2017 was the pits! Dullsville. Cold, cold, cold. And snowy. Day after day, Lupe stared out the window. She would heave a big sigh after a while, give up, and go lay on the couch looking like she’d lost her last friend. Now and then she got to chase her new PupJoy flying disc across the glacier in the back yard, but that was about it for excitement. With temperatures hovering near zero, she wasn’t even getting her usual evening walks.
However, temperatures had started creeping up the last few days. The snow began to melt a little. Finally, this morning’s forecast called for blue skies and unseasonable warmth. SPHP asked if Lupe would like to go hiking in the mountains? Lupe could hardly believe her big soft Dingo ears! If barking, racing around in circles, and leaping for joy mean anything, she was more than ready!
Lupe had spent most of her Black Hills expeditions in 2016 climbing peaks around the SW, NE and NW perimeters of the Black Hills. In the fall, she even ventured way up into the Bear Lodge mountains in NE Wyoming. SPHP had expected that by the time 2016 was over, there wouldn’t be many named peaks remaining in the Black Hills that Lupe hadn’t climbed at least once – a handful, but not many.
However, Brian Kalet, a very active mountaineer from Colorado, had come through the Black Hills in May of 2016 to climb a curious set of peaks mostly concentrated in the southern Black Hills. Brian had added all of them to the Peakbagger.com data base. When Lupe is logged in to her account, these peaks show up as red circles on the topo map, meaning she hasn’t climbed them. And Lupe doesn’t allow red circles in her Black Hills home base without a good reason!
Why had Brian come here? And why had he climbed such an odd combination of mostly unnamed peaks? The only clue SPHP could find was that all of Brian’s ascents here had over 300 feet of prominence. Prominence is the vertical distance a peak rises above the highest col (meaning pass, ridge, or saddle) connecting it to a higher summit.
Perhaps Brian had been deliberately searching out mountains with at least 300 feet of prominence? That’s a metric tracked on Peakbagger.com, and Brian Kalet has climbed over 3,100 different such peaks, the second most of any account holder. Nothing else seemed to make any sense.
Whatever Brian’s reasons, now that it was 2017, it was time for Lupe to turn those annoying red circles on the map to green. They had been taunting Lupe long enough! She’d gotten a head start on the Brian Kalet peaks by climbing Peak 5688 and Peak 5440 in December. Next up on her list was Peak 6181, located 1.5 miles NW of the town of Custer.
Mica Ridge Road goes very close to Peak 6181, but a quick scouting trip proved the property along the road was all privately owned. SPHP resorted to parking the G6 at a pullout for an “interpretive site” on the E side of Hwy 385 (9:14 AM, 41°F). From here, Lupe had USFS land access all the way to Peak 6181.
The mountain was only 1.25 miles off to the SSW. Lupe crossed over to the W side of Hwy 385, and started climbing a fairly steep slope. She had to leap through nearly foot deep snow, which easily came up to her belly. Lupe likes snow, though. She was excited to be out in the hills again, and having a good time. Up the thinly forested slope she went, heading for the top of a ridge. She reached it at a saddle between two minor high points.
The top of the ridge had less snow, only half a foot in most places. Lupe crossed level ground leading to the nearest high point to the S. After a short climb, she was there. Thunderhead Mountain (6,567 ft.), where the Crazy Horse Memorial is located, was in view to the N. Off to the SW, Lupe could see her objective, Peak 6181.
S of the minor high point, Lupe saw a thickly forested hill. This hill was nearly as high as Peak 6181, but she didn’t need to climb it. Instead, Lupe went S only far enough to reach a logging road that headed SW. Near this road was a dramatic looking rock outcropping, the top of which leaned out into space. It reminded SPHP of a petrified artillery gun, thereby acquiring the name Artillery Rock.
