{"id":6332,"date":"2016-10-01T08:10:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-01T14:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=6332"},"modified":"2019-10-23T12:23:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T18:23:07","slug":"porphyry-peak-7-30-16-kings-hill-7-31-16-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=6332","title":{"rendered":"Porphyry Peak (7-30-16) & King’s Hill (7-31-16), Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days 1 & 2 of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation<\/em><\/p>\n

Lupe was happy, oh so happy!\u00a0 Loopster, it’s going to be a while yet, I need to finish loading everything in the G6.\u00a0 You will be in the car all day.\u00a0 Why don’t you come out, and run around a bit before we go?<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing doing!\u00a0 Lupe knew good things were about to happen.\u00a0 She had already jumped up into the G6 onto her comfy spot where she would be riding shotgun.\u00a0 She wasn’t about to get out of the\u00a0car and risk being left behind.\u00a0 This Carolina Dog wasn’t taking any chances on missing out on her Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation, which SPHP kept telling her would be the best ever!<\/p>\n

\"I'm<\/a>
I’m staying right here, SPHP! Hurry and finish loading up. I can’t wait for my Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation to begin! You’ve told me this is going to be the best one ever. Where are we going? Squirrel Mountain, I hope!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 10:06 AM, SPHP backed the G6 out of the driveway.\u00a0 Lupe was on her way!<\/p>\n

It was a very long way to where Lupe was going.\u00a0 Most of today and tomorrow would be spent traveling.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t mind.\u00a0 She loves riding, looking out the window, and sniffing the air.\u00a0 Mostly she\u00a0watches for animals to bark at.\u00a0 She was going to see plenty of them in the next two days.\u00a0 Cows, horses, and occasionally sheep, deer or pronghorn antelope.<\/p>\n

Lupe’s very satisfying barking frenzy began long before\u00a0her Black Hills of South Dakota disappeared in the rear view mirror.\u00a0 It continued for hours across the high rolling plains and pine-covered ridges of\u00a0SE Montana.\u00a0 W of Lame Deer, Montana\u00a0the temperature hit 100\u00b0F.\u00a0 By then, Lupe was barking in air-conditioned comfort.<\/p>\n

The miles rolled by.\u00a0 It was an easy, relaxing drive on lightly traveled highways.\u00a0 SPHP grinned at Lupe.\u00a0 You know, Loop, things might never get any better than they are right now.\u00a0 We are free as birds, and have your whole Dingo Vacation ahead of us!<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, actually they could be a little better, SPHP!<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you mean?<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you bring any\u00a0water?\u00a0 My barker is dry!<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, sorry!\u00a0 So, you’re one parched puppy, aye?\u00a0 Small wonder.\u00a0 Hang on a sec.\u00a0 Here you go.\u00a0 <\/em>Lupe slurped up an entire bowl of water and requested a refill, which she\u00a0also drained in short order.\u00a0 Better?<\/em><\/p>\n

Much!\u00a0 Thank you!\u00a0 <\/em>Lupe returned to vigilance.\u00a0 More cows could appear at any moment.\u00a0 If not, haystacks, barns\u00a0or suspicious-looking outbuildings would do, too.\u00a0 The G6 was a noisy place.<\/p>\n

At 6:30 PM, SPHP parked the G6 at King’s Hill Pass on Hwy 89 in the Little Belt Mountains of central Montana.\u00a0 That’s enough driving for today, Loop.\u00a0 We’ll stay here tonight.\u00a0 Remember this place?\u00a0 You were here a couple of years ago.\u00a0 How about climbing Porphyry Peak<\/a><\/span> (8,192 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> again to stretch our legs?<\/em><\/p>\n

By now, Lupe was very ready to get out of the G6, eager to go exploring\u00a0for a while.\u00a0 A dirt road left King’s Hill Pass heading W for Porphyry Peak.\u00a0 It wound around a bit, but went all the way to the summit.\u00a0 By the time Lupe reached the ranger tower on top of the mountain, she had gone at least 1.5 miles along the road, and gained nearly 800 feet of elevation.<\/p>\n

No one else seemed to be around.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe near the base of the ranger tower on Porphyry Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Photo looks ESE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Without climbing the ranger tower, the best views from Porphyry Peak are from the E end of the large, flat summit area over by the Showdown ski resort facilities.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP headed over there for a look.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Baldy Mountain<\/a><\/span> (9,177 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> (L) and Yogo Peak<\/a><\/span> (8,801 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> (R) from Porphyry Peak. Photo looks NE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"SPHP<\/a>
SPHP believes this is Big Baldy Mountain, the highest peak of the Little Belt Mountain Range in Montana. Photo looks NE using the telephoto lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe was a little nervous up on the Showdown ski resort chairlift on Porphyry Peak. She wasn’t ready to take up skiing yet, which was just as well, since there wasn’t any snow at the end of July.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After taking a look at the views from the Showdown ski area, Lupe and SPHP wandered back over toward the ranger tower again.\u00a0 The hatch door to the observation deck at the top was closed, but Lupe could still go partway up to check out the views.\u00a0 SPHP started up the stairs.\u00a0 Lupe came along behind, but she wasn’t so sure this was a good idea.<\/p>\n

