Lupe got to do a little peakbagging in the southern Black Hills on this bright, clear warm day in early April. Her first peak was Battle Mountain (4,434 ft.) near Hot Springs, the site of a fight between the Cheyenne and Sioux tribes in 1869. SPHP had to drive around on the streets just E of Hwy 385 where it came into Hot Springs from the N to discover that Thompson Avenue is the correct street to turn off Hwy 385. A block or two from Hwy 385, it becomes Battle Mountain Road. SPHP parked the G6 on Sheridan Street a block N of Battle Mountain Road. It was 9:07 AM and 52°F out when Lupe left the G6.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the air was totally calm. SPHP knew it was going to get hot fast and was anxious to get up Battle Mountain before the climb became too sweaty. The climb was a straight forward trudge up Battle Mountain Road involving an elevation gain of over 900 feet. There were scattered trees on mostly open ground for the first part of the climb, but as Lupe got close to the top of the mountain, there was more forest and shade. SPHP also started noticing a fair amount of trash along the road and began collecting it in a couple of extra plastic grocery bags.
The top of Battle Mountain had an assortment of towers and wires and sheds on it. SPHP soon discovered that there was also a considerable amount of broken glass around too. To prevent Lupe from slicing up her paws on the broken glass, SPHP carried her from rock to rock for a few pictures in the summit area. The best views were to the SE towards Angostura Reservoir out on the prairie just outside of the Black Hills, and to the S towards the large hill S of Hot Springs. There was also a view of Hot Springs, SD to the W.
Due to the broken glass, Lupe was not allowed to stay up at the summit of Battle Mountain for very long. SPHP did not even attempt to pick up any glass, fearing that the longer Lupe was up there, the greater the chance she would get hurt. However, SPHP did completely fill two plastic grocery sacks with trash on the return trip down the mountain. These were deposited in the trunk of the G6 for sorting, recycling and disposal the next day. Plenty more cleanup needs to be done on Battle Mountain, but at least things are a bit better than when Lupe arrived.
It was 11:07 AM and 62°F by the time Lupe made it back to the G6. Although a new idea for one of her Black Hills Expeditions, Lupe graciously agreed to a short tour of Hot Springs, SD for the sake of her blog readers. She stopped by Evans Plunge, the Kidney Springs Gazebo downtown and the Mammoth Site, all Hot Springs attractions of some merit.
Once her tour of Hot Springs was over, Lupe headed W on Hwy 18 towards Parker Peak (4,848 ft.), the county high point for Fall River County. Although Parker Peak is on National Forest land, it is completely surrounded by private property. SPHP hoped to obtain permission for Lupe to climb Parker Peak, but was unsuccessful in locating the landowner.
Giving up on Parker Peak, Lupe and SPHP headed NW out on dusty Pilger Mountain Road into a remote part of the SW Black Hills with the intention of reaching Pilger Mountain (4,788 ft.). Neither Lupe nor SPHP had ever been out in this area before. The scenery was quite interesting and western. SPHP stopped the G6 a couple of times for photos along the way. From Pilger Mountain Road, SPHP took Elbow Canyon Road up to its junction with USFS Road No. 319.
The junction of Elbow Canyon Road and USFS Road No. 319 was up on top of a broad open ridge. SPHP was surprised to see several pickup trucks with horse trailers parked near the junction. No one was around, so Lupe and SPHP just added the G6 to the collection of vehicles. It was 1:18 PM and now 73°F when Lupe and SPHP headed N on USFS Road No. 319.
USFS Road No. 319 heads NNW from the junction with Elbow Canyon Road for about 5 miles before going over Pilger Mountain. Lupe and SPHP followed it all the way. The road remains up on a broad ridge of open grassland for the first few miles at the S end. There are some pine trees around, but they tend to be near the edges of the ridge or up on various knolls and high spots along the way. The road very gradually gains elevation for most of the distance with only one drop of any significance, which is about a mile from Pilger Mountain. As No. 319 gets closer to Pilger Mountain, the ridge narrows considerably and the road enters a forest.
