![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/P1060214-e1552198861184.jpg\")
<\/a>SPHP’s spouse wasn’t at the apartment yet\u00a0when Lupe arrived.\u00a0 That didn’t stop the dingo fun, though.\u00a0 Lupe soon discovered a small field out behind a row of garages where there were rabbits to chase.\u00a0 This was great sport, although the rabbits very soon made themselves scarce.\u00a0 All weekend long, every time SPHP left the apartment or G6, Lupe made a habit of running over to the little field to check on the\u00a0bunny situation.\u00a0 She was seldom disappointed.<\/p>\n Lupe and SPHP went to gas up the G6, and by the time they got back to the apartment, SPHP’s spouse had arrived.\u00a0 Lupe got to see the apartment for the first time.\u00a0 She was very surprised to see two cats,\u00a0Cloud and Shoko, but not as surprised as they were to see Lupe!\u00a0 Cloud was an old buddy of Lupe’s she hadn’t seen for\u00a0almost two years.\u00a0 Cloud soon\u00a0seemed to remember that Lupe was\u00a0a friend of cats and no threat.\u00a0 Shoko, however, kept a wary eye on Lupe\u00a0for the first day or so.<\/p>\n On Saturday morning, May 2nd, Lupe got to do a little sight-seeing in the Casper area.\u00a0 She\u00a0went to\u00a0see Bridal Veil Falls on Garden Creek at the base of Casper Mountain.\u00a0 The falls were easily accessed via a short path.\u00a0 Lupe enjoyed sniffing around and wading in the creek.\u00a0 It wasn’t a very long outing, though.<\/p>\n In the afternoon, Lupe and SPHP went on a\u00a0four hour\u00a0peakbagging quest in search of the summit of Casper Mountain<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(8,200 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 SPHP was not familiar with the area.\u00a0 Despite having a topo map printed out from Peakbagger.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, SPHP had some trouble finding the summit.\u00a0 Roads on the map only somewhat agreed with what was actually there.<\/p>\n The biggest problem was that SPHP had been expecting Lupe would be free to roam on National Forest land, but the whole area seemed to be private property with a wide variety of homes, cabins and RV’s scattered through the forest.\u00a0 Private property, no trespassing, keep out and similar signs abounded.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stuck to the roads as much as possible, but in some places even the roads seemed to be off limits.<\/p>\n Another problem was that the Peakbagger.com topo map showed that the summit of Casper Mountain was just NE of a radio tower.\u00a0 Easy enough, but what it didn’t show was that there are multiple towers on Casper Mountain.\u00a0 At first SPHP thought Lupe had reached the summit of Casper Mountain after finding the first big tower.\u00a0 However, the road continued S and it didn’t look like it was losing much elevation.\u00a0 SPHP decided to check it out.<\/p>\n Lupe was soon gaining elevation again and came upon another big tower.\u00a0 The road turned SE there and clearly went uphill even from the second tower.\u00a0 So Lupe and SPHP continued SE on the road to another high point in the forest.\u00a0 It seemed like this might be the high point of Casper Mountain, but there wasn’t any tower close at hand to the SW, so SPHP was suspicious.<\/p>\n The road continued on to the S, but was starting to lose elevation.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP followed it anyway.\u00a0 It soon turned E where it looked like Lupe was nearing the S end of Casper Mountain.\u00a0 A big ridge could now be seen several miles off to the SE.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP left the road to trek off to the SW to see what was in that direction. Lupe soon came to\u00a0a little clearing full of sagebrush where there was a narrow break in the surrounding\u00a0forest that gave a view of some\u00a0beautiful territory and distant mountains off to the S.<\/p>\n After checking out the view, SPHP turned around and suddenly saw a third tower off to the NW.\u00a0 It wasn’t nearly so large as the other two towers, but it was still sizeable and not very far away.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP headed for it, and were soon there. The whole area around the tower was fairly level, but the highest ground did seem to be just a little way off to the NE.\u00a0 The tower was near the SW end of Casper Mountain, which was right according to the map.<\/p>\n This did indeed seem to be the true summit of Casper Mountain.\u00a0 Lupe had made it!\u00a0 It was kind of an anti-climax though; there were no views from the summit of Casper Mountain.\u00a0 The summit area\u00a0was nearly level ground\u00a0in the middle of the forest, with a not-so-impressive tower\u00a0close by\u00a0off to the SW.<\/p>\n After getting back to the G6, Lupe and SPHP went over to another high hill just NE of Bear Trap Meadow County Park.\u00a0 From there it was easy to see that Lupe had been to the right spot.\u00a0 The towers Lupe had visited were all in view.\u00a0 The third and smaller tower, was seen poking above the trees at the highest part of Casper Mountain.\u00a0 SPHP also\u00a0saw that there were even more towers on\u00a0Casper Mountain than the ones Lupe had found.\u00a0 Overall, SPHP was just happy that Lupe could claim a successful ascent of Casper Mountain on Peakbagger.com.<\/p>\n On Sunday, May 3rd, Lupe got to go down to Morad Park<\/span><\/strong><\/a> in Casper.\u00a0 Morad Park is an off-leash dog park right next to the North Platte River.