\"Upon<\/a>
Upon returning to the ranger tower, SPHP noticed this Porphyry Peak benchmark nearby. Photo looks, uh, down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Although<\/a>
Although Lupe is used to climbing mountains, the ranger tower seemed somewhat scary. She was rather reluctant going up the stairs due to the unprotected openings between them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even from only partway up the ranger tower, it was possible to see mountains to the W that weren’t visible from ground level due to the forest.\u00a0 SPHP thought it might be nice to get a sunset photo from up here, but the sun wasn’t going to set for a while yet.<\/p>\n

It had turned out that Lupe and SPHP weren’t alone on Porphyry Peak.\u00a0 Over by the Showdown ski area there had been a parked vehicle.\u00a0 Someone had been busy\u00a0rearranging gear in\u00a0it.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP had time to go over there to see who it was, which is how Lupe met Cooper from Sacramento, CA.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe with Cooper from Sacramento, CA at the Showdown ski resort. Cooper had recently graduated from high school and was off on long adventures of his own now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cooper had graduated from high school 2 months ago, and\u00a0since then had been\u00a0off exploring the American West on his own.\u00a0 He had a beautiful camera and hopes\u00a0of becoming a “digital nomad”, turning photography into a profession.<\/p>\n

Cooper had another month of exploring ahead of him before flying to Hawaii to work on a farm for room and board for 3 months.\u00a0 After that, he intended to find work on a ship.\u00a0 Basically, he was taking a year off for various adventures before starting college.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP were both impressed.<\/p>\n

By the time Lupe and SPHP had heard Cooper’s story, the sun was getting near the horizon.\u00a0 Cooper also wanted to get some photos from the ranger tower.\u00a0 Lupe, Cooper and SPHP all went over to the ranger tower together.\u00a0 This time, Lupe felt braver.\u00a0 She climbed a long way up the tower steps.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe felt braver and climbed much higher up the steps of the Porphyry Peak ranger tower the 2nd time around.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sunset<\/a>
Sunset from the Porphyry Peak ranger tower, 7-30-16.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the sun sank below the horizon, Lupe and SPHP bid Cooper good-bye and good luck.\u00a0 Lupe took a shortcut down one of the ski runs to get to the road back to King’s Hill Pass.\u00a0 By the time she\u00a0reached the G6, the light was fading.\u00a0 Day 1 of her 2016 Dingo Vacation was over.\u00a0 It had been a good, promising start.\u00a0 Lupe had Alpo for dinner, then settled down on her soft perch for the night.<\/p>\n

Early the next morning, Lupe was totally energized and ready for many more long hours of enthusiastic barking.\u00a0 The sun wasn’t even up yet (5:33 AM).\u00a0\u00a0Let’s climb King’s Hill before we leave, Loop.\u00a0 You look ready for a romp!\u00a0 Burning off a little of that American Dingo energy now\u00a0wouldn’t hurt a thing.<\/em><\/p>\n

No argument there!\u00a0 A trek up King’s Hill<\/span><\/a> (8,008 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0sounded like an even better way to start the day to Lupe than barking at cows.\u00a0 She burst out of the G6 as soon as the door was open, and dashed into the woods.\u00a0 On the prowl and sniffing excitedly, she\u00a0wound around racing\u00a0between the trees.<\/p>\n

SPHP followed Lupe into the forest, and\u00a0quickly\u00a0came upon\u00a0USFS Road No. 487, which headed S\u00a0angling up\u00a0the W slope of King’s Hill.\u00a0 The road curved around to the E as it reached the open ground near the top of the hill.\u00a0 At a 3-way intersection, Lupe and SPHP turned N on USFS Road No. 251 (Dry Wolf Road).<\/p>\n

SPHP didn’t stay on the road much farther.\u00a0\u00a0Lupe was running around up on the\u00a0open ground leading to the summit.\u00a0 A cool W wind was making things a bit chilly up here, but the sun would be up in minutes.\u00a0 Lupe reached the summit of King’s Hill, marked by a survey benchmark near the N end, about the time the sun peeped up over the horizon.<\/p>\n

