{"id":3775,"date":"2016-01-03T08:10:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T15:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3775"},"modified":"2021-02-21T15:22:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T22:22:17","slug":"black-hills-sd-expedition-no-150-new-years-eve-peak-peak-5800-1-1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3775","title":{"rendered":"Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 150 – New Year’s Eve Peak & Peak 5800 (1-1-16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 10:41 AM, SPHP parked the G6 at the junction of USFS Road No. 710 and Hwy 385, just a few miles S of Pactola Reservoir in the central Black Hills.\u00a0 Lupe was late, a whole day late.\u00a0\u00a0A week or more\u00a0of cold weather had lasted right on up through New Year’s Eve.\u00a0 The cold had\u00a0kept\u00a0Lupe and SPHP from coming until now.<\/p>\n

Today, however, was different.\u00a0 It was New Year’s Day 2016!\u00a0 The Black Hills were warming up.\u00a0 Although the temperature would\u00a0only gain another couple of degrees the rest of the day, it was already 38\u00b0F out.\u00a0 Plenty warm for one of Lupe’s Black Hills Expeditions, and a great way to start 2016 out!<\/p>\n

Late though she was, Lupe started out trotting W along USFS Road No. 710.\u00a0 Here in the shade of Peak 5800, there were 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground.\u00a0 Lupe was really happy to be out on an adventure again.\u00a0 Soon she was racing around through the snow off the road, sniffing madly as she went.\u00a0 No. 710 climbed slowly and steadily up a little forested valley.\u00a0 After nearly a mile,\u00a0No. 710 started turning S as it\u00a0emerged from the valley into more level and open ground.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP left\u00a0No. 710\u00a0as it curled back to the SE.\u00a0 Lupe went\u00a0S up to the edge of some high hilly ground.\u00a0 Much of this area had burned some time ago, and there were very few trees left.\u00a0 Without the trees, there were some pretty nice views to the E, S & W.\u00a0 Small outcroppings of jagged dark rocks, often standing on end, were exposed, and added interest to the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe in the barren hilly area after leaving USFS Road No. 710. Photo looks SW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe was on her way to Peak 6046.\u00a0 The first time Lupe and SPHP ever climbed Peak 6046 was back on New Year’s Eve 2012.\u00a0 At the time, SPHP had privately designated Peak 6046 as New Year’s Eve Peak<\/a> (6,046 ft.)<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Lupe had returned on the last day of 2014, too.\u00a0 So in both\u00a02012 and 2014, Lupe and SPHP had\u00a0watched the sun set on\u00a0the last day of the year up on New Year’s Eve Peak.\u00a0 It has become a little bit of a tradition.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The forested summit of New Year’s Eve Peak barely pokes above the barren ridge on the R. Pistol Point is the highest barren hill at the center of the photo. Photo looks WNW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though the cold weather caused Lupe and SPHP to miss sunset on the last day of 2015 up on New Year’s Eve Peak, it still seemed appropriate to try to make up for it by showing up on New Year’s Day 2016.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at Pistol Point, privately named for the rock right behind Lupe that looks just a bit like the handle of a pistol jammed down into the ground. Pistol Point is at the S end of a ridge that comes sweeping down from New Year’s Eve Peak to the SSE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and SPHP wandered among the barren hills heading W towards Pistol Point.\u00a0 Pistol Point is just a private name for the high point at the S end of a ridge that comes sweeping down\u00a0to the\u00a0SSE from New Year’s Eve Peak.\u00a0 From Pistol Point, Lupe would just follow this ridge to reach the summit of New Year’s Eve Peak.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking NNW at New Year’s Eve Peak from Pistol Point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Peak<\/a>
Peak 5917 from Pistol Point. Photo looks ENE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the ridge S of New Year’s Eve Peak. The summit is the high point toward the R. Photo looks NNW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Lupe and SPHP neared the summit of New Year’s Eve Peak, it became apparent that there had been changes since the last time Lupe was here a year and a day ago.\u00a0 There had been a fair amount of logging done to thin the trees on the S side of the summit.\u00a0 Although the logging hadn’t done a thing for the appearance of the local vicinity,\u00a0SPHP anticipated it might have\u00a0opened up the views quite a bit.<\/p>\n

