Lupe had been revved up for a couple of days. SPHP had promised to take her on one of her Black Hills expeditions this morning, yet she almost didn’t get to go. Lupe was up early, but the morning sky was totally overcast. Low clouds socked in the nearby hills. It looked like rain and fog were in Lupe’s immediate future, not fun in the sun.
SPHP was hoping for rain, actually. May, normally one of the wettest months of the year in the Black Hills, had hardly seen 0.25″ so far, and the month was already 2/3 over. Moisture is almost always good news in the Black Hills, and it was really needed now.
Rain didn’t come. A light mist fell, but it didn’t amount to anything. After a couple of hours, the clouds seemed to be lifting. SPHP checked the forecast. Clouds and wind, but only a 20% chance of rain. Well Loopster, looks like you win! We may as well try it, although we may not see much if the skies don’t clear up any more than this.
Lupe was thrilled! She wasn’t worried about clouds. If she just got to run around sniffing in the forest, that was fine with her. She could still look for squirrels!
Lupe’s first peakbagging goal of the day was an easy one. SPHP parked the G6 near the start of Gilt Edge Road, just off Hwy 385 S of Lead/Deadwood (9:44 AM, 58°F). The top of Strawberry Ridge (5,890 ft.) was only 0.2 mile N. Lupe charged into the forest, excited to be underway.
SPHP trudged up the hill. The slope was moderate, until Lupe arrived at the base of a rocky ridge with a line of small cliffs facing SW. Lupe and SPHP went around the S end of the rocks, and easily got up on top.
The Strawberry Ridge summit area was large and flat. Nothing stood out as the absolute high point. The most interesting part of the mountain was the line of small cliffs to the SW. Forest hid the views in every direction.
Following the edge of the cliffs NW a little way, Lupe came to a small opening where Custer Peak (6,804 ft.) could be seen off to the SSW. That was about it for views. At least the clouds had lifted quite a bit by now. Although hazy ill-defined clouds still dominated the sky, they weren’t nearly so low as earlier in the day. At times, the sun even came out.
Lupe and SPHP looked around for the highest spot on Strawberry Ridge, but it really was all about the same elevation. SPHP finally chose a spot for Lupe’s summit photo. She grinned cheerily for the camera. Then she went and explored some of the interesting rocks along the line of small cliffs.
After exploring Strawberry Ridge, the short march back to the G6 was uneventful except that Lupe found a squirrel to bark at, and SPHP found the first Lupe Treasure of the day. A big black tarp had been abandoned in the forest near Gilt Edge Road. SPHP managed to get it stuffed into the trunk of the G6 (10:24 AM, 62°F).
For a moment, Lupe was reluctant to hop into the G6. She was worried that Strawberry Mountain was going to be it for the day. Why, the day was hardly getting started. She didn’t want to go home yet! SPHP persuaded her there was more fun in store. Lupe leaped in. She mostly enjoyed the ride to the next stop, but whined a little when there weren’t enough cows, horses or deer to bark at along the way.
SPHP parked the G6 at the Sugarloaf trailhead of the Mickelson Trail along Hwy 85 SW of Lead (10:37 AM, 66°F). Lupe wasn’t going to take the Mickelson Trail, however. She had another peakbagging goal nearby, and the trail didn’t go to it. Lupe was going to climb Sugarloaf Mountain (6,037 ft.).
Sugarloaf Mountain was only 0.33 mile SW of the trailhead, but SPHP didn’t know how to get to it. A private home blocked the way through the valley E of the mountain. Lupe and SPHP tried finding a way past the private property by following Whitetail Creek upstream along Hwy 85. The creek was pretty, but due to its proximity to the highway, there were a lot of Lupe Treasures along it.
The exploration up Whitetail Creek was a failure. Lupe kept coming to more private property along the creek. It didn’t look like there was any access to Sugarloaf Mountain from here. Lupe had to turn around and go back.
