![\"Lupe](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_0673.jpg\")
<\/a>Lupe and SPHP had never heard of the Great Plains Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/span> before.\u00a0 Luke explained that\u00a0parts of it were still being put together.\u00a0 He handed SPHP a business card with trail information on it.\u00a0 “The Great Plains Trail – Find a New Adventure!\u00a0 From Canada to Texas, 1800 Scenic Miles, Three National Parks, Three National Monuments, Ten National Forests\/Grasslands, Five State High Points, Six State Parks”<\/p>\n Luke had started out on Guadalupe Peak<\/a><\/span> (8,749 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>, the highest mountain in Texas, (and also the S end of the Great Plains Trail) on Valentine’s Day.\u00a0 The Montana portion of the Great Plains Trail hasn’t been created yet, so Luke was going to\u00a0hike through western North Dakota to reach the Canadian Border.\u00a0 He\u00a0expected\u00a0to get there sometime around May 12th.<\/p>\n This wasn’t the first long distance trail Luke had done.\u00a0 Three years ago he had hiked the entire North Country Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/span> from central North Dakota to Vermont.\u00a0 Clearly, Luke merited his “Strider” nickname!<\/p>\n Well, since Luke didn’t want a ride, how about a piece of fried chicken, a banana, or a Coke?\u00a0 The Coke sounded good.\u00a0 Yeah,\u00a0Strider would take a Coke.\u00a0 SPHP retrieved one from the G6 for him.<\/p>\n SPHP gave Strider a phone number for Lupe, too.\u00a0 The Great Plains Trail goes through the Black Hills.\u00a0 If\u00a0Strider wanted to, when he reached the Black Hills he could spend an evening with Lupe and SPHP, sleep in a bed, use the shower, etc.\u00a0 Maybe Lupe would even join Luke on a stretch of the trail?<\/p>\n After friendly goodbyes and\u00a0a pat on the head for Lupe, Strider continued N.\u00a0 In the G6, Lupe and SPHP continued N, too.<\/p>\n About a dozen miles N of where she had left Strider behind, Lupe came to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 SPHP wasn’t sure how dingo-friendly it would be, but decided to take a chance and check it out.\u00a0 At the very least, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument\u00a0was very wallet-friendly.\u00a0 There was no admission fee!<\/p>\n Most of the land that is now Agate Fossil Beds National Monument was once part of the Agate Springs Ranch owned by James and Kate Cook.\u00a0 In 1892, Erwin H. Barbour of the University of Nebraska was the first scientist to visit the ranch and examine the strange Devil’s Corkscrews, later recognized as the fossilized burrows of Palaeocastor, an ancient dry land beaver.<\/p>\n Near\u00a0the entrance to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is the 1.0 mile long Daemonelix Trail, which heads up a hillside to a rocky area where the Devil’s Corkscrews can still be seen.\u00a0 This is the most scenic of two trails at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.\u00a0 However, SPHP was hoping Lupe could do a little peakbagging along the Fossil Hills Trail, which starts 3 miles farther in at the visitor’s center.<\/p>\n Soon Lupe was on her way\u00a0(2:23 PM, 66\u00b0F).\u00a0\u00a0The Fossil Hills Trail is a concrete sidewalk that leads all the way up to Carnegie Hill and nearby University Hill.\u00a0 Lupe liked that.\u00a0 No cactus at all to deal with!<\/p>\n University Hill and Carnegie Hill are very close together.\u00a0 The trail came to University Hill first.\u00a0 It was an easy climb to the top.<\/p>\n After climbing Carnegie Hill, Lupe and SPHP returned to the trail to complete a circumnavigation of Carnegie Hill.\u00a0 On the way, Lupe came upon a display that intrigued her.<\/p>\n The display was about beardogs that used to live here millions of years ago.\u00a0 Lupe thought that beardogs might have been almost as ferocious and scary as Carolina Dogs are today.<\/p>\n At some point in\u00a0the Miocene Epoch, the SW side of Carnegie Hill had been the site of a waterhole where herbivores gathered to drink.\u00a0 During droughts, when many animals\u00a0were forced\u00a0to congregate here, they had been easy prey for predators.<\/p>\n In August 1904, O.A. Peterson of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh discovered a great bonebed here.\u00a0 Between 1904 and 1923, scientists from Yale University, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and other institutions also worked at these fossil beds.<\/p>\n After completing\u00a0her circumnavigation of Carnegie Hill, Lupe\u00a0started on\u00a0her way back\u00a0to the G6.\u00a0 It was\u00a0getting close to\u00a04 PM by the time she arrived (3:43 PM, 66\u00b0F).\u00a0 The visitor center was about to close.\u00a0 SPHP went in to see if Ranger Steven Lawlor would consent to having his picture taken with Lupe?