Hah! How’s this for peakbagging the easy way, Loop? SPHP turned off the engine. The G6 was parked at the base of the Warren Peaks fire lookout tower (8:23 AM, 38°F). Lupe was already at the top of the mountain. Feels like cheating, doesn’t it? We didn’t have to do a thing. Come on, Looper, lets take a look around! Lupe was out of the G6 like a shot.
A light S breeze was blowing. Clear skies and another unseasonably warm October day. The panoramic views were terrific. The Warren Peaks (6,656 ft.) fire lookout tower is atop the highest point in the Bear Lodge Mountains in NE Wyoming. Lupe gazed out over miles and miles of high prairie far beyond the mountains.
When the light is right and the air is clear, you can see all the way to the Bighorn Mountains from here Loop! The light wasn’t right. A bit of haze was in the air. Oh, well.
Although Lupe was back to continue her peakbagging adventures in the Bear Lodge Mountains, Warren Peaks (6,656 ft.) wasn’t really one of her prime peakbagging goals for Expedition No. 179. Lupe had been here twice before. Warren Peaks was just a great viewpoint from which to start the day, conveniently located on the way to other objectives she’d never been to before.
Before leaving this terrific vantage point, SPHP stared off to the N trying to pick out Vision Peak (4,812 ft.) or Bald Mountain (4,800 ft.), where Lupe had been adventuring a week ago. Nothing really stood out that SPHP could positively identify. Neither did any of today’s objectives. Most of the Bear Lodge Mountains just aren’t that rugged.
Lupe and SPHP left Warren Peaks headed N on USFS Road No. 838. At 9:04 AM (39°F), Lupe was leaping out of the G6 again, this time at the junction of USFS Roads No. 849 and 849.1A. Lupe had two peakbagging objectives nearby. They were two summits called the Black Hills. (Not to be confused with the entire Black Hills range, which is hard not to do, since the identical names make it plenty confusing.)
Lupe set off for the Black Hills (East) (5,229 ft.) summit first, climbing toward the S in territory W of the N ridge. At first, she encountered thickets of brush and small trees in a forest of mixed pine and aspen. As Lupe gained elevation, the pines prevailed and most of the smaller stuff disappeared. The terrain was unusually lumpy. Lupe went up a series of small rises separated by little ravines or low spots. Deer seemed to like this area, and Lupe saw quite a few of them.
The Black Hills (East) summit ridge runs roughly NW/SE. Lupe reached a lower part of the ridgeline a bit WNW of a protruding rock outcropping of yellowish tan limestone, or perhaps sandstone. This rock formation proved to be quite level on top, and runs the entire length of the summit ridge, which was hundreds of feet long. Toward the SW, the rocks form a line of small cliffs.
From the NW end of the Black Hills (East) summit ridge, Lupe could see Black Hills (West) (5,323 ft.). Black Hills (West) is almost 100 feet higher than Black Hills (East). Lupe would be going over there next, but not until she finished exploring Black Hills (East).
Lupe and SPHP traveled SE along the entire length of the Black Hills (East) summit ridge, staying near the line of cliffs. Forest effectively hid the views in every direction, other than SW from the cliffs. Even looking SW, higher forested ridges only a mile or two away were as far as Lupe could see.
Close to the SE end of the Black Hills E summit ridge, a small pine tree was perched near the edge of the cliffs. Ponderosa pines can grow in some of the most amazing places. The little tree looked like it was growing straight out of the rocks!
The Black Hills (East) summit ridge was long, on the order of 800 feet long. Having traveled the entire length of the ridge near the cliffs, it was time for Lupe to look for the true summit. Since the entire area was quite flat, there wasn’t going to be any one easily identifiable point.
Although there was only a slight elevation difference, the highest area Lupe could find on Black Hills (East) seemed to be back closer to the middle of the summit ridge. A somewhat elevated area was 50 to 100 feet NE of the cliffs. This high ground was covered by a dense thicket of scrub oak trees. Lupe had no views at all from here!
Having achieved her first peakbagging success of the day at Black Hills (East), it was time for Lupe to head for Black Hills (West). To get there, she first had to go back down to the G6.
Lupe roughly retraced the same route she had taken up. The many deer held Lupe’s attention much of the time, but she also found an interesting column of rock out in the middle of the forest. Strangely enough, someone had drawn an odd face on it.
Lupe reached the G6 at 10:36 AM. She was surprised and puzzled when SPHP went right on by it. However, her next peakbagging goal, Black Hills (West) was not far away.
Lupe and SPHP crossed USFS Road No. 849 and went down to Blacktail Creek. Lupe reached the tiny creek near a tiny waterfall. Of course, she paused for a not-so-tiny drink from the creek as she crossed it, prior to beginning her climb up Black Hills (West).
Lupe’s path up Black Hills (West) was very direct. She simply followed the long NE ridge, staying on the ridgeline a little above the cliffs to the SE. Lupe’s entire climb was steadily up at a moderate pace. As Lupe neared the summit, she found a big grassy meadow at the top of the mountain. SPHP hoped the views would be better here than from Black Hills (East).
