9:22 AM, 37ºF, Custer State Park Road No. 8 –
Badger Hole again, SPHP? Hey, wait! You missed the turn!
SPHP drove only another 0.1 mile before turning R off CSP Road No. 8 at a big lot where a few small mounds of snow-covered gravel were stored. A bit nippy in the breeze, yet a lovely morning for mid-February. The sunny, clear blue sky held out hope for additional warmth soon enough.
No, we’re not returning to Centennial Trail No. 89 today, Loop, but do you remember that cool peak we saw from Pass 5180 last time out?
Yes, of course! Looked like fun! Are we climbing it today, SPHP?
Yup! I looked it up. It’s Peak 5440, another Lists of John peak with 400 feet of prominence. We’ll climb it today along with Peak 5360, which is only another mile or so NNW.
Loopster was fine with that. The American Dingo trotted over to CSP Road No. 8, and turned SE. After a few hundred feet, the road curved S. Abandoning it, Lupe headed straight into the forest. From the top of a small rise, part of Peak 5440’s long SW ridge was already in sight.
Might as well have stuck with the road a bit farther! A shallow valley was directly ahead. Angling E, Lupe passed S of a metal building, then followed the road that went to it S almost to the very end of Peak 5440’s SW ridge. A short climb got her up to the ridgeline.
The ridge was mostly forested, plenty wide, and only moderately steep.
Going to be a snap, Looper! Just follow this ridge NE. 0.5 mile and 500 feet of elevation gain ought to about do it!
Lupe started climbing. The ridge she was on melded into another ridge farther E. As the American Dingo gained elevation, she paused now and then, allowing SPHP to gasp for air while she admired the views that were already beginning to appear. Mount Coolidge (6,023 ft.) was in sight a couple of miles back to the SW.
Soon HP5200 was visible out along Peak 5440’s SE ridge. Looked like a nice, mostly open, vantage point, but Lupe didn’t go over there. Instead, she continued climbing along the SW ridge, which was getting rockier and starting to narrow down.
The ridge narrowed a great deal, developing a rocky spine. From an open spot, a high point appeared ahead. Perhaps the summit?
Up here, the wind was gusting a brisk 20 mph out of the NW. Loop didn’t much care for that! Nevertheless, the Carolina Dog pressed on. She was now high enough to catch a glimpse of Little Devils Tower (6,960 ft.), the Cathedral Spires (6,840 ft.), and Black Elk Peak (7,231 ft.).
The spine of rock extended all the way up to the high point Looper had seen. She arrived at a snowy, scenic spot, nicely sheltered by the forest from the NW wind.
Turned out, Lupe still hadn’t reached Peak 5440’s true summit. Leaving the snowy high point, the ridge widened as Loop continued NE down to a saddle leading to the final ascent.
10:43 AM, 42ºF, Peak 5440 – A broad, thinly-forested ramp made for an easy romp up to a surprisingly large summit region. The true summit proved to be a steeply tilted rock on a small rise along the SE edge. The big, unobstructed view was of snowy hills off to the SE. They were all lower than Peak 5440.
Pines along the NW edge only partially blocked the wind. Actually felt like winter at the true summit! Retreating down the SE slope to escape the breeze helped a great deal. Springtime here!
Springtime, and time for a chocolate coconut bar, too, SPHP!
Lupe curled up on SPHP’s lap, eagerly accepting her share of the much anticipated chocolate coconut bar. Really quite comfortable out of the wind. Snow on the lower hills to the SE contrasted pleasingly with the dark Ponderosa pines.
Off to the SSE was a view of some barren hills that SPHP suspected might include Peak 5120, which Lupe had been to less than 2 weeks ago during Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 295. Couldn’t positively identify it, though.
Inertia set in. The day finally seemed to be warming up. Cozy here, and the view was excellent. 45 minutes drifted by before Loopster decided she’d had enough. Returning briefly to Peak 5440’s true summit, she then continued NE, starting for the next saddle leading to Peak 5438.
Along the way, she once again caught sight of Little Devils Tower, the Cathedral Spires, and Black Elk Peak.
Almost as soon as Lupe left Peak 5440, the ridge going to the saddle over to Peak 5438 became rocky and narrow. Kind of rough ground! Before Loop even got close to the saddle, SPHP was ready to ditch this route.
