While Lupe had been on Expedition No. 158 to Echo Peak, Tepee Peak and Eagle Mountain, SPHP had been thinking about it. Tomorrow was Leap Day, February 29th, the rarest date on the calendar.
Sadly, American Dingoes don’t live long enough to see more than a handful of Leap Days, 4 or 5 at the very most. One of Lupe’s few Leap Days (2012) was already behind her. Lupe should go on another expedition tomorrow, just to celebrate this rare date! She wouldn’t get many more chances. So, it was settled. Lupe was going on Expedition No. 159 in the morning.
Alas, she did not! Leap Day morning brought gray skies and a cool breeze. It started snowing. A Leap Day expedition had been a good idea, but there was no sense going out in this.
Early in the afternoon, though, the snow stopped. The skies cleared for a little while. There was still time, not for a long expedition, but Lupe could still go! It had to be someplace not too far away, though. There were still a few named peaks nearby that Lupe had never visited. Climbing one of them would make the day memorable.
SPHP quickly settled on Bluelead Mountain (5,170 ft.) near Sheridan Lake. It really wasn’t a terribly exciting choice. Bluelead Mountain is only a sub peak of nearby Calumet Ridge (5,601 ft.), but Lupe had been to Calumet Ridge once before back on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 108 on 12-11-14. At least Bluelead Mountain was something new, and the hike up Spring Creek from the trailhead to the lake would be scenic.
No time to lose! SPHP threw everything together. Lupe seemed quite surprised that anything was going to happen this late in the day just one day after a prior expedition, but she was all for it. It was 2:00 PM (37°F) exactly when SPHP parked the G6 at the Spring Creek trailhead for Centennial Trail No. 89. The sky was overcast again, but it wasn’t snowing. Lupe and SPHP took off following the trail up Spring Creek.
Everything was going well, until Lupe reached the first bridge over Spring Creek. It wasn’t there! Well, it was, but it no longer went across Spring Creek. Instead it was sitting uselessly up along the near shore. Whether the other end had been loosened and swept back by the creek during high water, or officials had decided to effectively close the trail was unclear.
There were other bridges (or used to be) upstream. Maybe Lupe could go along the near shore far enough to reach one of them. A short reconnaissance revealed that the terrain upstream was just too rough to waste time even trying. The creek was too big and cold to cross. Lupe had to go back to the trailhead.
Along the way, SPHP seemed to remember another bridge a bit farther downstream that went to a seldom used shortcut to the Flume Trail. Maybe that would work. Lupe and SPHP followed Spring Creek downstream well beyond the trailhead. No bridge anywhere.
Well, piddle! Now what? Lupe and SPHP returned to the G6. On to the Dakota Point trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89! It was only a few miles away. Dakota Point was well above the level of Sheridan Lake. There was a direct route to Sheridan Lake dam that didn’t involve multiple creek crossings. The only crossing was on a really good bridge over the spillway.
Oh, please! Really? 100 yards from the Dakota Point trailhead, a power line was drooping down onto part of the road. How long had it been like that? This little snow earlier in the day couldn’t have done that. SPHP turned the G6 around and parked it (2:37 PM, 37°F). The G6 wasn’t on the highway. It would be fine. Onward! Lupe and SPHP went under the droopy power line, and hit the Centennial Trail.
Lupe was off to a mighty late start. It was a good thing Bluelead Mountain is right next to Sheridan Lake. It wasn’t that high, and wasn’t that far away. Lupe was still going to climb it!
Things started going better. Lupe was enjoying exploring the snowy woods. There was none of the target practice gunfire she had to endure on yesterday’s Expedition No. 158. SPHP made good time on the trail.
The first part of the trail actually coincided with a dirt road buried beneath the new fallen snow. When Lupe reached the place where Centennial Trail No. 89 left the road, she stayed on the road instead. The official trail would have led her winding back down a very scenic route to Spring Creek, but there was no reason to go clear down there, especially not knowing if the rest of the bridges across the creek were still intact.
The road swung around to the S, went over a little rise and then started to lose elevation steadily. It took Lupe all the way down to the spillway next to the dam.
Lupe went over the spillway bridge, hopped over a dead tree fallen across the trail, and followed the trail up a small forested hill. On the S side of the hill, Lupe got her first view of her Leap Day objective, Bluelead Mountain.