When Lupe arrived at the highest rock outcropping on New Year’s Eve Peak, she found that someone had placed a small cairn there.\u00a0 With a lot of the trees gone from the S side of the summit area,\u00a0the mountain looked and felt\u00a0different.\u00a0 The summit used to be\u00a0in the gloomy\u00a0dark shade of tall pines.\u00a0 Now it was much more open and bright.\u00a0 Nearby were sunny expansive views to the S.<\/p>\n

It appeared that only a small part of the S side of the summit area had been logged.\u00a0 In other directions,\u00a0New Year’s Eve Peak\u00a0looked pretty much the same.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the summit of New Year’s Eve Peak. This was her 3rd time on the mountain. Photo looks W.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"With<\/a>
With so many trees gone from the S side of the summit area, there was a wide open view of Harney Peak (the high point on the far horizon just above Lupe’s head). A year and a day ago, this photo wouldn’t have been possible. Photo looks S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Harney<\/a>
Harney Peak<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (7,242 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> from New Year’s Eve Peak. Five Points<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (6,221 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> is the wavy ridge seen above Lupe’s tail. Photo looks S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the very summit of New Year’s Eve Peak. Photo looks N.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the highest rock outcropping on New Year’s Eve Peak. The small cairn in front of her was new since the last day of 2014. Photo looks S and shows how few trees are left in that direction. At the end of 2014, the entire summit was heavily forested.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking W from New Year’s Eve Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking SE from New Year’s Eve Peak with the telephoto lens. Shown are Boulder Hill<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (5,331 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> (L), Silver Mountain<\/a> (5,405 ft.)<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(Center) and Calumet Ridge<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(5,601 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(R) beyond Sheridan Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After posing for pictures on New Year’s Eve Peak, Lupe had some Taste of the Wild.\u00a0 SPHP ate an orange.\u00a0 A chill breeze out of the N stirred up now and then.\u00a0 New Year’s Eve Peak sure seemed different.<\/p>\n

The change\u00a0was partly due to the logging opening up the view, but mostly psychological.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP were here hours earlier in the day than in either 2012\u00a0or 2014.\u00a0 Back then, Lupe had been here near sunset on the last day of the year. \u00a0The mood had been reflective,\u00a0one of looking back at\u00a0a year gone by\u00a0–\u00a0a year still alive and glowing, but about to disappear never to see the light of day again.\u00a0 A year imminently fading\u00a0into history.\u00a0 New Year’s Eve Peak had been a lonely, remote, and faintly sad place.<\/p>\n

Now, it was lighter and brighter out.\u00a0 The fact that it was New Year’s Day instead of New Year’s Eve, created a mood of a new beginning, the start of something.\u00a0 New Year 2016 was here, all shiny, new, full of promise and possibilities, none of which had been missed or wasted yet.\u00a0 New Year’s Eve Peak was only the tiniest start\u00a0of the journey to\u00a0all\u00a0the adventures\u00a0in store\u00a0for Lupe in 2016.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP did something they hadn’t had time to do on New Year’s Eve Peak before.\u00a0 Lupe went to explore the N and E ridges.\u00a0 The N ridge wasn’t very long.\u00a0 It ended at a huge tangle of deadfall timber.\u00a0 Beyond it, Lupe could see the Seth Bullock Lookout Tower\u00a0on Scruton Mountain<\/a><\/span> (5,922 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 SPHP had wanted to get a good look at it, but with all the deadfall around, it was best to just get Lupe out of there.<\/p>\n

It was a little longer trek, still\u00a0under 10 minutes, over to the high point\u00a0of the E ridge of New Year’s Eve Peak.\u00a0 There was a much bigger rock outcropping there, but\u00a0the highest point\u00a0was clearly somewhat lower than the true summit Lupe had been to already.\u00a0 Furthermore,\u00a0the area\u00a0was pretty heavily forested.\u00a0 There weren’t views in any direction.<\/p>\n

