{"id":502,"date":"2015-03-29T16:48:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-29T22:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=502"},"modified":"2020-09-21T19:57:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T01:57:35","slug":"black-hills-sd-expedition-no-124-mt-rushmore-gap-lode-peak-3-28-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=502","title":{"rendered":"Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 124 – Mt. Rushmore & Gap Lode Peak (3-28-15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lupe has been on Peakbagger.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span> since May, 2014 when SPHP first discovered that site.\u00a0 Peakbagger.com has maps and many great features for tracking ascents of mountains, hills, state and county high points, etc.\u00a0 One of the first things Lupe and SPHP started doing once Lupe had her free Peakbagger.com account set up, was to start climbing all of the peaks shown on Peakbagger’s list of Black Hills 6500-foot peaks.\u00a0 Although Lupe and SPHP had already climbed a number of the peaks on this list, it was fun to work towards completing it.<\/p>\n

Peakbagger’s list of Black Hills 6500-foot peaks<\/a><\/span><\/strong> has 24 ranked peaks with at least 280 feet of prominence, plus another 20 unranked peaks lacking the minimum prominence required to be ranked.\u00a0 On November 6, 2014, Lupe and SPHP climbed Peak 6733<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, which completed all of the peaks on the list that SPHP thought Lupe would be able to climb.\u00a0 A few Black Hills peaks are beyond Lupe’s ability, since they would require rock climbing equipment (or wings), or climbing them is prohibited for one reason or another.<\/p>\n

After November 6, 2014 there were only 4 peaks remaining\u00a0of the 44 peaks total on\u00a0the Peakbagger.com\u00a0Black Hills 6500-foot peak list that Lupe had never climbed.\u00a0 Only 1 of them was a ranked peak, which was Peak 6920<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a\u00a0huge granite outcropping between Harney Peak<\/a><\/span> (7,242 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and Little Devil’s Tower<\/a><\/span> (6,960 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0which looks\u00a0from afar like it has sheer cliffs for sides.<\/p>\n

The other 3\u00a0unranked peaks\u00a0were\u00a0the Cathedral Spires<\/a><\/span> (6,840 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(rock-climbing equipment clearly required), Thunderhead Mountain<\/a><\/span> (6,567 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(the privately owned\u00a0mountain where\u00a0the Crazy Horse Memorial<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0carving has been\u00a0underway for decades\u00a0– climbing it is prohibited without special permission from the owners), and Gap Lode Peak (SPHP was never certain from afar which granite outcropping might be\u00a0the summit of Gap Lode Peak<\/a><\/span> (6,560 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> ,\u00a0but\u00a0judged it likely that\u00a0rock climbing equipment would be necessary).<\/p>\n

SPHP had been thinking recently that Lupe really ought to go get her picture taken at the most famous\u00a0mountain in South Dakota and the Black Hills, which she has been past many times.\u00a0\u00a0That mountain is also well known both nationally and internationally – Mt. Rushmore.\u00a0 SPHP knew that dogs would likely\u00a0be prohibited in most of the areas near Mt. Rushmore, so there wouldn’t be much for\u00a0Lupe to do there\u00a0once a couple of photos were obtained.<\/p>\n

Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 124 would need another objective in addition to Mt. Rushmore.\u00a0 Since Gap Lode Peak is a relatively short drive from Mt. Rushmore, SPHP decided that Lupe may as well go and take a close look at Gap Lode Peak to see if there was any way she could climb it.\u00a0 If she could, Lupe could claim an ascent of one more peak on Peakbagger’s list of Black Hills 6500-foot peaks!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe and George Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first stop on Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 124\u00a0was at the little parking lot along Hwy 244 just 0.25 mile past the entrance to Mt. Rushmore<\/a><\/span> (5,725 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 There was only one other vehicle at this parking lot when Lupe and SPHP arrived.\u00a0 This parking lot has the great advantage of being free, unlike the parking garage in front of Mt. Rushmore.\u00a0 Another advantage is a very nice view of George Washington’s profile between a gap in the steep granite rock outcroppings near Mt. Rushmore.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe as far as they would let her in at Mount Rushmore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and SPHP walked along Hwy 244 back up to the entrance to Mt. Rushmore.\u00a0 Just past the grand entrance was a no dogs sign.\u00a0 A park ranger promptly came over to make certain SPHP had seen the sign.\u00a0 Lupe could go no further, but the ranger at least allowed SPHP to take a few photos of Lupe with Mt. Rushmore in the distance.\u00a0 That pretty much concluded Lupe’s limited exploration of Mt. Rushmore, although she did get quite a bit of attention from some of the tourists who wanted to pet her.\u00a0 She was a bit nervous about it at first, but sat obligingly still while making some new friends.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe across Hwy 244 from Mt. Rushmore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way back to the G6, Lupe and SPHP climbed up on some rocks across Hwy 244 where there was another view of Mt. Rushmore from another angle.\u00a0 A couple of pictures here and Lupe’s little photo op trip to Mt. Rushmore was complete.\u00a0 Once back at the G6, Lupe and SPHP headed out on the 10-15 minute drive to the Palmer Creek trailhead.\u00a0\u00a0The sky was totally clear and it was an incredibly warm (for March) 70 \u00b0F out\u00a0at 11:10 AM when Lupe and SPHP started the trek to Gap Lode Peak.<\/p>\n