\"Sunrise<\/a>
Sunrise from King’s Hill, 7-31-16.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe reached the summit of King’s Hill just as the sun peeped up above the horizon. A chilly W breeze was blowing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The survey benchmark at the summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Porphyry<\/a>
Porphyry Peak from King’s Hill. The Showdown ski runs are in view. Photo looks W.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was going to be a beautiful day in the Little Belt Mountains, but Lupe couldn’t linger up on King’s Hill for very long.\u00a0 She had many miles to go.\u00a0 A power line goes NW back down to Hwy 89 from near the summit.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP took this steeper shortcut\u00a0to return to the G6 (7:09 AM).<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe had many miles to go, so she couldn’t stay up on King’s Hill very long. She took this shortcut under the power line back down to King’s Hill Pass and the G6. Photo looks NW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Lupe resumed her journey, there wasn’t too much for her to bark at for a little while.\u00a0 The Little Belt Mountains were mostly forested, so there weren’t many cows or horses.<\/p>\n

Hwy 89 lost elevation steadily for miles N of King’s Hill Pass.\u00a0 When the highway was about out of the mountains, SPHP stopped at the Al Buck Memorial Park.\u00a0 Time to let Lupe run off a little more steam!\u00a0 Lupe was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Lupe visited\u00a0Isaac Walton Spring\u00a0where a tiny waterfall poured right out of the hill beside the park.\u00a0 She waded in the cool water and had a nice drink.\u00a0 She found a chipmunk to bark at in one of the trees in the park.\u00a0 She went across Hwy 89, and took a look at scenic Belt Creek.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe cools her paws off near the tiny waterfall created by Isaac Walton Spring at Al Buck Memorial Park along Hwy 89.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Belt<\/a>
Belt Creek, MT. Photo looks SSW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe enjoyed\u00a0a few more short breaks out of the G6 during the day, but once out of the mountains, Day 2 was mostly another Carolina Dog barkfest.\u00a0 Shortly before noon, Lupe crossed the border into Canada.\u00a0\u00a0Yesterday’s 100\u00b0F heat in Montana was long gone.\u00a0 The high in Canada was only in the low 60’s \u00b0F.\u00a0 The rest of Lupe’s summer was going to be cool and comfortable!<\/p>\n

NW of Lethbridge, there were big clouds and scattered rainstorms, even a short stretch of small hail.\u00a0 It had been nearly 2 years since Lupe was last in Canada, and it was good to be back.\u00a0 Off to the W, the Canadian Rockies were beckoning Lupe to come and play!<\/p>\n

By early evening, Lupe was entering the gorgeous Canadian Rockies.\u00a0 She got to stop and take the Many Springs Trail in Bow Valley Provincial Park<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 The Many Springs Trail\u00a0was super\u00a0easy, with\u00a0little elevation change as it went around a big pond in a wetlands area that looked like prime wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on a footbridge along the Many Springs Trail in Bow Valley Provincial Park, Alberta. The trail featured wetlands and views of Yamnuska<\/a><\/span> (7,349 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe there was dangerous wildlife out there!?\u00a0 About 2\/3 of the way around the pond, a boardwalk served as the trail where it went right along the edge of the pond.\u00a0 Something spooked Lupe just as she reached the boardwalk.\u00a0 She absolutely refused to go on the boardwalk to complete the loop.\u00a0\u00a0The American Dingo\u00a0insisted on going back the way she had come rather than set one paw on that frightening 6″ high boardwalk.<\/p>\n

Oh, well.\u00a0 That was fine.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP returned to the G6.\u00a0 Exploring a couple of winding roads revealed a\u00a0lovely picnic area along the Bow River.\u00a0 Lupe wasn’t too hungry yet, but she sniffed around part of the time while SPHP dined.<\/p>\n

The first long leg of Lupe’s journey was complete.\u00a0 Lupe’s two day Barkfest was over.\u00a0 Tomorrow Lupe would\u00a0be climbing and playing\u00a0in the spectacular Canadian Rockies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lupe along the Bow River in Bow Valley Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

Next Adventure<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2016 Canadian Rockies, Yukon & Alaska Adventure Index<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, \u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free to New Lupe Adventures<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days 1 & 2 of Lupe’s Summer of 2016 Dingo Vacation Lupe was happy, oh so happy!\u00a0 Loopster, it’s going to be a while yet, I need to finish loading everything in the G6.\u00a0 You will be in the car all day.\u00a0 Why don’t you come out, and run around a bit before we go? … Continue reading Porphyry Peak (7-30-16) & King’s Hill (7-31-16), Montana<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6347,"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":[726],"tags":[105,677,106,26,169,154,104,678,417,11,156],"class_list":["post-6332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-canadian-rockies-yukon-alaska","tag-american-dingo","tag-bow-valley-provincial-park","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-kings-hill","tag-little-belt-mountains","tag-lupe","tag-many-springs-trail","tag-montana","tag-peakbagging","tag-porphyry-peak"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1473.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\/6332","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=6332"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6413,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions\/6413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}