Hey, Loop! We’re on our way to Peak 5360 now, so forget Peak 5438. Let’s get off this goofy ridge.
The American Dingo began angling NNW. At first, the fairly steep slope she was descending was rocky, too. Looper lost quite a bit of elevation before getting below the rocks, but even that didn’t really help much. The forest had recently been thinned down here, and a lot of still green slash was on the ground.
The rate of descent gradually diminished, but progress remained slow as SPHP kept maneuvering to avoid as much slash as possible. After losing 300 feet of elevation, the situation changed with the discovery of a road.
The snowy road was level and ran NE at first, but soon started to curve NW and lose elevation. Lupe eventually made it down to a sunny field, where a different road ran N/S in the valley N of Peak 5440.
Following this road N to the trees, it then began to climb and angle off to the NE.
Hmm. SPHP checked the topo map. Didn’t show any of these roads, but Lupe clearly didn’t need to go NE. Abandoning the road, Lupe continued N, deeper into the forest.
Should be a relatively short drainage going NW somewhere along in here, Loop. We can follow it down to Hwy 16A.
Sure enough, the Carolina Dog soon came to a ravine. A little rougher, and more V-shaped than SPHP expected, but it all went well. Before long, Lupe was crossing Hwy 16A.
A moderately steep slope N of Hwy 16A presented no real obstacles, making it a relatively easy climb. Quickly gaining 200 feet of elevation, Lupe reached a minor saddle along a flat ridge that extended E. From here, she had quite a nice view of Peak 5440, where she’d just been.
The view to the NW wasn’t nearly as pleasing. Loopster was already partway up Peak 5360’s SE slope. However, the forest had also been thinned here, although not as recently as over by Peak 5440. Brown slash littered the entire slope. Yuck!
Consisting almost entirely of small diameter stuff, the slash wasn’t all that terrible, but it wasn’t much fun, either. Lupe patiently picked her way through it, as SPHP trudged along behind. Slash, slash, and more slash! Loop never got above it. The slash extended almost 400 feet higher, all the way to the top of the mountain.
1:16 PM, 44ºF, Peak 5360 – The wind was still out of the NW, but only at 15 mph now, as Lupe reached a flat, triangular summit region roughly 25 feet across. The true summit, only a foot or two higher, if that, was a rocky area toward the W partially covered with slash.
Despite the forest having been thinned, there were still way too many trees up here to have any real views. Glimpses of Peak 5733 to the W, and the very top of Black Elk Peak to the NW were about it.
Lupe sat down in the snow next to a big tree.
This is it, SPHP? The top of Peak 5360?
Afraid so, Loopster.
Peak 5438 would have been better than this, and a lot easier to get to, too!
Yeah, but this is a Lists of John Peak with more prominence, Loop.
Your prominence is all fine and dandy, SPHP, but what good is it, if we can’t see anything? Especially, when the whole mountain is just a pile of slash! Kind of takes the fun out of getting here.
Most of it, maybe, but we can still enjoy the peace, solitude, and tranquility.
And maybe another chocolate coconut bar, SPHP?
Oh, sure! You can have some Taste of the Wild, too.
The chocolate coconut bar vanished in a flash. Loopster then crunched away at her Taste of the Wild. SPHP threw a sweater over her to protect against the wind.
Every mountain is unique – a unique place on the earth’s surface, and on any given day, a unique experience. Peak 5360 wasn’t the splendid sort of mountain the American Dingo was likely to return to someday, but it had taken a while to get here. Since Lupe wasn’t in any big rush, it seemed appropriate to linger for a while.
Slowly dying, the wind came in gusts. The camaraderie was great, even if the views weren’t. Nothing like being on another mountain with your best friend, ever! Half an hour of together aloneness ebbed away.
As Lupe stood on the true summit for the last time, for the first time, SPHP noticed another view due N.
Hey, how about that, Looper! George and Abe are here!
Leaving Peak 5360, Lupe headed SW. Definitely the way to go! Soon she was out of the slash. Gently sloping terrain, and reasonably open forest made for a pleasant, easy descent.
It wasn’t far to a power line that ran N/S. Going S, the terrain dropped steeply. Lupe followed the power line only a short way before veering off to the SW again, where she soon picked up a road that wound down to a saddle where the road divided. Still descending, Loopster took the branch going S. Eventually a field appeared off to the W that led to Hwy 87 near its junction with Hwy 16A.
