none too soon.  SPHP quickly figured out that it was leading toward Long Draw.  Immediately overconfident again, SPHP had Lupe take a turn into Maitland Draw instead.

In the dim light, Lupe saw, sniffed, or otherwise sensed a presence before SPHP realized it was there.  Cows!  Way out here.  Enthusiastic Lupe streaked off barking.

The American Dingo returned before long, panting hard and apparently well satisfied with her romp.  Certainly more pleased than the annoyed cows had been.

No more of that, Loopster!  It’s getting dark anyway.  Better stay close.

Just grand.  The road didn’t go all the way through Maitland Draw like the map showed!  It turned S instead of staying E.  Maybe that wasn’t so bad?  SPHP suspected Lupe was on USFS Road No. 125.  Sure enough, she reached the cattle guard back up at the minor pass.  The rest of the way to the G6 was known.  Lupe had come this way earlier.  She would soon be back in Lessering Draw.

A curious, and perhaps very sad thing had happened shortly before Lupe reached the minor pass.  At first it seemed simply strange and unexpected.  Lupe had quit barking at the cows some time ago, when suddenly there was an answer!  A wild barking or howling, from off to the NW.

A coyote?  Maybe.  Lupe listened, but showed little interest and did not respond.  After a few minutes, it was not heard any more.  On the long dark trudge back to the G6, SPHP reflected, and eventually felt guilty and sad.  Glittering stars in an ink black sky shone down with a cold, cruel light.

Maybe an answer should have been made?

The more SPHP thought about it, the more that wild sound had seemed desperate.  Perhaps desperately searching.  What if it hadn’t been a coyote?  A poor lost or abandoned dog way out here?  Maybe it had heard Lupe and thinking salvation was at hand, had come running a great distance with soaring hopes looking for her?  If so, the disappointment at not hearing a response, and not knowing which way to turn, must have been crushing.

White Tail Peak had been a great and successful day for Lupe, but the accusatory thought persisted.  Perhaps the day had also needlessly ended as a bitterly cruel one for an innocent, lonely creature in need of help?  The uncertain truth remained somewhere out there, shivering alone in darkness, now miles away beneath eternally uncaring silvery stars.  (End – 7:40 PM, 35°F)

Links:

Next Black Hills Expedition                     Prior Black Hills Expedition

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 283 – White Tail Peak (11-6-21)

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 138 – White Tail Peak (9-19-15)

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