Even though Lupe hadn’t found anything of particular interest at either the N or E ridges of New Year’s Eve Peak, it was still fun to have explored the mountain a little better.\u00a0 With the explorations complete, Lupe and SPHP returned to the S ridge to retrace Lupe’s route back toward the G6.\u00a0 SPHP had one more peakbagging goal for Lupe that would alter part of that route – Peak 5800<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe back at Pistol Point at the end of the S ridge from New Year’s Eve Peak. Peak 5800, which Lupe would try to climb next, is the highest hill seen above Lupe. Photo looks E.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Peak<\/a>
Peak 5800 from Pistol Point using the telephoto lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On at least a couple of prior occasions, Lupe and SPHP have considered climbing Peak 5800.\u00a0 SPHP remembers once standing with Lupe at the base of the rocky W face contemplating the climb.\u00a0 It had been late on a dark gray day, though, with some snow already on the ground, and more\u00a0light snow already swirling in the air.\u00a0 It didn’t seem like a smart move at the time, so Lupe and SPHP had just returned to the G6.<\/p>\n

Under the bright, cool, cloudless skies of New Year’s Day 2016, though, it looked like it should be possible to climb Peak 5800 without difficulty, if a reasonable route existed up the rocky W face.\u00a0 After reaching Pistol Point again, Lupe and SPHP left the S ridge from New Year’s Eve Peak, and headed E toward Peak 5800, still retracing Lupe’s earlier route.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting closer to Peak 5800. Photo looks E.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Lupe started getting close to Peak 5800,\u00a0she wandered\u00a0a bit to the S, away from her\u00a0earlier route.\u00a0 She checked out views from some of the high points of the barren, rocky hills.\u00a0 Back to the NW, the high forested ridge of New Year’s Eve Peak started to look small and far away.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe poses on a rock on one of the barren hills for a photo looking WNW back at New Year’s Eve Peak, the forested hill seen above her on the horizon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and SPHP continued E toward Peak 5800.\u00a0 Suddenly Lupe saw something she very rarely sees out on her Black Hills Expeditions.\u00a0 People!\u00a0 Two people were near\u00a0some rocks to the SE.\u00a0 One of them had a rifle.\u00a0 The other was just a boy.\u00a0 They weren’t too far away. \u00a0Lupe stayed very close to SPHP.\u00a0 The man and boy started moving toward Peak 5800.<\/p>\n

About the only\u00a0places Lupe and SPHP ever see people in the hills are\u00a0highways and some major gravel roads, where they are plentiful.\u00a0 Sometimes there are people on minor roads and ATV trails, but almost without exception, they\u00a0are with\u00a0some kind of vehicle – an ATV, a jeep, a motorcycle, something.\u00a0 Only on a few of the major maintained trails does Lupe ever see anyone on foot – yet here were two people on foot at least a mile from any significant road or trail.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP followed the hunter and the boy toward Peak 5800, and soon caught up with them.\u00a0 What were they hunting?\u00a0 The man pointed down to a track in the snow.\u00a0 Mountain lions.\u00a0 They were hunting a big Tom that they knew had been here recently.\u00a0 The track looked old, though.\u00a0 It wasn’t very distinct.\u00a0 The\u00a0hunter knew the big cat could be very far away by now.<\/p>\n

The boy seemed very impressed with the notion that lions were around here somewhere.\u00a0 He was an outdoor kid, something pretty rare these days.\u00a0 The boy talked in hushed tones about catching a 5 lb. monster trout in Pactola Lake a few weeks ago.\u00a0 He liked Lupe, but didn’t try to pet her.\u00a0 Lupe just stood close to SPHP during the quiet conversation with the hunter and the boy.\u00a0 She didn’t interrupt in any way.<\/p>\n

