The Black Hills experienced a cold snap over Thanksgiving and the following long weekend. Several nights there was light snow. At the very end of November, there was about 4″ of additional new snow overnight at Lupe’s house. Then it started to warm up. SPHP decided to wait for a few days to let some of the snow melt before Lupe’s next expedition.
Finally, on December 5th, Lupe and SPHP headed out for adventure again. Lupe was excited. She could hardly wait. At 9:29 AM, SPHP parked the G6 at the Newton Lake trailhead. It was 37 °F and overcast. Lupe leaped over SPHP to get out of the G6 at the first possible moment. She was expecting great things!
SPHP had 4 peakbagging goals in mind for Lupe. The first was Smith Mountain (5,897 ft.), which was very close at hand. Soon Lupe and SPHP were heading up the fairly steep NE slope. It was very slow going. There was still some snow on the ground, which made it a bit slippery. The real problem, though, was the terrible condition of the forest. There were lots of dead trees, killed by the pine bark beetles, that had fallen over.
For SPHP, it was a struggle getting over, under or around all the deadfall timber. At one point, SPHP lifted Lupe over a dangerous barbed wire fence that was partially collapsed by the dead trees. Lupe only needed to gain a little over 600 feet of elevation to get up on the ridge, but it was taking SPHP a long time to get up there. Finally, the ground began to level out a bit, and there was somewhat less deadfall around.
Once Lupe and SPHP were up on the ridge, the going was a bit easier. The deadfall wasn’t quite as bad, and the ground wasn’t so steep. Lupe and SPHP reached the ridgeline near the N end of Smith Mountain. There was a series of rock outcroppings spaced out along the ridge as Lupe headed S toward the summit.
The Smith Mountain ridge runs N/S for about a mile. The ridge was all forested, and provided only occasional glimpses of distant hills. It was pretty easy going along the ridge, since it was plenty wide. Although it went up and down some, it was overall pretty level. Lupe found the true summit of Smith Mountain at a big rock outcropping a bit S of the mid-point along the ridge.
With her Smith Mountain peakbagging goal accomplished, Lupe continued S along the Smith Mountain ridge. It was easier going along in here, since there wasn’t nearly so much deadfall. This part of the forest seemed to have been thinned by loggers some years ago. Whatever the reason, the forest was in better condition. SPHP was a bit surprised to find some big rock outcroppings near the S end of the mountain, but is pretty certain they weren’t quite as high as the rocks farther N.
Lupe’s 3 remaining peakbagging goals were all mountains along a line S of Smith Mountain. Her next goal was Flag Mountain (5,896 ft.). To get to Flag Mountain, Lupe went down the S end of Smith Mountain, and crossed Patterson Creek. Patterson Creek isn’t very large, and didn’t have much flow at this time of year. Lupe and SPHP had no problem crossing it. S of Patterson Creek, Lupe started climbing the N slope of Flag Mountain.
The last part of the climb up Flag Mountain was the steepest. There was snow again on the N slope, but only a couple of inches. The situation on Flag Mountain was the reverse of what it had been on Smith Mountain. Most of the deadfall timber was up on the highest slopes. The first part of the climb went fast, but the last part was slow.
Despite the deadfall, Lupe and SPHP reached the top of Flag Mountain. Lupe had accomplished her 2nd peakbagging goal of the day. It was time for a break. Lupe had some water and a bit of Taste of the Wild. She licked herself for a few minutes, and laid down to rest, but SPHP didn’t think a thing of it.
The top of Flag Mountain is pretty flat. Unlike Smith Mountain, Flag Mountain is not a long ridge. There is no chance of mistaking the summit. Toward the E is a spacious open grassy area. The actual highest point is over at some slightly higher rocks toward the W.
There are trees around the summit, some of them dead, which effectively block the views from Flag Mountain in most directions. However, there were really nice open views to the SE toward Harney Peak (7,242 ft.) from the grassy area. There was also a pretty good view to the NW, from the highest rocks at the W end of the summit area.
