Day 8 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Laramie Range & Beyond!
Colorado! For pity sake! Edward Earl’s trip report had warned that the sign for the turnoff to Pine Mountain was difficult to see from the highway. Supposedly, SPHP had been watching carefully for it. Not carefully enough, apparently! SPHP turned the G6 around. Lupe headed N back into Wyoming.
After leaving Prior Flat and the Shirley Mountains this morning, most of the day had been spent traveling. The afternoon drive S from Rock Springs on Hwy 430 had been gorgeous. High, remote ridges and hills stretched to the horizon, separated by dusty oceans of undulating sagebrush prairies. Classic Wyoming!
On the way S, Lupe had finally seen a mountain SPHP figured might well be Pine Mountain (9,550 ft.). Even with this advance warning that Lupe must have been getting close, the turnoff had been missed.
The turnoff to Pine Mountain was supposed to be about 5 miles N of the Colorado border. Of course, Edward Earl had been here way back in July, 2002. Maybe the sign at the turn he referred to in his trip report was damaged, no longer existed, or had fallen over? SPHP drove slowly N staring down each dirt road leading W from Hwy 430.
Maybe SPHP was just driving super slow, but it seemed like Lupe had gone well over 5 miles from the Colorado border. Still nothing. SPHP was considering turning around again for another pass at it going S, when at the top of a rise, there it was! A BLM sign in perfectly good condition said “Pine Mountain 12”. How had SPHP missed that? Didn’t matter, Lupe was on her way!
It remained to be seen how far Lupe would get, however. Edward Earl mentioned several sharply eroded ruts across the road within the first couple of miles. Maybe the G6 wouldn’t be able to get past them? That would be bad news. A hot, dry 10 mile one-way march just to get to Pine Mountain wasn’t going to happen.
Fortunately, the sharply eroded ruts no longer seemed to exist. Most encouraging! The road was supposed to be good the rest of the way. The next landmark Mr. Earl said to watch for was a fork in the road 4 miles from the highway. A BLM sign on the L would say 8 miles to Pine Mountain.
At 3 miles, and again at 4 miles, Lupe came to unsigned 4-way intersections at minor crossroads. Hmm. Edward Earl hadn’t mentioned these. SPHP drove straight at each one. 5 miles from the highway, Lupe did come to a fork in the road. A BLM sign near the L fork said “Red Creek Basin, County Road #71, Titsworth Gap”. No mention of Pine Mountain, or any clue as to where the road to the R went.
Pine Mountain was nowhere in sight. The sign looked fairly new, but even if it had been replaced since Edward Earl was here, why didn’t it mention Pine Mountain? None of the places listed meant anything to SPHP. Still, the road to the L was going the right general direction. It was probably the way. Maybe best, though, to go a little farther on the road to the R, just to make certain another fork wasn’t coming up soon?
A 0.5 mile jaunt down the R fork revealed nothing other than that the road deteriorated rather quickly. No other turns to the L could be seen for at least another 0.5 mile. That settled it. Lupe returned to the “Y” and took the road to the L.
Six miles later, SPHP parked the G6 at the base of Pine Mountain’s long NE ridge in a saddle just S of High Point 8510, a small butte mentioned by Mr. Earl. It was getting late in the afternoon (5:17 PM), and the 9,550 ft. summit was still more than 4 miles away.
After being cooped up in the G6 most of the day, Lupe was ready for action! A road goes all the way to the top of Pine Mountain, so getting to the summit would be a cinch. The sun stays up late in June, so even on paw and foot Lupe and SPHP would have plenty of time. Maybe Loop would even get to enjoy a nice sunset up there?
The trek had barely started, when SPHP nearly stepped on a baby pronghorn antelope hiding on the ground. It was very much alive. Lupe was already off racing around the fields, so she hadn’t seen it. Best that she didn’t. SPHP hurried over to the road leading up the mountain. Lupe never did see the baby pronghorn. No doubt she would have loved to, but it wouldn’t have been a good thing.
Despite its woodsy name, only the N side of Pine Mountain turned out to be forested. Most of the mountain was bare or sported only scattered trees. The road to the top never entered the forest. Consequently, Lupe had big sweeping views all the way up the mountain. They only got better as she gained elevation.
The first 1.5 miles were by far the steepest. Near the end of it, the road made a single giant switchback followed by a short rocky section. After that the slope of the mountain decreased steadily.