SPHP finally found a way up onto a ridge E of Sugarloaf Mountain. Lupe never got to the top of the ridge, but followed it S until she could cross the valley to the W. Down in the upper reaches of the valley, Lupe came to a tiny stream flowing over an abandoned road. The stream was full of silt and mud. Lupe laid right down in it to cool off. A two-toned American Dingo emerged from the mud.
Lupe seemed quite pleased with her new two-toned look! Or maybe it was just that the cool mud felt good. It was getting warmer and sunnier out. The air was very humid. As Lupe headed NW up out of the valley toward Sugarloaf Mountain, SPHP started sweating. SPHP stopped to put on sunscreen, as much for the breather as for protection from the sun.
While Lupe climbed Sugarloaf Mountain, SPHP started thinking about how it was getting to that time of year when Lupe needs to be exploring higher mountains than the Black Hills. Heat always saps SPHP’s energy. Lupe isn’t immune either. Climbing mountains in the heat is even worse wearing a fur coat!
The Carolina Dog soon arrived at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain (6,037 ft.). The summit area was a narrow ridge maybe 50 feet long running N/S. A big rock toward the N end was clearly the highest point on the mountain. A few feet N of it, a 3″ diameter pipe stuck up several feet out of the ground. Lupe hopped up on the summit rock to complete her ascent.
Sugarloaf Mountain was forested, but there were several places along the narrow summit ridge where it was possible to get a distant view. Lupe could see Terry Peak (7,064 ft.) and Deer Mountain (6,652 ft.) to the W. To the NE was the town of Lead.
After a lengthy rest break on Sugarloaf Mountain, Lupe and SPHP headed S down off the mountain. Lupe was on her way to her last peakbagging goal of the day, the highpoint of Woodville Hills (6,280 ft.). The journey started out well. As expected, Lupe came to a gravel pit shown on the maps while still coming down Sugarloaf. The gravel pit had a number of very small ponds along the E side of it. Frogs were croaking away, but stopped abruptly when Lupe drew near.
S of the gravel pit, Lupe found a road. Lupe and SPHP started following it SW, but came to a No Trespassing sign. A big house could be seen off to the W, a short distance ahead. Lupe and SPHP went S to avoid it, but came to a big housing subdivision at the W end of Ruby Flats. The housing subdivision was quite new. Many of the lots were undeveloped, although beautiful new homes were scattered around, too.
Lupe and SPHP passed through the subdivision on paved streets named Rubys Way and Outlaw Pass. Outlaw Pass seemed appropriate enough, but no one stopped outlaws Lupe or SPHP. Lupe made it through the subdivision without incident, and returned to the forest heading SE. It wasn’t too far to a new obstacle – a deep gash in the land.
The gash was man-made. Lupe and SPHP followed the gash to the S from up above. At the S end, Lupe went down an embankment to arrive at a rough road that came through the gash. Lupe needed to continue SE, but a log entrance across the rough road was marked with a “private property, no trespassing” sign in that direction. Reluctantly, Lupe and SPHP turned N going through the gash.
Lupe had hardly started on the way N, when an ATV suddenly appeared at the N end of the gash and came toward her. Lupe and SPHP got off the rough road to let the ATV go by, but the driver stopped to chat. The couple in the ATV turned out to be the owners of the private property to the S. They quickly informed SPHP that the rough road was part of Old Rail Road, and wasn’t part of their property. No problem going S following the road.
That was good news! As soon as the ATV roared off, Lupe and SPHP turned around and headed S again. A small pond was down below the W bank of Old Rail Road just beyond the log entrance. Frogs croaked in the pond as Lupe passed by above. Old Rail Road stayed almost level as it wound its way around to the E and then S again. Lupe was now making good progress toward Woodville Hills.
After more than 0.25 mile on Old Rail Road, other roads started coming in from the W. Old Rail Road got bigger and turned to gravel. Lupe started passing by homes on large forested lots. Old Rail Road led to a valley where it intersected Englewood Road near Aqueduct Creek. The Mickelson Trail ran through the valley paralleling the creek. Lupe and SPHP paused at the Englewood trailhead for a short break.
