Start: 9:09 AM, 58°F, Spring Creek trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89
Lupe was back! For the second week in a row, she was starting her day’s adventures at the Spring Creek trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89. Last week she had gone all the way N to Twin Sisters (5,244 ft.) and the Brush Creek trailhead. This time around, she was going to explore Centennial Trail No. 89 all the way S to the Samelius Peak trailhead.
Like last week, the first order of business was to follow the spur trail from the trailhead up Spring Creek. The spur trail would join the main trail at the Sheridan Lake dam. The Carolina Dog didn’t mind repeating this easy, scenic stroll at all.
Shortly after crossing the first of three beam bridges over Spring Creek, Lupe heard a rush of water over and above the usual noise made by the creek. She soon came to the source of this noise. A tremendous waterfall was sending a spray of water not only down into Spring Creek, but even raining down upon the opposite shore.
Lupe had been on this spur trail lots of times. No waterfall had ever been here before! Only a week ago, it hadn’t been here, either. How strange! Loop went closer to investigate.
Hmm. This wasn’t a real waterfall, at least not a natural one. Water was shooting out of the side of the canyon from halfway below the ridgeline above. Must be a pipe or some other man made source up there.
The horizontal waterfall made quite an impression. Lupe liked cooling off in its spray. Once she was cool and wet enough, she continued up the spur trail.
The spur trail joins the main Centennial Trail No. 89 at the S end of the Sheridan Lake dam. Last week Lupe had gone N across the dam. This time she didn’t. Instead, she left the dam going W across a brushy area, part of the seldom needed lake overflow channel. She quickly reached the S shore of Sheridan Lake.
A sign about Sheridan Lake was nearby. The sign mentioned the trail system and showed a map of Flume Trail No. 50. Centennial Trail No. 89 and Flume Trail No. 50 are the same trail along the SE shore of Sheridan Lake, but they split here near the dam. Centennial Trail No. 89 continues N across the dam, but Flume Trail No. 50 goes E.
Lupe followed the dual Centennial/Flume trail SW along the SE shore of Sheridan Lake. The ground right along the shoreline was fairly steep. The nearly level trail stayed 30 to 40 feet above the lake. A Ponderosa pine forest permitted only tree broken views.
0.5 mile from the dam, Lupe was getting close to Blue Wing, a residential resort community where the Flume Trail begins. The lakeshore wasn’t as steep here, so she went down to take a look at the Blue Wing inlet. The lake was smooth as glass. A red-wing blackbird was singing from a perch on a cattail. Shouldn’t it have been a blue-wing blackbird?
A footbridge led across an orange creek into the resort community of Blue Wing. The Flume trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89 was close by. This was the W end of Flume Trail No. 50.
Centennial Trail No. 89 skirted the N end of Blue Wing on a curving stretch of paved road. After only a few hundred feet, the trail left the road heading W into open forest. It soon turned S. Looper was gaining elevation steadily now. The trail began passing small rock formations.
0.5 mile from Sheridan Lake, Centennial Trail No. 89 crossed a gravel road. The trail now began to steepen. Switchbacks appeared. Lupe started getting glimpses of Sheridan Lake again.
After gaining several hundred feet of elevation, the trail turned W. It passed just S of a couple of big rock formations N of High Point 5412. Lupe left the trail to climb up onto the lowest one. Part of Sheridan Lake was in view a mile away. (topo map)
Lupe didn’t bother climbing the highest of the two rock formations. It wasn’t until the Carolina dog returned to the trail and went a bit further that she saw that the higher rock formation was already occupied! Way up near the top, a couple of turkey buzzards sat surveying the scene.
Continuing on, Centennial Trail No. 89 went down a few switchbacks and crossed a saddle leading toward High Point 5624. The trail then turned SSW passing E of High Point 5624. Here the trail bounced up and down along the mountainside. Lupe kept gaining elevation only to lose it again. Forest permitted only tree broken views of Calumet Ridge (5,601 ft.) to the ENE, and Mount Warner (5,889 ft.) to the S.
Beyond High Point 5624, Centennial Trail No. 89 left the pine forest. Lupe descended into a valley of aspens and open ground.
The trail began following a grassy abandoned road which went W up the valley. Lupe ended up back in the pine forest on a saddle at the top of a ridge. For the first time, she had tree broken views of distant ridges and mountains to the SW.
The American Dingo had reached the main ridgeline leading to Mount Warner. For the next 0.75 mile, Centennial Trail No. 89 stayed high on the ridge climbing steadily SSW toward the summit. At the top of the mountain, the trail passed 50 feet N of the true summit.
Light rain showers were sweeping in out of the N when Lupe reached the highest rocks on Mount Warner (5,889 ft.).
Lupe and SPHP took shelter from the rain along the S side of a line of rocks at the summit. Time for a break, anyway! Lupe wasn’t hungry yet, but she was ready for water. SPHP had an apple. Half an hour went by simply relaxing. The rain showers moved on and the sun came out.