Lupe had now completed 2 of her 4 peakbagging goals of the day. Her next goal wasn’t very far away. Just to the S of Flag Mountain is Campaign Hill (5,800 ft.). Campaign Hill isn’t quite as high as Flag Mountain, so it didn’t look like a very impressive goal. Due to the trees, it was hard to get a very good look at it, except from the very SE edge of the summit on Flag Mountain.
Since the sun stays pretty low this time of year, even at mid-day it always feels like sunset isn’t very far off. Lupe and SPHP enjoyed a little time up on Flag Mountain, but didn’t linger up there too long before Lupe began descending the SW slope. She only had to lose a few hundred feet of elevation to get down to the saddle between Flag Mountain and Campaign Hill.
Down at the saddle, there was a USFS road junction. USFS Road No. 727 passes through the gap between the two mountains. No. 727.1F branches off to head N on the W side of Flag Mountain. Lupe crossed No. 727, and started climbing directly up the N slope of Campaign Hill. It was fairly steep, especially near the top. Again there was some snow, but SPHP was glad that this time there wasn’t much of the pesky deadfall timber. Lupe was soon up on the highest rocks at the E end of Campaign Hill.
There were too many trees near the rocks at the E end of the Campaign Hill ridge to really see much. It proved not to be the true summit anyway. Lupe headed W along the ridge, which soon turned SW, and came to a big rock that was clearly higher. Beyond it was a grouping of rocks that were even higher yet. This was the true summit of Campaign Hill.
SPHP had to lift Lupe up to get her up on top of the true summit. The entire Campaign Hill ridge, which wasn’t terribly long, was all pretty heavily forested. There weren’t really hardly any views. There was a glimpse of Harney Peak, though, from where Lupe was up on top.
Usually Lupe just jumps down off rocks, when SPHP says it is OK after taking photos. The rocks up on Campaign Hill were a bit high, however. Lupe waited for SPHP to come back up to help get her down off the rocks. She was reluctant to jump down. Again, SPHP thought nothing of it.
Lupe’s 4th and last peakbagging goal of the day was Peak 6048, about a mile to the S of Campaign Hill. The sun was definitely getting lower, so Lupe was soon on her way. She enjoyed running around in the slanting sunlight filtering through the forest, as she and SPHP continued S along the ridge. Near the lowest saddle on the way to Peak 6048, there was a little opening with a glimpse of Peak 6048 ahead. It wasn’t going to be long before Lupe would be up there!
Except Lupe never made it to Peak 6048. Lupe raced ahead of SPHP into a thick forest of small trees at the low point of the saddle. When she came out again, suddenly SPHP saw red. There was blood between Lupe’s hind legs! SPHP made Lupe stop and lay down. SPHP lifted up a hind leg. There was a gash at least 2 inches long where her left hind leg and abdomen meet. A big area of flesh was exposed where the skin was peeled back.
Fortunately, it didn’t look like anything other than the skin had been pierced or torn. Lupe wasn’t bleeding much, and she could still walk and run around. In fact, if SPHP hadn’t seen the blood, there wasn’t anything at all alarming about her behavior. She showed no sign of pain or distress. She didn’t want SPHP to touch the wound, though. It had to hurt!
Expedition No. 148 was essentially over. There would be no continuing on to Peak 6048. The only thing left to do was to get Lupe back to the G6. She needed to see a veterinarian ASAP. It was 5 miles back to the G6 along the only road SPHP was certain about. Before heading for the G6, though, it was time for first aid! Lupe had been hurt back on Expedition No. 135. Since then SPHP has been carrying bandages and gauze in case of an emergency.
SPHP tried a bandage first. Lupe was cooperative and let SPHP work on her, but the bandage was of no real use. Lupe’s fur was kind of long where her wound was, and the bandage wouldn’t stick to the wound. It stuck to her fur, but hung below her belly. The bandages were going to be useless without a way to shave the fur off around the wound.