After the brief break at the trailhead, Lupe continued S a short way upstream near Aqueduct Creek. While SPHP gathered a few Lupe Treasures along the bank, Lupe cooled her paws off in the stream.
Brownsville Road intersects Englewood Road just S of the Englewood trailhead. Lupe could have followed Brownsville Road 1.5 miles around to the S end of the Woodville Hills ridge to a point not far from the summit, but the wide gravel road was a rather dull option. Instead, Lupe left Aqueduct Creek, and crossed over to the E side of Brownsville Road. Lupe and SPHP disappeared into the forest.
The Woodville Hills ridge is all forested, and runs for more than a mile in a NNW/SSE direction. Lupe and SPHP made a steep climb up onto a secondary ridge protruding out to the W. Lupe followed the secondary ridge E toward the main ridge. She came to an interesting big rock formation of fairly sharp rocks along the way. Lupe and SPHP skirted around to the S of it.
Beyond the sharp rock formation, Lupe still had to keep climbing to the E in order to get up onto the main ridge. She reached it not too far from its N end. The true summit of Woodville Hills was still a mile or more to the S.
Shortly after starting S on the main ridge, Lupe found an abandoned fort. She promptly took possession of it, proudly proclaiming it Fort Dingo!
Lupe and SPHP expanded American Dingo territory exploring the Woodville Hills ridgeline to the S. Lupe came to a series of minor high points along the way. She climbed most of them. Although there was elevation loss between each high point, overall Lupe was still clearly gaining elevation.
Lupe finally reached the true summit of Woodville Hills (6,280 ft.) very close to the S end of the ridge. SPHP had hoped there would be a good view of Custer Peak (6,804 ft.), but the Woodville Hills summit was buried in the forest like the rest of the ridgeline. There really wasn’t much of a view in any direction.
Lupe and SPHP explored a bit farther S along the ridgeline. Lupe had hardly left the true summit, when she arrived at a dirt road that came up from the E. Clearly, Lupe hadn’t taken the easiest route to the summit, but SPHP remained convinced her route had been more interesting.
Nearby, a narrow gap in the trees offered a still hazy look at Custer Peak. Brownsville Road could be glimpsed through the forest down below to the S. Lupe’s explorations of the Woodville Hills were now complete. It was time to turn around. Lupe returned to the summit briefly, before pressing on to the N.
For the most part, Lupe’s return route was the same. She returned to Fort Dingo, she followed Old Rail Road again, and passed through the new subdivision at the W end of Ruby Flats. Lupe even returned to make a second ascent of Sugarloaf Mountain.
However, the last part of Lupe’s journey back to the G6 was different. Lupe followed a dirt road S of the summit around the E side of Sugarloaf Mountain. SPHP expected it to descend down into the valley to the E, but it did not. Instead it curled around the N side of the mountain, dropping steeply, before finally coming out between a couple of cabins at the NE end of the White Tail Court Resort along Hwy 85.
From the White Tail Court Resort, it was only 0.25 mile back to the G6 parked at the Sugarloaf trailhead of the Mickelson Trail. It took Lupe and SPHP quite a long time to get there, though. Along the way, SPHP collected the great majority of the Lupe Treasures found during the day between Hwy 85 and Whitetail Creek.
There were more Lupe Treasures available than SPHP was able to carry, but Lupe was satisfied. Once she got back to the G6 (7:34 PM, 57°F), she didn’t want to go back for more. She had accomplished all three of her peakbagging goals, established Fort Dingo in the Woodville Hills, and been on top of Sugarloaf Mountain twice. That was enough! She hopped in the G6. The next treasures she wanted to see were a nice bowl of Alpo and a soft bed at home.
Lupe Treasures collected: 11 plastic bottles, 19 glass bottles, 34 aluminum cans, a large black tarp, a baby’s sweater, and miscellaneous trash.
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