\"Palmer<\/a>
Palmer Creek is so small you don’t see it in the grass from this angle. St. Elmo Peak visible in the distance up the valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A short spur trail from the Palmer Creek trailhead took Lupe to Lost Cabin Trail No. 2, part of the fairly extensive trail system in the Black Elk Wilderness area.\u00a0 Harney Peak, the highest mountain in the Black Hills and South Dakota is in the Black Elk Wilderness area, which\u00a0lies between Mount Rushmore National Monument to the NE and a small section of Custer State Park to the SW.\u00a0 Lupe took Lost Cabin Trail No. 2 climbing all the way up to a high saddle area.\u00a0 There were increasingly nice views as Lupe gained elevation.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at the first good viewpoint near Lost Cabin Trail No. 2 on the way up. St. Elmo Peak<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (6,458 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>to the W\u00a0in the distance (center left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe still in the area of the first good viewpoint along Lost Cabin Trail No. 2. This photo looks ENE towards Elkhorn Mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the saddle, SPHP stopped to consult the topo maps printed out from Peakbagger.com.\u00a0 They showed that Gap Lode Peak was less than 0.5 mile to the SW from this saddle area.\u00a0 Even though it was only 0.5 mile away at most, SPHP knew it was going to take quite a while for Lupe to get to Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Pine bark beetles have caused extremely heavy damage in this portion of the Black Hills.\u00a0 Lupe would need a lot of patience while SPHP slowly worked through a jungle of deadfall timber as soon as the trail was left behind.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe's<\/a>
Lupe and Gap Lode Peak. This photo shows the E high point and very likely the true summit of Gap Lode Peak, but could Lupe really get to the top?\u00a0 Photo looks SW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first task was to find Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 SPHP left the trail and began working through all the deadfall up a reasonably gentle slope to the W.\u00a0 Reaching some granite outcroppings, SPHP was encouraged to see a higher hill of granite in the right direction and about the right distance away to be Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Clearly it\u00a0was not anything Lupe could climb from the E or the S.\u00a0\u00a0However, a\u00a0long slope led up toward the big granite rocks at the top from the N or NW.\u00a0 Perhaps Lupe could climb Gap Lode Peak from that direction?<\/p>\n