<\/p>\n Ranger Lawlor was happy to have a\u00a0couple photos taken with Lupe, but first gave SPHP a very quick tour.\u00a0 James\u00a0and Kate Cook, owners of the Agate Springs Ranch,\u00a0had been friends of Chief Red Cloud.\u00a0 Over time, the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne gave them many gifts.\u00a0 The Cooks eventually donated their impressive collection\u00a0of authentic Indian artifacts to\u00a0Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.<\/p>\n After saying goodbye to Ranger Lawlor, Lupe and SPHP left Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.\u00a0 Lupe returned to Hwy 29 and headed N to Harrison, Nebraska.<\/p>\n SPHP was hoping Lupe still had time to visit the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point<\/a><\/span> (4,740 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0E of Harrison.\u00a0 The Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point is 3.5 miles N of Hwy 20 near the W border of the wilderness area about halfway between Harrison and Crawford, Nebraska.\u00a0 SPHP’s map showed a dirt road leading N from Hwy 20 to the high point.<\/p>\n Although SPHP drove E slowly on Hwy 20\u00a0looking for the dirt access road, nothing promising appeared.\u00a0 To complicate matters, the Soldier Creek Wilderness does not border Hwy 20, but is separated from it by private lands ranging from 0.25 to 0.75 mile wide.\u00a0 Looking N from the highway at the\u00a0vast expanse\u00a0of remote ridges and valleys, it wasn’t even possible to tell with any precision where the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point was.<\/p>\n Just before Hwy 20 started to lose serious elevation, there was a scenic overlook with a big parking lot on the S side of the highway.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP pulled in there, so SPHP could take another look at the maps.\u00a0 SPHP was certain Lupe was now E of where the access road should have been.<\/p>\n The maps showed one more possible access route.\u00a0 Cottonwood Road leaves Hwy 20 several miles W of Soldier Creek Wilderness.\u00a0 It goes N and then winds NE to come within 1.5 miles of the wilderness boundary.\u00a0 Maybe it would be possible to get permission to cross the private property?\u00a0 It seemed like a real long shot, but what else was there to do?<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP drove back W again.\u00a0 SPHP kept looking for an access road to the N, but still saw nothing encouraging.\u00a0 Cottonwood Road was the only reasonable possibility left.\u00a0 It was too late in the day to consider trying anything else.<\/p>\n At least there was a green and white street sign along\u00a0Hwy 20\u00a0when Lupe reached Cottonwood Road.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP turned N.\u00a0 Soon Lupe was having a field day barking at cows!\u00a0 A huge herd was in the field to the W.\u00a0 They weren’t used to such abuse.\u00a0 The cows mooed as though annoyed, but they didn’t run off.<\/p>\n Cottonwood Road wasn’t all that great.\u00a0 Even though it is a county road, there was little gravel on it.\u00a0\u00a0It went N for 1.75 miles, then turned sharply E for a short stretch before winding NE for 1.5 miles.\u00a0 The road\u00a0slowly deteriorated as it wound along.\u00a0 It was a good thing it wasn’t real wet, or 4WD would have been necessary.<\/p>\n A ranch came into view on the N side of the road.\u00a0 A couple of people were near some buildings.\u00a0 A sign said this was Banners Ranch.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stopped in.\u00a0 Lupe stayed in the G6, while SPHP chatted with the old rancher and his son.\u00a0 They knew about the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point, but were perplexed by the notion that any stranger would find it worth coming way out\u00a0here to\u00a0see it.<\/p>\n Another 0.5 mile farther E, Cottonwood Road would turn N.\u00a0 At that point, SPHP could park the G6 and go on foot to their neighbor’s ranch, owned by Emery Fox.\u00a0 Mr. Fox owned the land bordering the Soldier Creek Wilderness.\u00a0 SPHP would have to ask for permission to cross his land.\u00a0 A red gate in a fence line was the way to the high point.\u00a0 SPHP thanked the Banners for their help, and returned to Lupe in the G6.<\/p>\n Going E, the road didn’t get any better.\u00a0 At one point the G6 had to go off it entirely to miss a huge mud puddle left by melting snow.\u00a0 SPHP parked the G6 where Cottonwood Road turned N.\u00a0 There wasn’t much choice.\u00a0 A sign at the start of the driveway into the Fox Ranch said “No Unauthorized Vehicles Allowed Beyond This Point”.\u00a0 The sign was hardly necessary.\u00a0 There was no way the G6 would have survived that road.<\/p>\n This was the right place, though.