{"id":46,"date":"2015-02-22T23:15:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T06:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2021-02-14T16:14:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T23:14:27","slug":"black-hills-sd-expedition-no-120-pillar-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 120 – Pillar Peak (2-20-15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lupe’s first\u00a0peakbagging objective for Expedition No. 120 (2-20-15) was to climb Pillar Peak<\/a><\/span> (5,469 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> located in the NE Black Hills between Sturgis and Deadwood, SD.\u00a0 Despite the fact that Pillar Peak\u00a0was\u00a0only 1.5 miles S from where SPHP parked the G6, it took a long time to get there.\u00a0 Several inches of pristine new snow on the N slopes made the hillsides\u00a0slick and in places\u00a0there was\u00a0a substantial tangle of undergrowth for SPHP to force a way through.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe and objective Pillar Peak on 2-20-15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main problem though, was that\u00a0upon reaching the valley Two Bit Creek flows through, SPHP led Lupe\u00a0on a futile\u00a0exploration upstream without finding any place to cross the stream.\u00a0 Retracing the route all the way back to head downstream, Lupe soon found an easy place to cross, but by then 1.5 hours had already been lost on the upstream trek.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe just before reaching the easy ford over Two Bit Creek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once across Two Bit Creek, the rest of the way up Pillar Peak from the N was just a steady climb.\u00a0 The day was mostly overcast, but the weather was unsettled.\u00a0 Sometimes the sun came out, and at other times squall lines passed which dumped snow showers.\u00a0 Near the summit, there was a\u00a0large\u00a0rock outcropping.\u00a0 Years ago a fire had burned the\u00a0forest away on the upper slopes of Pillar Peak.\u00a0 This was also the steepest part of the climb.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t much enjoy being completely exposed to the W wind while waiting for SPHP to struggle the rest of the way up the hill.<\/p>\n

However, fortune soon smiled on Lupe again.\u00a0\u00a0By the time\u00a0SPHP joined her at\u00a0the summit, the wind had died down and the sun came out for a little while.\u00a0\u00a0Without any trees in the summit area, the\u00a0views were great in all directions.<\/p>\n

\"Success!<\/a>
Success! Lupe sits next to the highest rock on Pillar Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe sniffing around on Pillar Peak. Bear Den Mountain<\/a><\/span> (5642 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0on the other side of Lost Gulch\u00a0is visible to the SSE beyond her.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bear<\/a>
Bear Butte<\/a><\/span> (4,422 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> near Sturgis, SD is visible out on the plains NE of Pillar Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe surveys the situation. Terry Peak to the WSW is lost in the clouds bringing the next snow shower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original plan for Expedition No. 120 was to continue on to the SW to reach Dome Mountain<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(5512 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 There was plenty of daylight left to have reached it, but SPHP had cost Lupe so much time wandering upstream on the wrong side of Two Bit Creek earlier, night would have fallen before Lupe would have been able to get anywhere close to being back to the G6.\u00a0 With no trails or roads to follow over most of the route, that made the decision to skip Dome Mountain this day a foregone conclusion.\u00a0 Lupe barked enthusiastically when SPHP proposed heading back to the G6.\u00a0 She had lots of fun barking at a squirrel on the way back down Pillar Peak and before reaching the G6\u00a0endured the longest and strongest snow shower of the day.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View to the N from Pillar Peak. SPHP liked the yellow green lichens on the rocks in the foreground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 262 – Peak 5400 & Pillar Peak (1-13-21)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/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<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lupe’s first\u00a0peakbagging objective for Expedition No. 120 (2-20-15) was to climb Pillar Peak (5,469 ft.) located in the NE Black Hills between Sturgis and Deadwood, SD.\u00a0 Despite the fact that Pillar Peak\u00a0was\u00a0only 1.5 miles S from where SPHP parked the G6, it took a long time to get there.\u00a0 Several inches of pristine new snow … Continue reading Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 120 – Pillar Peak (2-20-15)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[105,9,106,104,10,304],"class_list":["post-46","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-pillar-peak","tag-south-dakota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/P1050924.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\/46","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=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32147,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/32147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}