Unfortunately, the views from Black Hills (West) were rather disappointing. The mountain wasn’t quite high enough for a good look at the most interesting sight. Off to the WNW, Lupe had only a partial view of the Missouri Buttes (5,374 ft.) and top of Devils Tower (5,112 ft.).
Lupe and SPHP wandered around the Black Hills (West) summit area for a little while, seeing what could be seen, before taking a break. After the break, it was photo op time for Lupe before beginning the descent.
Lupe and SPHP returned to the G6 (12:01 PM) going back down the NE ridge of Black Hills (West). Lupe had one more peakbagging goal for Expedition No. 179, Sherrard Hill. Sherrard Hill (5,385 ft.) is a little higher than Black Hills (West). SPHP had hopes that Lupe might find better views from Sherrard Hill than either of the two Black Hills summits had on offer.
SPHP drove a couple miles NNW on USFS Road No. 849 to its junction with USFS Road No. 860.1, before parking the G6 (12:09 PM, 57°F). Lupe would start her trek to Sherrard Hill from here.
Much of Lupe’s journey to Sherrard Hill followed USFS Roads. She started out going S on No. 860.1, which soon crossed Blacktail Creek. Lupe came to many forks in the road. At the first one, Lupe stayed to the R, avoiding side road No. 860.1A. At the next junction, where an unmarked road to the L went down to a bridge across Hershey Creek, she stayed to the R again on a road marked as Trail No. 1042.
At a third junction, Lupe stayed to the R again, now following USFS Road No. 860.1F.
While on No. 860.1F, Lupe and SPHP kept hearing geese. Finally, a flock of them flew by almost right overhead. The geese were so high, Lupe didn’t pay much attention to them.
As Lupe got closer to Sherrard Hill, she kept coming to more forks in the road. She avoided taking USFS Roads No. 860.1R (to the R) or No. 860.1J (to the L). The road she was on eventually turned W going up a valley. When Lupe reached a saddle at the upper end of the valley, SPHP was pretty certain Sherrard Hill was the wooded hill immediately to the S.
Lupe stuck with the road she was on as it circled around to the NW side of Sherrard Hill. She passed by USFS Road No. 860.1G on the way. By now, the road Lupe was following had leveled out. Lupe and SPHP turned SE and started climbing.
The climb up Sherrard Hill (5,385 ft.) was along quite a gentle slope. The hill was heavily forested all the way up. The summit area was large, and all heavily forested, too. Lupe and SPHP went all the way to the SE end of the summit area. There was little to be seen, but forest anywhere.
Well, that was it. None of Lupe’s 3 main peakbagging objectives of the day had provided much in the way of views, and Sherrard Hill, the highest of them all, had no views at all. Sometimes that’s just the way it is in the mountains.
Lupe and SPHP took a short break for chocolate coconut granola bars and water at the SE end of the summit area. Then Lupe got to explore the Sherrard Hill summit looking for the highest point. Just like on Black Hills (East), the top of the mountain was so flat, it was hard to pin down an exact location of the true summit. Once again, it appeared to be in a thick grove of scrub oaks.
Before completely abandoning Sherrard Hill to return to the G6, Lupe and SPHP wandered over to a slightly lower part of the mountain protruding to the W from the N end of the summit area. From here, Lupe did catch a couple of glimpses of Missouri Buttes, but never had a really good look.
Lupe and SPHP continued NW to High Point 5255, but other than a ranch house to the W, there was nothing to see there either. OK, that was it. Time to give up and go back to the G6. Lupe had a great time on the way back. She saw many deer, and several squirrels.
When Lupe arrived at the G6 again (3:43 PM, 57°F), it was only a little over 2 hours until sundown. Time enough to do something, but not go off climbing another mountain. Since Lupe had never seen Cook Lake before, why not go see the little lake?
The Cook Lake Recreation Area features a campground, picnic area, loop trail around the lake, and another loop trail N of the lake called the Cliff Swallow trail. Lupe arrived at Cook Lake (4:16 PM, 53°F) too late to both spend time at the lake and take the Cliff Swallow trail. Since the main purpose was to see Cook Lake, Lupe stuck to the lakeshore trail.
Although there had been a few people around when Lupe first arrived at Cook Lake, by the time Lupe completed her investigations along the shore (5:09 PM, 51°F), things were pretty quiet. The lakeshore trail had been a relaxing way to end the day.
Lupe’s Black Hills, WY Expedition No. 179 wasn’t quite over yet, though. On the way back home, while still in the Bear Lodge Mountains, Lupe made two more quick stops. First, Lupe and SPHP took a short stroll from USFS Road No. 838 to a high point NW of Warren Peaks. SPHP wanted to find out if Lupe could see Devil’s Tower and Warren Peaks from here.
She could! The sun was low in the sky, and the light was weak, but there they were! What’s more, Lupe could also see the outline of the Bighorn Mountains far to the W!
Lupe’s final stop was back up on Warren Peaks (6,650 ft.). The sun had either just set, or was hidden by clouds near the horizon. Lupe went over to the highest rocks on the mountain a few feet W of the fire lookout tower.
And so, Black Hills, WY Expedition No. 179 ended with Lupe standing atop the highest point in the Bear Lodge Mountains for the second time today, admiring the colorful sunset and distant outline of the lofty peaks of the glorious Bighorn Mountains.
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