\u00a0 A 12 foot long gently arching metal sign along the fence line said “FOX”.\u00a0 Lupe was on her best behavior leaving the G6 (6:00 PM, 58\u00b0F).\u00a0 A whole herd of cows was standing right outside.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t bark once.\u00a0 Good girl!\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP headed E on the Fox’s high-clearance 4WD authorized vehicles only driveway.<\/p>\n Half a mile later, Lupe and SPHP arrived at the Fox Ranch headquarters.\u00a0 The Banners had said there would be two houses.\u00a0 Emery Fox lives in the bigger home to the N farthest up the slope.\u00a0 His son, Evan,\u00a0lives in the smaller home to the W.\u00a0 Mr. Fox was home.\u00a0 SPHP requested permission to cross his ranch so Lupe could go\u00a0to the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point.<\/p>\n Emery Fox seemed just as surprised as the Banners had been that anyone would be interested in seeing the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point.\u00a0 He was a quiet, soft-spoken man.\u00a0 Apparently he saw no harm in it, so he gave Lupe permission to go.<\/p>\n SPHP’s maps showed a road going S from\u00a0the Fox’s home\u00a0that would eventually turn E toward the high point, before turning S again.\u00a0 SPHP could see the road S and intended to take it, planning to just continue E to the high point when the road turned S again.<\/p>\n However, Mr. Fox pointed out two tracks in his field going up a grassy ridge to the ESE.\u00a0 Mr. Fox said to take the track to the left.\u00a0 He also talked about a red gate prior to reaching the high point.\u00a0 SPHP never did fully understand the directions offered by the Banners or Mr. Fox, but not wanting to disobey instructions, Lupe and SPHP headed SE taking the left track\u00a0up the ridge as Mr. Fox indicated.<\/p>\n SPHP feared that this route was going to take Lupe too far N.\u00a0 There wasn’t enough daylight left to waste too much of it, either.\u00a0 Fortunately, when Lupe reached the top of the ridge, the road (just a pickup truck path through a big field) continued\u00a0ESE toward another barren ridge with a couple of high points on it.\u00a0 Maybe one of them was the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point?\u00a0 There was also a\u00a0barren ridge\u00a0farther S, and one with trees on it to the N, but both seemed too far away to be right.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP stayed on the road, except once when Lupe spotted 3 pronghorns.\u00a0 After crossing the ridge, the road slowly lost elevation, eventually coming to a fence at a low point.\u00a0 There wasn’t any red gate, which was a bit disturbing.\u00a0\u00a0On the other side of the fence, the road made\u00a0a\u00a0short\u00a0jog to the S going up a little rise before turning ESE\u00a0again back up on\u00a0the high ground.\u00a0 The two high points were back in view.\u00a0 The road was heading almost straight for them.<\/p>\n Just a little W of the high points,\u00a0Lupe\u00a0reached another fence.\u00a0 This time there was a red gate!\u00a0 Signs also indicated that this was the border of the Soldier Creek Wilderness.\u00a0 On the high point farthest to the SE, a post was sticking up.<\/p>\n The road continued E skirting to the N of the highest point where the post was sticking up.\u00a0 SPHP left the road heading directly for the post.\u00a0 Lupe, however, didn’t budge from the\u00a0road.\u00a0 SPHP hadn’t seen any cactus here, but Tenderpaw Lupe wasn’t taking any chances.\u00a0 SPHP had to carry her several hundred feet to the post.<\/p>\n A couple of feet S of the post were some white rocks.\u00a0 Down in the middle of them was a survey\u00a0benchmark.\u00a0 It said “Summit”.\u00a0 Lupe really was at the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point!<\/p>\n Although it was getting pretty late in the day, there was time to relax for a few minutes to enjoy Lupe’s success.\u00a0 Only 1.5 hours ago, SPHP had been rather pessimistic about Lupe’s chances of getting here.<\/p>\n Lupe’s luck had held, though!\u00a0 The Banners and Emery Fox had been friendly and helpful.\u00a0 The road going through the pastures to get here had led right to the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point.\u00a0 It was an easy hike, too, all out in the open with very little elevation change over gently rolling terrain.\u00a0 Now that Lupe was here, it all seemed pathetically easy.<\/p>\n Lupe relaxed at the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point so much that when it was time to leave this remote and peaceful place, she forgot to worry about cactus.\u00a0 She trotted back to the road under her own power.<\/p>\n The sun was going down, but there wouldn’t be any beautiful sunset.\u00a0 Instead the sun sank into a cloud bank on the horizon.