Once past the steep part, the road headed SW up a wide, grassy, but otherwise barren slope. The view from the road would remain boringly the same for more than 2 miles. Far to the R was the edge of the forest. Far to the L was the SE edge of the mountain.
After trudging nearly half of this dull distance on the road, even SPHP began to realize this trek would be a lot more fun over by the edge where Lupe could see the big views to the SE.
The edge of the mountain provided splendid views the entire way. The only disadvantage was that the higher Lupe went, the windier and colder the edge became. Loop didn’t care for the wind, but it wasn’t unbearable.
The highest part of Pine Mountain forms a huge crescent pointing SW. The terrain features mostly small rocks, small plants, and is otherwise barren and flat. The topo map shows two high points near the S edge. At the far SE end, the former site of an old radio tower is shown as having an elevation of 9,546 ft. Nearly half a mile to the WNW is the official summit with an elevation of 9,550 ft.
Lupe arrived at the SE high point first. A small concrete platform only 3′ x 3′ was all that seemed to remain of the radio tower. The platform was located next to the start of a long fence which swept around to the W from here near the S edge of the mountain.
A two track dirt road ran along the N side of the fence close to the edge of the mountain. Since she still hadn’t made it to Pine Mountain’s official summit, Lupe followed this road W, continuing on it as it curved gradually to the WNW, then NW.
Edward Earl had mentioned that each of the two spot elevations on the topo map appeared higher when viewed from the other. In Mr. Earl’s opinion, HP 9546 near the old radio tower site was likely the true summit, not HP 9550 which was the true summit according to the map.
Like Mr. Earl, Lupe visited both of these points. In the end, SPHP had no firm opinion where the true summit actually was, only that Lupe must have reached it somewhere along the way. No matter where Lupe was along the rim of the mountain, the terrain in the distance always looked definitely somewhat higher!
Perhaps the American Dingo knew exactly when she reached the true summit, but she maintained silence on the point. Dingoes don’t fret about such things. As far as Lupe was concerned, she’d done her peakbagging job and reached the top of Pine Mountain (9,550 ft.).
Near the SW end of the mountain, not too far from the official 9,550 ft. summit on the topo map, Lupe came to a green gate in the fence. She went through the gate, and started a little down the slope before stopping near the edge of the steepest part. A fairly strong wind still blew out of the SW, making things rather chilly on the totally exposed edge.
As far as the Carolina Dog could see, unspoiled open territory stretched past grand valleys and hills to distant mountains, some snow-capped, on the far horizon.
Nearly an hour remained before sunset. Other than the wind, which seemed to be gradually weakening as the sun sank, there wasn’t a reason in the world why Lupe shouldn’t stay to enjoy the show. Seldom has she had such a tremendous vantage point near the end of a day, plus a great route back to the G6 that would be easy to follow even after dark.
Lupe had water and Taste of the Wild, then curled up in the breeze to see how the evening would turn out.
For a while, the already splendid scene didn’t change much. The sun was still too far above the horizon. Lupe and SPHP sat huddled together against the breeze, gazing off toward Colorado and Utah, enjoying the solitude.
Slowly, the sun’s rays slanted more sharply. A golden glow crept over the land. Contrasts deepened between light and shadow, highlighting features of the terrain. In the distance, outlines stood out, sky now easily differentiated from mountains and ridges.
Lupe bathed in the golden glow, too.
The light intensified rapidly in the final brief moments before sunset. Lupe was transformed to a brilliantly illuminated Dingo goddess!
The golden glow faded. Shadow spread over the earth. Sunlight retreated to the realm of sky and clouds.
The show wasn’t over yet, though. Not until the sun disappeared completely did the evening sky rise to its colorful peak of glory.
And then it was over. Colors collapsed. The sky turned gray, the earth black. Lupe had remained to the end. Now the former Dingo goddess started the long trek back, traveling in deepening shadow the barren, breezy surface of this lofty dark underworld.
The sky grew black. So black, the ancient dim light of stars and galaxies blazed above, a shining echo from the edge of infinity of what once was eons ago. Miles to the E, a single small grouping of bright electric lights. On the far N horizon, a faint glow that must have been Rock Springs. Elsewhere, the pitch black unbroken reign of night.
On the move, heading down, the beautiful, quiet evening slipped by. The dying breeze brought the only news, subtle hints from the wild, to a still curious, quivering nose on Pine Mountain. (10:52 PM)
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