Neither Lupe nor SPHP was really enthused about the heat this early in April. Out on the exposed grassland and wearing a fur coat, Lupe was too hot to really enjoy the trek. She plodded along right behind SPHP hoping for water breaks, which came fairly frequently. The Black Hills are well behind normal precipitation so far in 2015. March and April have seen virtually no moisture in the southern hills. USFS Road No. 319 was parched and dusty. Despite the much warmer than normal weather experienced since early March, the grass has not greened up much at all due to the lack of moisture.
At least the hike was easy, since the rate of climb heading N was so gradual. SPHP did enjoy the views which frequently presented themselves along the ridge. Sometimes the views were to the W or SW into Wyoming. At other times they were to the E back towards the main body of the Black Hills. The views weren’t the only thing attracting attention. SPHP was also surprised by the occasional presence of people. A red jeep came along from the S after a while. Later on, a group of 7 or 8 ATV’s and motorcycles appeared from a minor side road and roared N along No. 319. The jeep, ATV’s and motorcycles later reappeared heading back S while Lupe was still heading N.
As the afternoon wore on, a welcome breeze began to stir up out of the W. It slowly gained in strength, although most of the time Lupe only heard it up in the trees. The breeze did help some though. It started to get a bit cooler too. Lupe started perking up when the road finally entered the forest. By then it wasn’t all that much farther to Pilger Mountain.
Pilger Mountain turned out to be just a somewhat higher spot near the N end of the 5 mile long ridge. The summit area was a couple hundred yards wide E/W and even longer N/S, and so flat it was difficult to say where the true summit was. Lupe and SPHP went all around the area looking for the highest point. SPHP hoped to find a USGS Benchmark, but never did. Finally, SPHP concluded the highest point was likely one of several rocks near the center of the area. There was one slightly higher spot toward the forest on the E side of the mountain, but it was not natural. You could tell it was the result of human excavations. At any rate, it could only have been a couple of feet higher.
Most of the top of Pilger Mountain was grassland with scattered pines. However, the grassland was surrounded by forest along the edges, so there weren’t many places to get a good view. Toward the NW, Lupe found the most impressive rock outcroppings on Pilger Mountain. A short distance beyond them was a small cliff with some pretty decent views off to the W and N. In the distance to the NNW, SPHP saw Elk Mountain (5,669 ft.) where Lupe had been a week prior on Expedition No. 125. There were also some pretty good views to the E from some high ground at the far SE corner of the summit area on Pilger Mountain.
The trip back to the G6 from Pilger Mountain was more fun than the trip to the mountain had been. The sun was getting lower and the temperatures were cooling down. The breeze was blowing harder, but not enough to be at all annoying. Only one more ATV appeared to disturb the serenity and seclusion. SPHP saw a couple of pronghorn antelope bouncing away down on the grasslands near Robinson Flats near the S end of the trek. There were some really wild looking canyons and ridges nearby to the SW and Lupe picked up the scent of something exciting over there. She ran back and forth sniffing the ground in a state of agitation and expectation, enjoying some mystery only the dingo’s nose knew about.
Lupe reached the G6 again at 7:23 PM. By now it was a totally acceptable 57°F out. All of the pickup trucks and horse trailers were gone. Only the G6 remained. SPHP gave Lupe one more drink of water before she hopped into the G6 for the dusty ride home. She rode with her head outside the window, with a big smile on her face and her tongue hanging out in the breeze.
It wasn’t until reaching the pavement at the highway that SPHP made Lupe get her head back inside the window. Lupe still wasn’t done. She stood with her paws on the dash and launched into a barking frenzy at every cow she passed until it got too dark to see them. A few cows glanced up from the grass wondering what the heck was that? What a great dingo day!
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