![\"Lupe](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_0054.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a>Lupe’s first peakbagging goal of the day was Perrin Mountain<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (5,212 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Although SPHP originally had another route in mind, it looked pretty easy and enticing to just start up the N ridge.<\/p>\n There were a couple of high points along the easiest route up to Perrin Mountain from the N.\u00a0 The topo map showed a NW\/SE running\u00a0ridge at the first one, with the highest point at the NW end.\u00a0 When Lupe got up there, it looked like just another spot in the forest.\u00a0 There were a few rocks about a foot high around, but that was about it.<\/p>\n Peering SE through the forest, though, it looked like there might be something more interesting over there.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP followed the short ridge to its SE end, where there was a large blocky rock formation.\u00a0 In fact, the rock formation at the SE end of the ridge is almost certainly a little higher than the map’s supposed\u00a0highest point to the NW.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP explored around to the SE end of the rocks, by going around the N side.<\/p>\n The second high point on the way to Perrin Mountain was about 0.25 mile SW of the first one.\u00a0 There were some interesting rock formations on the way to the second high point, but nothing too spectacular at the top.<\/p>\n Lupe went a little farther SW from the second high point, losing some elevation.\u00a0 Shortly after she started climbing up to the main Perrin Mountain ridge, she came to a snowy little road.\u00a0 It headed SE toward the summit, but didn’t go all the way there.\u00a0 At the end of the road, Lupe and SPHP were surprised to see a Subaru.\u00a0 Someone was inside it, too.\u00a0\u00a0Whoever it was,\u00a0had car camped overnight.<\/p>\n That really was pretty extraordinary.\u00a0 In all of Lupe’s Black Hills, SD Expeditions, this was the first time she had come to anyone camped anywhere outside of a designated campground in the national forest.\u00a0 Since the person didn’t seem to be entirely up yet, Lupe and SPHP didn’t stop to chat, even though it would have been interesting to know more about the hardy soul who chose to car camp in January.<\/p>\n SPHP was surprised when Lupe found\u00a0a trail leading from the end of the road to the top of Perrin Mountain.\u00a0\u00a0The faint trail\u00a0looked like it didn’t get much use these days, but wasn’t hard to follow.\u00a0 The trail went all the way up to the summit.\u00a0 Actually, it went to a sign nailed to a tree just SE of the summit.\u00a0\u00a0The sign had the cryptic message “Hurt Locker”.\u00a0 If Lupe knew what\u00a0the sign\u00a0meant, she wasn’t saying.\u00a0 SPHP could divine no relevant meaning, since there was no locker of any sort in sight.<\/p>\n The summit of Perrin Mountain was maybe 25 feet NW of the odd\u00a0Hurt Locker sign.\u00a0 There were a few rocks a couple of feet high there, but nothing more dramatic than that.\u00a0 The forest blocked the view in every direction.<\/p>\n Perrin Mountain is less than a mile NE of Pactola Reservoir, the largest lake in the Black Hills.\u00a0 It was rather disappointing that there\u00a0weren’t any clear views of the reservoir from the summit, or on the way to it.\u00a0 However, the trail continued SE on past the Hurt Locker sign.\u00a0 Although it was losing elevation along the way, maybe there would be a viewpoint from somewhere in that direction?<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP followed the trail all the way down to where it ended, which wasn’t far from the summit.\u00a0 There were a couple of viewpoints along the trail, not wide open views, but better than anywhere else Lupe had found on Perrin Mountain.\u00a0\u00a0To the S, it\u00a0was possible to see the large flat meadow Rapid Creek flows through E of the dam.\u00a0 To the SW, there was one spot with a pretty good look at part of Pactola Reservoir and the dam.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP climbed back up the trail heading NW to return to the summit.\u00a0 Lupe posed for another photo there, before starting on the way back to the G6.