Snow had drifted onto the logging road as much as 2 feet deep in places, which was pretty deep for Lupe. Often there was less snow off the road. Bare ground existed in a few places with a lot of S exposure. Yet plentiful slash and debris left off-road by the loggers frequently made the road easier to deal with despite the snow. Lupe continued SW toward Peak 6181 following the road closely, but not always right on it.
Although at times a bit of a struggle for Lupe, the trek along the road was pretty. The snow was still quite frosty and crunchy. In many places it was unspoiled by any tracks. Snow crystals sparkled in the bright sunlight like tiny jewels. Big granite rock formations nearby added scenic interest.
The climb to the top of Peak 6181 was easy, and didn’t take long. Lupe followed the NE ridge up. Soon she was standing on the highest rocks at the summit. Hah, success! Another red circle on the Peakbagger.com topo map would turn green for Lupe!
Lupe had surprisingly good views from Peak 6181. Most of them were from points a little below the top of the mountain. Too many trees blocked the views at the summit, although Lupe did have open views toward the W and NW from there. Atlantic Hill (6,393 ft.) and Bear Mountain (7,166 ft.) were among the peaks she could see from the summit.
Even though it hadn’t taken Lupe terribly long to get here, the snow had made the journey considerably more strenuous than it ordinarily would have been. Lupe and SPHP took a short break at the summit. Loopster wasn’t hungry yet, but SPHP munched on a few carrot sticks. Lupe curled up on the ground near SPHP’s feet.
After break time, Lupe went to see the rest of the views from points a little lower down.
With her exploration of Peak 6181 complete, Lupe returned to the G6 by the same route (11:50 AM, 55°F). Since it wasn’t even noon yet, Lupe had plenty of time to climb another mountain. Her next objective was Peak 6040, located a couple miles SW of Custer.
The plan was for Lupe to also climb Custer Mountain (6,089 ft.), if there was enough daylight remaining after Peak 6040. SPHP parked the G6 at the intersection of Lower French Creek Road and USFS Road No. 341, about 0.75 miles NNE of Custer Mountain (12:06 PM, 54°F). Lupe set off heading W on No. 341, which was snow-packed.
For a mile, Lupe stayed on No. 341, gaining elevation gradually the whole time. She then left the road to climb S toward a saddle between High Points 5900 and 5998 on the topo map. She found a snowy logging road near the saddle, but did not follow it. Instead, she turned SW toward High Point 5998. For a while, she had an easy time climbing along a fairly broad, rounded ridgeline.
Lupe tried to bypass High Point 5998, skirting it to the SE. However, this side of the mountain became progressively steeper, and was littered with increasing amounts of deadfall timber. Snow made things so slick, that SPHP started slipping. After a few minor stumbles, SPHP decided Lupe had better head up to the ridgeline.
By now, Lupe was already close to the top of the ridge. She reached it in only a couple of minutes. Lupe had succeeded in bypassing High Point 5998 to some degree, but wasn’t far S of the very top. Only a little farther S was a nice level spot with some grass, and a wide open view toward the town of Custer.
The ridge leading SSW toward Peak 6040 was narrow and rocky. Peak 6040’s summit was only 0.33 mile away, but this route was very slow going. Medium-sized rocks sitting at all sorts of angles dominated the whole length of the narrow ridge. On both sides, the terrain was steep and full of trees, deadfall, and more rocks. To the E there was also snow.
Lupe had no choice, but to pick her way forward through all the obstacles, while staying on or very close to the ridgeline. Gradually, both sides of the ridge kept getting steeper and more difficult. The rocks on top increased in size as Lupe continued S. SPHP began to fear Lupe might come to rocks so big she couldn’t climb over or get around them.
Fortunately, that never happened. Lupe managed to reach the top of Peak 6040. The highest rock was only about 50 feet N of the S end of the ridge. The skinny summit rock was standing on end. It was barely wide enough for Lupe to balance on, but she hopped right up on it.