The rest was easy. Lupe followed Hwy 16A to Legion Lake. Below the dam, a shortcut got her back to CSP Road No. 8 and the RAV4.
3:04 PM, 46ºF – Well, that was a nice day, SPHP! Glad we did this!
See! Peak 5360 wasn’t so bad!
No, it wasn’t, SPHP. The descent was lovely, and a chocolate coconut bar had been waiting at the top, so I’m happy. Peak 5440 was better, though, you have to admit that.
Yeah, Peak 5440 was fun, Looper! Not that hard, yet an interesting route, plus that grand view SE from the top. Doubt Big Rock will be any better.
Big rock? What big rock are you talking about, SPHP?
Oh, Big Rock is where we’re going next, Loop.
What! We aren’t done, SPHP? Is Big Rock another Lists of John peak you’ve dredged up?
No, not a Lists of John peak, Loop. Big Rock (5,655 ft.) is just a hill along the S edge of Custer that Arthur Caverly added to Peakbagger.com a few years ago. Don’t really know anything about it. Shouldn’t take us long to tag it, though.
3:21 PM, 46ºF, Custer Chamber of Commerce – SPHP parked the RAV4 at the Custer Visitor Center on Washington Street. Out front, a snazzily painted buffalo depicted General Custer firing a pistol while wearing a freshly punctured arrow shirt.
Harbach Centennial Park and the Mickelson Trail were right across the street. Taking the Mickelson Trail E to South 8th Street, Lupe turned S, starting up a hill. South 8th Street ended at a turn E onto Canal Street.
At this turn, the Big Rock trail continued S up the hill. However, Lupe had to check out an amazing sight before taking the trail. A whole herd of painted buffalo was grazing in a nearby vacant lot!
The painted buffalo were awesome! Each bison bore a different colorful design. Lupe and SPHP both favored the one with mountain goats on it.
The Carolina Dog would have been even more impressed, if the painted buffalo herd had been a little more lively. Since she’d apparently come across the bison during a period of inactivity, Lupe started up the Big Rock trail.
The snowy trail climbed at an easy pace. Lupe passed several benches. Heading S at first, the trail eventually curved W. Getting rather late for a February afternoon! Low angle sunlight filtered through the trees.
The trail nearly flattened out as Lupe headed W. Other trails took off in various directions. After crossing a road, the Big Rock trail led to a long stairway.
The long stairway led to the base of Big Rock’s massive summit block. Solid rock, of course! A second stairway went up to a viewing platform.
3:57 PM, 45ºF, Big Rock (5,655 ft.) – Still windy! Looper stood blinking in bright sunshine. Big Rock’s true summit was tantalizingly close, right behind her. However, no access to it without leaving the platform for a dicey scramble.
Guess we won’t be getting up there! At least, I’m not. Be my guest, if you want to go for it, SPHP!
Think I’ll pass, Loop. Apparently, Big Rock is one of those “good enough for Dingo work” peaks where we fall a bit short of the true summit, yet still claim a successful ascent.
And a chocolate coconut bar, SPHP!
Nope! Not this time, overly-sweetened Dingo of mine! None left, and we don’t really deserve one in this case, anyway.
No chocolate coconut bar? That, and the chilly wind, dampened the mood, but the views were sweet! Buckhorn Mountain (6,330 ft.) was just N of Custer. Sylvan Hill (7,000 ft.) and Black Elk Peak (7,231 ft.) were also in sight to the NNE, but much farther away.
Northeast Cicero Peak (6,240 ft.) was the eye-catcher off to the SSE.
The Big Rock viewing platform was small. Not much to do up here, other than the forbidden scramble. 5 or 10 minutes taking a good look around was sufficient.
On the way back, Lupe visited Sunrise Point, which offered a closer, but almost identical view of Custer. From here, she completed a loop via the Skywalk Trail back down to Harbach Centennial Park right across the street from the RAV4.
4:24 PM, 45ºF, Custer Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center –
So are we done now, SPHP?
Yup. That’s it for Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 296, Loop! Any thoughts? What was your favorite part?
Well, Peak 5440 was the best mountain with that snowy high point, plus the great view to the SE, but you know what, SPHP? The mountain goat painted buffalo is hard to beat!
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