<\/p>\n There were other routes Lupe could have taken back to the G6, but the way Lupe had come up Perrin Mountain had been pretty cool.\u00a0 It was a nice, easy bit of wandering in the forest on ridges and saddles between high points.\u00a0 SPHP thought it might be fun to chat with the Subaru person on the way back, but by the time Lupe and SPHP got back to the little road, the Subaru was gone.<\/p>\n Lupe returned to both of the high points N of Perrin Mountain on her return to the G6.\u00a0 The\u00a0only memorable event\u00a0of the return trip was when she spotted a squirrel on her way from the second high point back to the first.\u00a0 The squirrel eluded\u00a0her near an interesting rock outcropping, but Lupe didn’t give up easily.\u00a0 She sniffed around there for a while trying to figure out where that squirrel had disappeared to.\u00a0 SPHP finally made her move on before she had time to resolve the mystery.<\/p>\n By 12:01 PM (50\u00b0F), Lupe was back at the G6.\u00a0 There were a number of Lupe treasures scattered around, so SPHP picked most of them up for disposal later.\u00a0 With this much time left in the day, Lupe had at least one more peakbagging goal ahead of her.\u00a0 First though, Lupe and SPHP went to see if it would be possible to get a photo of Perrin Mountain from Pactola Reservoir.<\/p>\n SPHP parked the G6 at the viewpoint at the N end of the dam near the spillway.\u00a0 The view of Perrin Mountain from\u00a0near the spillway was none too impressive.\u00a0\u00a0It was a good thing Lupe went there, though.\u00a0\u00a0The place was kind of a mess.\u00a0 There were Lupe treasures all over the place.\u00a0 SPHP\u00a0filled 5 plastic grocery bags full of them.<\/p>\n When SPHP was done collecting Lupe treasures at Pactola, Lupe and SPHP\u00a0drove N on Hwy 385.\u00a0\u00a0SPHP turned W on Broad Gulch\u00a0Road (USFS Road No. 676) about 0.5 mile S of the Sugar Shack.\u00a0 There was a place to park the G6\u00a0on the left, right after\u00a0crossing a cattle guard close to Hwy 385.<\/p>\n At 12:53 PM (50\u00b0F), Lupe set out on her second peakbagging quest of the day.\u00a0 Her new goal was Merritt Peak<\/span><\/a> (5,556 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 The first part of the journey was just a walk up snowy Broad Gulch Road.\u00a0 Lupe followed the road until it reached its highest point at a saddle.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP left Broad Gulch Road at the saddle, heading E into the forest.\u00a0 Surprisingly, there was a trail going this way, too.\u00a0 The trail went to the N end of the long ridge of which Merritt Peak is a part.\u00a0 It then turned and followed the ridge line S.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stayed on the trail all the way to Merritt Peak.\u00a0 The trail didn’t go quite all the way up to the top, instead passing just\u00a0to the E of the summit.<\/p>\n The trail appeared to continue on to the S, but Lupe and SPHP left it to climb the remaining short distance up to the top of Merritt Peak.\u00a0 The summit proved to be a ridge a few hundred feet long, and quite flat.\u00a0 There were small rock outcroppings scattered along the ridge.\u00a0 It was hard to tell which rock might be the highest point on the mountain.\u00a0 There were lots of possible candidates, none much higher than any of the others.<\/p>\n Merritt Peak was pretty heavily forested, but here and there it was possible to get a little bit of a view off into the distance in one direction or another.\u00a0 Enough could be seen between the trees so that it did seem like Lupe was up on a mountain, and not just in\u00a0a thick\u00a0forest.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP came up near the S end of the ridge, so Lupe explored that end of the mountain first.<\/p>\n The N end of Merritt Peak was a bit rockier than the S end.\u00a0 Custer Peak<\/strong><\/a> (6,804 ft.)<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0could be seen in the distance to the NNW.\u00a0 Minnesota Ridge was off\u00a0to the NW.\u00a0 It was\u00a0time to take a short\u00a0break.\u00a0 Lupe was hearing gunfire off to the N, and was getting a little scared.\u00a0 She was hungry, too.\u00a0 She ate some Taste of the Wild.