A rather steep ravine was between Lupe and the N or NW slope leading up to Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Lupe would have to lose a fair amount of elevation to get over there.\u00a0 It was\u00a0abundantly apparent\u00a0there was going to be nothing but endless deadfall timber the whole way too.\u00a0 SPHP dithered.\u00a0 Was it worth struggling through this mess only to very\u00a0likely be confronted just short of the goal\u00a0by a summit too rugged for Lupe to reach it?\u00a0 There were other nice peak objectives reachable by trail in the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe passed just below this unlikely looking rock down at the bottom of the ravine on the way to Gap Lode Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For 5 or 10 minutes SPHP headed slowly towards Gap Lode Peak half convinced it was really smarter to just turn around.\u00a0 What could be seen of Gap Lode Peak looked like Lupe could eventually get close to the top of it from the N or NW, but she probably couldn’t get to the summit.\u00a0 Once SPHP started losing elevation down into the ravine, however, the decision was made.\u00a0 Lupe was going to climb Gap Lode Peak or at least know for sure\u00a0why she couldn’t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Typical of the deadfall timber Lupe and SPHP had to work through all the way from Lost Cabin Trail No. 2 to Gap Lode Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It took a very long time for the amount of distance covered for SPHP to get through all the deadfall timber down to the bottom of the ravine, and then back up on the N or NW slope that headed up to Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Even Lupe was having to work to get through the maze of dead trees, although she was much better and faster at it than SPHP.\u00a0 Still she was having to go over, under or around a lot of stuff.\u00a0 The going got a little bit easier though, since the ground was more level, as Lupe approached the summit.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe getting close to the E summit of Gap Lode Peak. Can Lupe climb that rock wall?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It turned out that the N or NW slope led Lupe to\u00a0a place where there were two possible candidates\u00a0for the true summit of Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 The first one SPHP had seen was now to the ESE, and the other newly discovered possibility was to the SW.\u00a0 The first one still seemed likely to be the highest, so Lupe headed in that direction first.\u00a0 It looked from a distance like a granite wall with no way for Lupe to climb it.\u00a0 However, as Lupe got closer, SPHP started seeing that there were some clefts in the rock that might make it possible to get up there safely.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe shortly before climbing the E summit of Gap Lode Peak. The W high point is visible beyond her.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon reaching the two clefts just a couple of feet apart, SPHP abandoned the backpack.\u00a0 It turned out\u00a0that the climb up wasn’t bad\u00a0at all.\u00a0 Before long Lupe was up on top of Gap Lode Peak!\u00a0 SPHP was very pleased and Lupe looked pretty happy about it too.\u00a0 There were some really nice views towards Harney Peak and Little Devils Tower.\u00a0 Far to the S, even Northeast Cicero Peak<\/a><\/span> (6,240 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0was in view.\u00a0 There was a huge amount of Black Hills territory in view off to the N towards Custer<\/span><\/a> (6,804 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and Terry<\/a><\/span> (7,064 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> Peaks.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the top of the E and likely true summit Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Harney Peak, the highest mountain in South Dakota,\u00a0is on the left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the E summit of Gap Lode Peak. Photo shows the view to the N.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Harney<\/a>
Harney Peak from the E and likely true summit of Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Photo looks E.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe still at the top of the E summit of Gap Lode Peak. Photo looks SE.\u00a0 Lupe is looking W and\u00a0probably thinking: “There’s that W high point on Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 I bet that crazy SPHP is going to make me go over there next.\u00a0 When’s lunch anyway?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe just a few feet away from the E summit of Gap Lode Peak. Sylvan Hill<\/a><\/span> (7,000 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is the ridge in the background. W high point of Gap Lode Peak not too far away on the right edge of the photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking to the W, the other high point which might be the true summit of Gap Lode Peak could be seen.\u00a0 It looked just about even with where Lupe was already.\u00a0 SPHP still thought the high stuff to the W didn’t look quite as high, but the difference couldn’t be much.\u00a0 Perhaps it was even a bit higher? \u00a0It was hard to tell for certain.\u00a0 Naturally, SPHP decided it had taken so long to work through the deadfall timber to get to Gap Lode Peak, Lupe might just as well go and explore the W high point too.\u00a0 After all, Lupe was already very close to it.\u00a0 So after climbing down from the E high point, Lupe headed W.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reaches the W high point on Gap Lode Peak. The E high point\u00a0which SPHP believes is the\u00a0true summit (though not by much)\u00a0is in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe perched way up on some of the very highest rocks of the W high point of Gap Lode Peak. Photo looks SE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe climbed up on\u00a0some of the highest rocks at the W high point.\u00a0 After seeing both high points from one another, SPHP concluded they were so very near the same elevation, it was impossible to say for certain which was the absolute highest, but it still seemed that the E high point Lupe had visited first was the true summit of Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Regardless, Lupe had succeeded in reaching both!\u00a0 She could claim a successful summit.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe explores Gap Lode Peak. St. Elmo Peak is the pointy hill in the center of the photo just left of Lupe’s ear.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was more to do near the W high point.\u00a0 The area had nice granite outcroppings with pretty green kinnikinnick growing\u00a0in many places between the rocks.\u00a0 The granite also extended\u00a0some distance off to the W and SW without losing\u00a0much elevation.\u00a0 Lupe went and\u00a0explored some of this area, which was fun to climb around\u00a0in.\u00a0 There was still deadfall timber to deal with, but not as much of it as in other areas.\u00a0\u00a0There were even\u00a0better views to the W from some of the rock outcroppings than Lupe had seen from either of the two high points of Gap Lode Peak.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe and another view to the W from Gap Lode Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the afternoon started wearing on, what had been a breezy day up until\u00a0now started to get pretty windy.\u00a0 SPHP knew that high winds were in the forecast for this evening.\u00a0 It was\u00a0time to get going.\u00a0 There were still plenty of dead trees standing which might fall over in a high wind situation.\u00a0 So after a good time exploring Gap Lode Peak, Lupe started the return trip to the G6.\u00a0 She\u00a0retraced the same\u00a0short, but time consuming\u00a0trek\u00a0back to the saddle area to get back to Lost Cabin Trail No. 2 that she had\u00a0made to reach Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 Once on the trail again, it became an easy hike back down to the Palmer Creek trailhead.<\/p>\n

\"Harney<\/a>
Harney Peak from the Palmer Creek trailhead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe\u00a0arrived\u00a0back at the G6 at 5:48 PM.\u00a0 It was 71 \u00b0F – just amazing for late\u00a0March.\u00a0 The skies were still totally clear, but way down here there really wasn’t even much of a breeze.\u00a0 It\u00a0seemed premature to be heading home before dark, but\u00a0Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 124 had\u00a0been a success.\u00a0 Lupe made a few new friends and had\u00a0her picture taken at Mt. Rushmore.\u00a0 She had even\u00a0found and climbed Gap Lode Peak.\u00a0 SPHP now wonders if she shouldn’t go take a closer look at Peak 6920…<\/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

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\u00a0<\/span>new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lupe has been on Peakbagger.com since May, 2014 when SPHP first discovered that site.\u00a0 Peakbagger.com has maps and many great features for tracking ascents of mountains, hills, state and county high points, etc.\u00a0 One of the first things Lupe and SPHP started doing once Lupe had her free Peakbagger.com account set up, was to start … Continue reading Black Hills, SD Expedition No. 124 – Mt. Rushmore & Gap Lode Peak (3-28-15)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":491,"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":[105,9,106,89,104,88,304],"class_list":["post-502","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-gap-lode-peak","tag-lupe","tag-mount-rushmore","tag-south-dakota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1060069.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\/502","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=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22541,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/22541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}