Trees hid the views from Mount Warner in most directions. From down the S slope a little way, Lupe was able to get a fairly good look at both Samelius Peak (5,856 ft.) and more distant Black Elk Peak (7,231 ft.).
Lupe still had a lot of exploring to do. She returned to Centennial Trail No. 89, which now lost elevation heading SE. The trail quickly brought her to a rock shelf providing a less obstructed view of Samelius Peak.
From the rock shelf, Centennial Trail No. 89 began curving E. Loopster entered a more level area where the forest was full of deadfall timber. Pine bark beetles had taken a heavy toll here. This stretch wasn’t long, however. Soon the forest was looking better again. Lupe briefly went to check out the views from a rock outcropping 100 feet N of the trail.
The view to the N wasn’t bad. Lupe could still see a sliver of Sheridan Lake, but this was the last time she would see it. Lupe returned to the trail. It went E a little way, then turned N losing elevation more rapidly again. The terrain leveled out at a saddle between Mount Warner and High Point 5636.
From the saddle, Centennial Trail No. 89 turned SE and proceeded clear around the SE end of Mount Warner. At first, Lupe was losing elevation at an easy pace. Later on the trail wound along the mountainside going both up and down with little net elevation change.
Once around the end of the mountain, Centennial No. 89 turned NW and began climbing toward the still unseen saddle between Mount Warner and Samelius Peak. Another 1.5 miles on the trail would bring Lupe to the Samelius Peak trailhead.
However, Lupe had been on this part of the trail before. Maybe it was time for something a little different? A bit of peakbagging was in order! Lupe and SPHP left Centennial Trail No. 89 heading SE down a valley. After wandering for 0.25 mile, Loopster turned SW and began climbing. Another 0.25 mile brought her to the saddle between Hardesty Peak (5,562 ft.) and Samelius Peak (5,856 ft.).
Lupe paused in the saddle for another water break, but was soon on her way up the NNW slope of Hardesty Peak. The climb from the saddle was steep, but involved only 200 feet of elevation gain. Loop went up near the E edge of a boulder field. Before long, she was on Hardesty Peak’s E/W running summit ridge.
The true summit was only a little E of where Lupe came up. Although forest hid the views in almost every direction, both Samelius Peak and Mount Warner could be seen from here.
Time was marching on. Lupe needed to as well. Nearby Samelius Peak was her last peakbagging destination for the day. The American Dingo went back down to the saddle leading to Samelius Peak the same way she had come up.
The climb up Samelius Peak was longer than going up Hardesty Peak had been. Lupe gained more than 500 feet of elevation following a SE ridge to a S ridge, which led to the summit. Close to the summit were a few minor high points and saddles, but nothing posed any real difficulty along the way.
The weather had changed again, however, by the time Lupe reached the top. Rain showers were passing through once more. Loop discovered a crude Dingo shelter at the top of Samelius Peak. Unfortunately, it was so primitive it really didn’t provide any protection from the rain.
The Dingo shelter didn’t amount to much, but oh well. Lupe decided she was hungry! As rain sprinkled down, she devoured all of her Taste of the Wild. SPHP ate the last apple. After a while, the rain diminished as the showers moved off.
Although the top of Samelius Peak was forested, there were more openings between the trees here where Lupe could see the views than either Mount Warner or Hardesty Peak had provided.
After 45 minutes at the top of Samelius Peak, Lupe was ready to move on. She had a last look around the summit area, then headed down the mountain.
The Samelius Peak trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89 was only 0.4 mile away to the SW. Lupe headed WSW to intercept the trail only a little N of the trailhead. For a long way, this route was quite steep, but it finally started leveling out to some degree. Lupe soon intercepted Centennial Trail No. 89 as expected.
The Samelius Peak trailhead wasn’t far from here. Even though it was the wrong direction considering the time of day, Lupe went all the way to it.
It was evening. No time to dilly dally here at the trailhead. The sun would still be up for at least an hour, maybe close to two. However, Lupe faced an 8 mile long return to the Spring Creek trailhead. Somewhere along the way, it was going to get dark.
Almost as soon as she reached the Samelius Peak trailhead, Lupe started back. This time she would take Centennial Trail No. 89 the whole way.
The sun was still up, but on the horizon when Lupe reached the summit of Mount Warner for the second time. She no more than tagged the true summit before hurrying on. Sunlight disappeared from the mountains. Dusk, then darkness. The flashlight came out before Loop reached Blue Wing. No moon, but the sky was clear and the stars were brilliant.
A black night, but reflections of starlight sparkled in Sheridan Lake as Lupe trotted by well above the shoreline. In inky darkness, she crossed the beam bridges over Spring Creek. Lupe heard, but did not see, the odd horizontal waterfall still spraying from the mountainside.
The G6 sat alone at the Spring Creek trailhead when Lupe arrived. It had been a long day, but another good one on Centennial Trail No. 89. (10:28 PM, 47°F)
Links:
Next Black Hills Expedition Prior Black Hills Expedition
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Next Trail Section North:
Centennial Trail No. 89 Map & Brochure
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