\u00a0 Whenever she heard the guns, though, she wanted to be right next to SPHP.<\/p>\n SPHP shared a jacket with Lupe.\u00a0 She was trembling a little bit, probably due to the gunfire, but the light\u00a0N breeze was a bit cool, too.<\/p>\n Lupe had now achieved two peakbagging goals so far on Expedition No. 152.\u00a0 Both Perrin Mountain and Merritt Peak\u00a0had turned out to be\u00a0pretty fun, easy peaks.\u00a0 Originally, SPHP had a third possible peakbagging goal in mind for Lupe, but it was probably too late in the day to attempt that one.<\/p>\n However, there was another mountain pretty close by that Lupe might still have time to climb.\u00a0 Pilot Knob<\/span><\/a> (5,440 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> was less than 3 miles N of Merritt Peak.\u00a0 SPHP knew the top of Pilot Knob was pretty rocky looking, maybe Lupe wouldn’t be able to climb it at all?\u00a0\u00a0In any case, there was enough daylight\u00a0left\u00a0to find out.\u00a0 Lupe would make an attempt on Pilot Knob.<\/p>\n After the break up on Merritt Peak, Lupe and SPHP went back down to the trail and headed N.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t\u00a0turn W to go\u00a0back to Broad Gulch Road when the trail did.\u00a0 Instead she continued N through the forest.\u00a0 Eventually she wound up down on Broad Gulch Road again, anyway.\u00a0 When she reached the G6, it was 2:43 PM (50\u00b0F).<\/p>\n On her way to the Pilot Knob trailhead of Centennial Trail No. 89, Lupe stopped by for a photo op at the Sugar Shack.<\/p>\n Despite having a Pilot Knob trailhead, Centennial Trail No. 89 does not actually go to Pilot Knob.\u00a0\u00a0The trail\u00a0stays about a mile E of it.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP started for Pilot Knob on Centennial Trail No. 89, but eventually had to leave it to turn W near Boodleman Spring.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP wandered through the forest in the general direction of Pilot Knob.\u00a0 There was a maze of little roads going this way and that.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP took them when they seemed to be going the right direction.\u00a0 Often they weren’t.\u00a0 As Lupe got closer to Pilot Knob, the ground got steeper.<\/p>\n What Lupe found approaching the summit from the E was surprising.\u00a0 SPHP had expected\u00a0the top of Pilot Knob\u00a0to be rocky, but the E face was a vertical cliff.\u00a0 It looked like the rock had been sliced with a knife.\u00a0 There was no way Lupe and SPHP could go up the E face of the mountain!\u00a0 Would there be another way?<\/p>\n Since Lupe reached Pilot Knob near the SE end of the mountain, Lupe and SPHP went around the S end over to the W side.\u00a0 The wall of rock really wasn’t terribly thick, so it wasn’t very far to get over there.\u00a0 Most of the W\u00a0face of Pilot Knob was every bit as high and vertical as the E face had been, but at the SW corner there was an area of broken rock that didn’t look too bad.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP started climbing.\u00a0 There was some snow and ice in the shady spots, so it was slick in some places.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP succeeded in getting up on the very S end of the ridge.\u00a0 SPHP abandoned the backpack at a cleft in the rock.\u00a0 The ridge was only 10 or 12 feet wide at the S end, with sheer drops to the E and W, but there were good hand and foot holds.\u00a0 Lupe seemed to have no trouble at all.\u00a0 SPHP climbed slowly and deliberately.<\/p>\n The solid rock ridge got wider\u00a0and higher as Lupe climbed toward\u00a0the N.\u00a0 The E & W cliffs got taller, too, but there was more space to stay away from them.\u00a0 The easiest way up proved to be along the E side of a rock wall up on the ridge.\u00a0 If the climb had been much more challenging, SPHP would have just given up on it.\u00a0 As it was, it was a pretty fun little Class 3 scramble.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP made it to the summit to claim Lupe’s third peakbagging success of the day!<\/p>\n Since Pilot Knob was so rocky, there were unobstructed 360\u00b0 views from the top.\u00a0 The views were the best of the day!\u00a0 SPHP was loving it, but Lupe wasn’t.\u00a0 Somewhere there was construction going on not too far away, with a lot of banging going on.