Lupe went down a stone stairway to reach the N end of Sheridan Lake dam. From the dam she had a better view of the lake than back at the spillway. Below the dam, Lupe could see Spring Creek. The level line of Flume Trail No. 50 could be seen on the side of the hill to the E. Flume Trail No. 50 goes from Sheridan Lake to Coon Hollow near Rockerville.
Lupe and SPHP crossed Sheridan Lake dam heading SSW. Beyond the S end of the dam, Lupe followed short segments of Centennial Trail No. 89 and then Flume Trail No. 50. The base of Bluelead Mountain forms the SE shore of Sheridan Lake. The summit was only another 0.5 mile or so to the SSW. After gaining a little elevation on Flume Trail No. 50, Lupe left the trail to continue climbing directly up toward the summit.
Bluelead Mountain is very thickly forested with Ponderosa pines. Even though Bluelead Mountain is right next to Sheridan Lake, the lake could hardly be seen. After a short steep stretch, Lupe came to parts of the dense forest that were nearly level. She had a great time prowling around being a ferocious Carolina Dog.
Eventually the terrain began to steepen again. Lupe gained a fair amount of elevation and arrived at the first high point, which was still a little way N of the true summit. There was a bit of a view between the trees looking NW across Sheridan Lake.
Lupe continued S. It wasn’t very much farther to the true summit of Bluelead Mountain now at all. She lost a little elevation at first, but then the terrain rose steeply. The top of Bluelead Mountain turned out to be quite rocky, but was pretty much buried in the trees. There were only glimpses of views in a few select directions.
The rock formations at the summit of Bluelead Mountain were rather imposing coming from the N. It didn’t look at all possible to get near the top from the W. Lupe and SPHP went around to the E where SPHP was able to lift Lupe up onto a relatively level rock platform next to the very highest rocks. After a few photos, Lupe jumped down again.
SPHP peered over the ridge expecting to see a straight drop down to the SW, but was surprised to see a very easy route to the top. Lupe and SPHP scrambled over a few rocks to get over there, and then just strolled up to the summit. Lupe’s rare Leap Day peakbagging expedition was a success!
Lupe and SPHP had a chocolate coconut granola bar to celebrate. The skies had cleared quite a bit and it was sunny out. It no longer seemed so late. Of course, Lupe could just call it good and go back to the G6. However, it seemed like she ought to take advantage of the rest of the day and do something more. The only other obvious possibility was to continue on S to climb Calumet Ridge again. Well, why not?
Lupe lost a little elevation continuing S from the summit of Bluelead Mountain. As the ground leveled out, she reached the edge of a small clearing in the forest. Lupe stopped. There was something right out in the open on the other side of the clearing, something Lupe had never ever seen before in 158 prior Black Hills expeditions, or on any of her Dingo Vacations either.
A full grown mountain lion stood staring at Lupe and SPHP. It was frozen in mid-step, looking like it had just entered the clearing, too. The lion seemed hesitant. A ferocious Carolina Dog here in its territory? The Bluelead Mountain mountain lion was shocked and confused. It paused, uncertain for a moment what to do about this unexpected intrusion.
Lupe stood quiet and motionless. She likes cats, but this was one mighty big kitty! In fact, it looked like kittysaurus! For a moment, Lupe just stared. Who knew a kitty could get this big?
The moment wouldn’t last. Instantly, SPHP knew what to do. Off with the bulky gloves, grab the camera, off with the lens cap, hit the power button, wait a second or two for the lens to adjust … Lupe took a few steps toward the mountain lion. It turned and fled into the forest. Click! Too late or not? SPHP hit the review button.
Gah! Too late. A nice boring photo of an empty clearing where a moment before the only mountain lion Lupe had ever encountered in the wild had stood.
Almost! So close! But, no. Missed it by what, a second or two? If that. Lupe looked up at SPHP. “Did you see that humongous kitty?” “Yup, sure did!” “I was just thinking, maybe you should put the cats at home on a diet?”
The moment wouldn’t return. The big cat was gone. Even so, suddenly Lupe’s afternoon expedition on February 29th really did seem special. Just seeing the lion was a big treat. Expedition No. 159 was a very memorable success no matter what happened from here. Funny, if it hadn’t been Leap Day, if hadn’t snowed in the morning, if the bridge hadn’t been missing, Lupe would never have seen the Bluelead Mountain mountain lion.