\u00a0 It was still a wonderful easy evening trek back to the Fox Ranch HQ.<\/p>\n When Lupe and SPHP reached the top of the ridge SE of Emery Fox’s home, Lupe looked back at the Soldier Creek Wilderness one last time.\u00a0 SPHP now realized it was possible to see both the Fox Ranch HQ and the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point from here.<\/p>\n Emery Fox was waiting for Lupe and SPHP to return.\u00a0 It was his turn to take a picture of Lupe.\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Fox\u00a0and SPHP chatted for a while.\u00a0 Emery’s son, Evan, came along and joined in.\u00a0 Emery said his grandfather homesteaded this ranch in 1905.\u00a0 Emery had been born here, and has lived here all his life.<\/p>\n Back at the red gate, there had been a sign on the fence facing E toward those entering the Fox Ranch.\u00a0 It was about\u00a0an\u00a0open fields and waters program.\u00a0 None of the gates in the fences had been closed.\u00a0 SPHP asked about the program.<\/p>\n Mr. Fox said all of his land was enrolled in\u00a0the open fields and waters\u00a0program.\u00a0 (He did not want to talk about how much acreage he owns.)\u00a0 Hunters and fishermen with the proper licenses can legally\u00a0walk in on his property to hunt and fish in season.\u00a0 Mr. Fox gets some financial reward from the state of Nebraska in\u00a0exchange for enrolling his property.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP weren’t here to hunt or fish, just to pass through on a peakbagging mission.\u00a0 SPHP thanked Mr. Fox and Evan for making Lupe’s success in reaching the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point possible.\u00a0 Then Lupe and SPHP headed W back to the G6 as stars began to twinkle above (8:01 PM, 50\u00b0F).<\/p>\n Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Next 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 Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>or Master Adventure Index<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a lonely stretch of Hwy 29 in NW Nebraska, someone with a big pack was hiking N.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP were heading N, too.\u00a0 There was room for one more in the G6 with a little rearranging.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stopped across the highway from the backpacker. Want a ride?\u00a0 Nope, he didn’t!\u00a0 Where … Continue reading Agate Fossil Beds National Monument & the Soldier Creek Wilderness High Point, Nebraska (4-3-16)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5316,"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":[636],"tags":[610,105,611,106,1084,26,615,616,104,606,11,614,612,613],"class_list":["post-5335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-western-nebraska","tag-agate-fossil-beds-national-monument","tag-american-dingo","tag-carnegie-hill","tag-carolina-dog","tag-daemonelix-trail","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-emery-fox","tag-fossil-hills-trail","tag-lupe","tag-nebraska","tag-peakbagging","tag-ranger-steven-lawlor","tag-soldier-creek-wilderness-high-point","tag-university-hill"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_0693.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\/5335","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=5335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21779,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5335\/revisions\/21779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Lupe had to wait in the G6 while SPHP went in to find out if she could climb Carnegie Hill<\/a><\/span> (4,600 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>, one of two small hills at the end of\u00a0the Fossil Hills Trail.\u00a0 In the visitor center, there was a pretty cool diorama featuring skeletons of ancient mammals that had lived in this area 20 million years ago.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>SPHP talked to Ranger Steven Lawlor.\u00a0 Would it be alright if Lupe climbed Carnegie Hill?\u00a0 Ranger Lawlor was a bit hesitant, but said OK with some provisions.\u00a0 They were all very basic rules Lupe had no intention of violating.\u00a0 Lupe had to be on a leash, no collecting or disturbing of rocks, plants or fossils, watch out for rattlesnakes, and don’t fall off any cliffs.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>19 or 20 million years ago, this part of Nebraska was somewhat like modern Africa.\u00a0 It was the golden Age of Mammals.\u00a0 Ancient horses, rhinos, sheep, beardogs, hogs, camels and other animals roamed the area.\u00a0 Displays depicting how some of these creatures may have looked are located along the Fossil Hills Trail.<\/a><\/a><\/a>After climbing University Hill, Lupe climbed Carnegie Hill from the E.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>