\u00a0 There was also a considerable amount of gunfire off to the W.\u00a0 Someone must have been doing some target practice, since it went on and on.<\/p>\n SPHP persuaded Lupe to get up on some of the rocks for photos, but the gunfire made her\u00a0quite nervous.\u00a0 Mostly she just wanted to lay right on SPHP’s lap being petted.\u00a0 That was OK!\u00a0 Pilot Knob was a great place to sit and take in the views.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stayed up there at least half an hour gazing at the pretty world.\u00a0 Pilot Knob turned out to be a great way to end a successful day of peakbagging!<\/p>\n The sun was\u00a0very low on the horizon.\u00a0 SPHP considered staying for the sunset, but there were quite a few clouds off to the W.\u00a0 Maybe the sun was just going to sink into the clouds without putting on a show.\u00a0 Since it was a bit tricky getting up here,\u00a0perhaps it was best for Lupe to get down off the rocky summit while the light was still good.\u00a0 Still, Lupe and SPHP would have stayed up there, if the sunset had been more promising.<\/p>\n Getting down was slow, but really no problem.\u00a0 SPHP retrieved the backpack.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP circled around the mountaintop to the W and N, just to see what it all looked like.\u00a0 The W face was even more impressive than the E face.\u00a0 There might be an easy\u00a0way up at the N end of the mountain, but SPHP had doubts it was any easier than Lupe’s route had been.<\/p>\n As Lupe and SPHP\u00a0left Pilot Knob behind, heading\u00a0E again through the forest, the clouds to the W developed a rosy glow.\u00a0 What little Lupe could see of the sunset looked pretty.\u00a0 It was better than most, but wasn’t particularly brilliant.\u00a0 In 10 or 15 minutes, it was all over.\u00a0 The rosy glow faded from the sky.<\/p>\n Expedition No. 152 ended like so many others, with another march through darkening\u00a0forests and fields back to the G6.\u00a0 It had been a fun day.\u00a0 Three peaks climbed.\u00a0 All different, but each one a good time in its own way.<\/p>\n Lupe was already back on Centennial Trail No. 89 not far from the G6, when she heard them.\u00a0 The wild dogs, the coyotes, were howling out there somewhere to the S.\u00a0 Several times, Lupe stopped and stood still with her ears straight up listening.\u00a0 She made no sound.\u00a0 SPHP wondered what she was thinking.<\/p>\n At 5:38 PM (38\u00b0F), Lupe was back at the G6.\u00a0 After eating snow all day, she wanted water.\u00a0\u00a0When she’d had enough,\u00a0she hesitated just a moment\u00a0before getting in the G6.\u00a0 SPHP asked if she wanted to stay out and live with the coyotes?\u00a0 In January?\u00a0 At the very thought, the Carolina Dog jumped up into the G6.\u00a0 Maybe another time.\u00a0 Tonight –\u00a0Alpo, a soft bed and warm blankie!<\/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\u00a0 Prior Black Hills Expedition<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s Black Hills Expeditions Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A forecast high near 50\u00b0F in the Black Hills was only supposed to last one day before colder temperatures returned.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP were going to make good use of the opportunity.\u00a0 Lupe realized what was up.\u00a0 She followed SPHP around impatiently, urging action at the soonest possible moment.\u00a0 Lupe couldn’t wait for her next … Continue reading Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 152 – Perrin Mountain, Merritt Peak & Pilot Knob (1-13-16)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3935,"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":[105,9,106,104,544,543,545,304],"class_list":["post-3937","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-merritt-peak","tag-perrin-mountain","tag-pilot-knob","tag-south-dakota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_0104.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\/3937","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=3937"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28272,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions\/28272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>