A rough road left the clearing continuing S from near where the lion had been. Lupe and SPHP followed it. SPHP couldn’t help but glance now and then off into the forest to the E where the mountain lion had disappeared, just in case, but the shy cat made no reappearance.
Quite a few rough roads were carved into the side of Calumet Ridge. At times Lupe and SPHP followed them. Other times Lupe just climbed along a rocky spine of the mountain up through the forest. She came to one place with a great open view back toward Sheridan Lake.
A steep, rough snowy road led Lupe the last part of the way up to the top of Calumet Ridge. A level spot near the summit featured wide open views to the E. Silver Mountain (5,405 ft.), which Lupe had seen just yesterday on Expedition No. 158, was once again in sight – this time off to the SE.
From the E viewpoint, the road turned SW to reveal a beautiful look at Harney Peak (7,242 ft.).
Lupe reached the N summit of Calumet Ridge (5,601 ft.), and posed on the highest boulder to claim her 2nd peakbagging success of the day. The N summit is in the trees, so there weren’t any views. Just a little to the NW there was a partial look at Sheridan Lake, but it wasn’t as good as the view Lupe had already seen from lower down on the mountain.
The sun was starting to get pretty low, but Lupe still had a little unfinished business on Calumet Ridge.
Although the true summit appears officially on the Peakbagger.com topo map as 5,601 ft. at the N summit which Lupe had just visited, there is another possible true summit about 0.33 mile farther S along the ridge. The topo map shows a small area there enclosed by the 5,600 ft. contour. Lupe was going to go to this S summit, too, just to make certain she really had reached the highest point on the mountain.
The S summit block is considerably trickier to get up onto than the easy boulder at the N summit. Lupe and SPHP had no problems scrambling up, though. Now Lupe could claim her Calumet Ridge peakbagging success with absolute certainty. There was room to move around up on top of the S summit block, but not a great deal. The best views were to the SW toward Harney Peak.
Now it really was getting late in the day. While Lupe had been up on Calumet Ridge, the sun was sinking ever lower in the W. It was getting increasingly cloudy again, too. As Lupe left the S summit heading N back along the ridge, the sun disappeared behind the clouds.
Not far from the N summit, Lupe reached a saddle where roads met. It was too late to think about going back to the G6 by way of Bluelead Mountain. Lupe had to stick to the roads now. Lupe and SPHP took a road leading WNW down the mountain. It soon curved sharply and went SSE, losing elevation all along the way.
As Lupe headed down the road, an ominously dark cloud bank appeared off to the NW. It looked like snow was coming, or maybe fog. Gradually the low, thick cloud drew nearer obscuring the mountaintops and bringing a chilly gloom with it. Twilight faded. Just as Lupe reached a junction with another road clear down at the S end of Calumet Ridge, the snow came. Lupe and SPHP turned white. Lupe was as far from the G6 as she had been all day.
Lupe still had a lot of elevation to lose. She followed roads that went NW down toward the Blue Wing subdivision on a S inlet of Sheridan Lake. It was night, and still snowing when Lupe got to Blue Wing. No one was around. Nothing stirred. There were no tracks on the paved subdivision roads slick with snow-covered ice.
There were security lights on, though. And a few of the homes sported Christmas lights. In a year that had almost no winter, suddenly, late on the last day of February, on Leap Night, for a couple of hours, winter reigned briefly again.
Lupe and SPHP found Centennial Trail No. 89. Leaving the silent lights of Blue Wing behind, the flashlight had to come out as Lupe followed the narrow trail in the darkness. It wound through the forest high up on a steep bank along the SE side of Sheridan Lake. The steep bank was part of the base of Bluelead Mountain. Somewhere up above in the inky black forest was the Bluelead Mountain mountain lion.
Lupe reached Sheridan Lake dam, and crossed it heading N. By the time she reached the G6 (7:40 PM, 29°F), winter was over. The snow squall had moved on by. Amazingly brilliant stars were overhead.
Bluelead Mountain hadn’t seemed like much of a peakbagging destination, but SPHP was glad Lupe had come here. It would be a long time before she forgot Leap Day 2016, Expedition No. 159, and the Bluelead Mountain mountain lion.
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