There weren’t any views to speak of from the summit rock due to the forest. Lupe and SPHP went on to the SSW end of the ridge, where there were at least some views to the S. Due to the S exposure, the ground was snow-free and dry. Lupe and SPHP stopped for a break. Lupe still wasn’t hungry. SPHP consumed the rest of the carrot sticks. Lupe curled up with her head resting on SPHP’s leg.
It had taken much longer to reach Peak 6040 than expected. SPHP sat looking at the partial views, petting Lupe, and pondering what to do next. The original idea had been that Lupe would follow the ridgeline all the way back over a series of high points around to Custer Mountain.
Clearly that wasn’t going to work. The ridge route was too slow. Lupe would run out of daylight. Only two other options existed. She could forget about getting to Custer Mountain today, or she could try going down the SW slope of Peak 6040 to see if there was a faster way lower down leading directly over to the last saddle NW of Custer Mountain. That was a long shot, but might work.
After a 15 minute break, SPHP checked out that 2nd option. Peering SW down from the end of the ridge, what little could be seen through the forest was encouraging. Lupe would easily be able to go down that way, if it didn’t get any steeper. May as well try it.
Before leaving Peak 6040, Lupe returned to the summit again.
With her photo duties complete, Lupe returned to the SSW end of the summit ridge and started down to the SW. The forest hid all distant views, but the slope remained only moderately steep the entire way. Lupe gradually turned S, then SE as the terrain permitted. This route would have been a much easier way to the top of Peak 6040 than the NNE ridge she had actually followed.
Lupe finally arrived down at the top of an excavation into the side of the mountain. Below was a flat open area, which might have had something to do with an old mine shown on the topo map. From the open area, a primitive old road went E. Lupe went down to the road and followed it.
At first there was a lot of snow, and later on deadfall timber was in the way at regular intervals, but the road was level and turned NNE, the direction Lupe needed to go. Lupe was making good time again. Despite a few obstacles, this was a much faster route than the ridge had been.
The road eventually ended, but not until it was almost to a large clearing. On the opposite NE side of the clearing was the slope leading up to the saddle immediately NW of Custer Mountain. The sun was low in the sky by the time Lupe gained the saddle, but she still had time enough to climb Custer Mountain! Up she went.
Lupe had climbed Custer Mountain (6,089 ft.) once before, almost 2 years ago in March, 2015. SPHP only remembered that the summit had been at some large rocks with virtually no views, but Lupe had found a way to the very top.
Little had changed in nearly 2 years. After climbing the steep slope, Lupe arrived at the NE end of a narrow summit ridge consisting of large rocks with steep drops on both sides. However, there was room enough to work SW among the rocks and trees for 100 – 150 feet all the way to the true summit. Lupe was leery of getting right up on the exposed summit rocks, but finally relented. The Carolina Dog stood faithfully waiting for the OK to come down.
The only real change at the top of Custer Mountain was that many pine trees had been killed by pine bark beetles and had lost all their needles. Most of the dead trees were still standing, but it was a little easier than before to see off into the distance.
Sunset was coming in 15 minutes. Time to skedaddle! SPHP gave the OK, and Lupe jumped down from the true summit. The American Dingo paused twice going back along the summit ridge, once where there was an opening among the dead trees where she had a good view of Daisy and Kruger Peaks, and again at the very NE end of the ridge, where Harney Peak could be seen.
Back down the steep NNW slope. The sun was gone before Lupe reached the saddle. As the light faded, the Carolina Dog turned NNE and continued down the mountain. The snow was a foot deep in this part of the forest. Lupe had to work getting through it. Down, down. At last USFS Road No. 314 came into view. Lupe had it made now! The G6 wasn’t far away. (5:28 PM, 36°F)
Expedition No. 188 finally got 2017 off to a successful start. Lupe had fun, and left with high hopes for more Black Hills adventures in the very near future. After all, she still has a lot of Brian Kalet peaks she needs to climb!
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