By now, Lupe and SPHP were pretty close to Peak 5800.\u00a0 The W face loomed almost directly ahead.\u00a0 SPHP explained to the hunter that Lupe planned to climb the mountain and go down over the other side, where the G6 was parked close to Hwy 385.\u00a0 The hunter and boy intended to stay here, W of Peak 5800.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP went on.\u00a0 In just a few minutes, Lupe started the climb up the W face.\u00a0 It was steep and quite rocky, with scratchy brambles clinging to the soil between the rocks.\u00a0 There was always a good route up, though, and the climb wasn’t really all that far, just a couple hundred feet of elevation gain at most.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe nearing the top of Peak 5800. Photo looks WNW back toward New Year’s Eve Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Near the top, the mountain was suddenly much less steep.\u00a0 The\u00a0rest of the way was a pretty easy stroll.\u00a0\u00a0At the highest point, a\u00a0big, flat slab of rock tilted perhaps 20 degrees down toward the NW.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP clambered up on the rock to reach the\u00a0summit of Peak 5800.<\/p>\n

The sun was still up.\u00a0 There might be an hour of daylight left before sunset.\u00a0 The world looked very pretty in the slanting rays of the sun.\u00a0 Lupe looked around.\u00a0 If Peak 5800 was the home of mountain lions, they had all fled at the approach of a fearsome Carolina Dog, for no lions were to be seen anywhere.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reaches the summit of Peak 5800. New Year’s Eve Peak is seen in the distance to the WNW on the L.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe surveys the rest of the mountain from the top of Peak 5800. Nope, not seeing any mountain lions up here! Photo looks E.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking SE along the Peak 5800 ridgeline from the summit. Lupe would soon go explore over to the far end of the ridge seen here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The top of Peak 5800 is a fairly broad and level ridgeline, most of which extends out to the SE from the true summit.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP explored as far as the highest point near the SE end just before the mountain begins to drop off much more steeply.<\/p>\n

From a point a little N of the SE high point, Lupe and SPHP headed down the NE slopes of Peak 5800.\u00a0 The heavily forested slope was steeper than expected, and a bit slippery in the snow, but not too much of a challenge.\u00a0 Lupe sniffed around not finding so much as a squirrel, never mind a mountain lion, while SPHP slowly worked on down the mountain.<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP reached the G6 again at 4:07 PM (32\u00b0F).\u00a0 New Year 2016 was off to a great start, with Lupe’s 150th Black Hills, SD\u00a0Expedition a\u00a0success.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it\u00a0was a little sad that Lupe and SPHP hadn’t gotten to New Year’s Eve Peak in time for a proper final good-bye to 2015, a year in which Lupe had many glorious adventures.<\/p>\n

With a little luck, Lupe and SPHP will return to New Year’s Eve Peak in time\u00a0to say good-bye to 2016, but not until after many more long, daring and inspiring American Dingo adventures yet to come!<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking NW along the ridgeline from the SE high point back toward the true summit of Peak 5800. New Year’s Eve Peak is still seen in the distance toward the L.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happy New Year 2016 to all from Lupe!\u00a0 May\u00a0your 2016 be full of fun adventures and dreams come true!<\/em><\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Black Hills Expedition<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Black Hills Expedition<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 112 – New Year’s Eve Peak (12-31-14)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 187 – New Year’s Eve Peak (12-16-30)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s Black Hills Expeditions Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 10:41 AM, SPHP parked the G6 at the junction of USFS Road No. 710 and Hwy 385, just a few miles S of Pactola Reservoir in the central Black Hills.\u00a0 Lupe was late, a whole day late.\u00a0\u00a0A week or more\u00a0of cold weather had lasted right on up through New Year’s Eve.\u00a0 The cold had\u00a0kept\u00a0Lupe … Continue reading Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 150 – New Year’s Eve Peak & Peak 5800 (1-1-16)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[105,9,106,104,539,556,801,304],"class_list":["post-3775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-hills","tag-american-dingo","tag-black-hills-expeditions","tag-carolina-dog","tag-lupe","tag-new-years-eve-peak","tag-peak-5800","tag-peak-6046","tag-south-dakota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_0008.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3775"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32289,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775\/revisions\/32289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}