SPHP tried using gauze wrapped up over Lupe’s back to hold the bandage in place closer to the wound. This would have worked, but it didn’t feel right to Lupe. She took a few steps and sat down. She just looked piteously at SPHP and refused to move. Maybe it hurt. Maybe it just felt weird. Probably both. Whatever. It was clear Lupe would not go on under her own power with the gauze wrapped around her like that. SPHP took the gauze off.
What had happened to Lupe? SPHP didn’t see the injury occur, but it is almost certain she was impaled by a sharp broken limb sticking up from one of the hundreds of deadfall trees she had jumped over. It is a constant threat in the Black Hills these days. Perhaps the original injury was small, but once the wound was opened, it would have been easy for the edges of the broken skin to get caught on other sticks and twigs and tear further each time.
Thinking back, SPHP wondered if Lupe hadn’t been injured coming over the deadfall timber while climbing Flag Mountain. She had licked the area where the wound was up on top of Flag Mountain during her break. Up on Campaign Hill, she hadn’t wanted to jump down off the rocks like she usually does. Perhaps the poor injured Carolina Dog had been putting on a brave front for quite some time.
She was still putting on a brave front. Once the gauze was off, she was ready to go again. With nothing to protect her belly where the wound was, though, it was vitally important to stay away from any more deadfall timber. The last thing she needed was to get the broken skin caught on anything else and torn some more. Lupe needed to get to a road.
Lupe and SPHP headed down through the forest to the W of the saddle. Fortunately, USFS Road No. 727 wasn’t very far away. Lupe and SPHP reached the road very quickly. Lupe followed it N. She took No. 727.1F at the intersection between Flag Mountain and Campaign Hill, staying W of Flag Mountain.
No. 727.1F ended before reaching Patterson Creek. Lupe and SPHP had to continue off-road down to the creek. Fortunately, there wasn’t much deadfall in this area. N of the creek was another road, USFS Road No. 386.1B. Lupe and SPHP had explored No. 386.1B once before heading around the W side of Smith Mountain on a prior expedition. Upon reaching the road, SPHP stopped and looked at the map.
It was still close to 4 miles back to the G6 by the route around the W side of Smith Mountain. The map showed No. 386.1B also curled around the E side of the mountain, though, too. It didn’t show the E route going all the way to the highway, but it looked like it got pretty close. The E route would be less than half as long. It might easily save 1.5 hours, if it worked.
It was hard to know what to do. If the E route ended in a tangle of deadfall, Lupe and SPHP would have to come all the way back. She would then still have go clear around the W side of Smith Mountain. On the other hand, time was of the essence. Just because Lupe seemed happy enough didn’t mean things were fine. With nothing protecting the open wound, no doubt infection was setting in. The longer it took to get to the vet, the worse it would be for Lupe.
The road to the E looked pretty good. SPHP hesitated only a minute or two, before Lupe and SPHP took it. Thankfully, the shortcut worked. At 4:10 PM, Lupe was back at the G6. SPHP drove her directly to the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Rapid City. Emergency veterinarian Dr. David Christensen saw Lupe almost right away. She was soon led away for wound cleaning, anesthesia, and stitches.
SPHP waited for Lupe to return. And waited. And waited. The clinic staff and Dr. Christensen were busy early on a Saturday evening. A woman brought in a black and white dog that was trembling all over. She thought her dog had been poisoned. A man brought in a little white dog that had a badly abscessed tooth. One side of its face was all bloody.
Eventually, a staff member told SPHP that Lupe was waking up from the anesthesia, and it would be another 5 or 10 minutes. Nearly an hour passed, though, with no further word. Finally, Lupe returned. She was walking, but looked dazed from the experience. Her fur on her chest was all wet from drooling. She was all stitched up, though! She was going to be fine!
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