\u00a0 It is a pretty popular spot.\u00a0 There were plenty of dogs and people around, but the park was easily big enough to give everyone space.\u00a0 The park is on level ground, but has a mixture of vegetation.\u00a0 In most places there are bushes and trees next to the river.\u00a0\u00a0Away from the river is more open land including some swampy stuff, little streams, and scattered trees and bushes.\u00a0 A nearly 8 mile long bike path that follows the river goes through the park.\u00a0 Lupe had such a good time sniffing around Morad Park in the morning, that she got to come back again for a 2nd visit later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n Lupe also paid a visit to Casper College on Sunday.\u00a0 She couldn’t go in to see the Casper College Tate Geological Museum<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, but she did visit the T. Rex outside.<\/p>\n The weekend\u00a0in Casper flew by and soon it was Monday morning, May 4th.\u00a0 Lupe was up at 5:00 AM.\u00a0\u00a0 She made\u00a0one of her last rabbit run checks shortly before moonset of the full flower moon.\u00a0\u00a0SPHP’s spouse\u00a0had to go to work.\u00a0 SPHP packed up the G6 again.\u00a0 An hour before leaving town at 7 AM, fog and drizzle rolled in.\u00a0 This was much to SPHP’s disappointment, since the plan had been for Lupe to climb Laramie Peak<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (10,272 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> as a side trip on the way home.<\/p>\n However, just 10 or 15 minutes E of Casper on I25,\u00a0Lupe and SPHP\u00a0drove out of the fog.\u00a0 There were still quite a few clouds around, but there were patches of blue sky too.\u00a0 SPHP decided it was worth taking a chance on Laramie Peak.\u00a0 At Douglas,\u00a0Lupe left I25 and SPHP\u00a0drove S towards Esterbrook.\u00a0 Ultimately, it was a long drive to Laramie Peak over gravel roads that weren’t great, but there weren’t any really bad spots either.\u00a0 The scenery in the Laramie Range was beautiful and\u00a0had a rather wild and remote look to it.<\/p>\n The G6 made it as far as a junction with USFS Road No. 671 about 4 miles from Friend Park Campground.\u00a0\u00a0Within a 0.25 mile of starting up No. 671, the way ahead was blocked by a huge snow drift.\u00a0 SPHP had to back the G6 back down to the intersection.<\/p>\n SPHP\u00a0paused\u00a0to consider the situation.\u00a0 It was 42\u00b0F out with a chill S wind blowing a big fog bank up and over Laramie Peak from that direction.\u00a0 The top of Laramie Peak was\u00a0nearly always\u00a0in the fog.\u00a0 When it wasn’t, snow was visible on the upper slopes.\u00a0\u00a0With snow blocking No. 671, it was a 4 mile trek to Friend Campground where the\u00a0hiking trail up Laramie Peak started.\u00a0 The climb would involve about 2,500 feet of elevation gain from where the G6 would have to be abandoned.\u00a0 There was a 50% chance of rain in the forecast, which would likely be snow near the summit.<\/p>\n SPHP had to tell Lupe she wasn’t going to get to climb Laramie Peak.\u00a0 SPHP just wasn’t prepared for these conditions, which\u00a0probably wouldn’t have been\u00a0any fun for Lupe anyway.\u00a0 A glorious view of fog wouldn’t have been too exciting for SPHP either.<\/p>\n Just because Laramie Peak wasn’t in the cards, it didn’t mean Lupe couldn’t still find a fun place to explore.\u00a0 Down at this elevation, at about 7,800 feet, conditions were perfectly fine.\u00a0 SPHP started the G6 and headed back N.<\/p>\n Before long there was\u00a0an interesting rocky\u00a0mountain off to the NW, which was very likely Buzzard Peak.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t get to climb Buzzard Peak either, but she did enjoy a 45 minute romp up to a rocky ridge to the SE of it where there was a splendid view of some higher peaks of the Laramie Range to the SW.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP both enjoyed the break.\u00a0 Although the whole side trip to Laramie Peak took four hours, it was a good scouting trip.\u00a0 Lupe hopes to come back and climb Laramie Peak another day.<\/p>\n SPHP\u00a0and Lupe continued to explore new or seldom visited areas on the rest of the way home.\u00a0 E of\u00a0Lusk, WY was the little town of Van Tassell<\/strong><\/span><\/a> just before crossing the border into Nebraska.\u00a0\u00a0There were interesting rock formations\u00a0at Van Tassell.\u00a0 According to Wikipedia, Van Tassell is the least populous town (15 according to the 2010 census) in the least populous county in the least populous state.<\/p>\n At Harrison, NE, Lupe and SPHP turned N onto a road that soon turned to gravel and wound around for many miles through scenic ranching territory.\u00a0 Lupe had a time again barking at cows (including a few longhorns) and horses all the way to Ardmore, SD.\u00a0 Lupe’s last stop before home was at Cascade Falls S of Hot Springs, SD<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 At Cascade, Lupe got in the warm water stream, had a long drink and waded around for a while.<\/p>\n Lupe’s\u00a0four day weekend trip to Casper, WY was over.\u00a0 She was soon snoozing soundly while\u00a0SPHP read a book about the Canadian Rockies.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn’t long before\u00a0SPHP was out like a light too.<\/p>\n Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Next Dingo Vacation<\/span><\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Dingo Vacation<\/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<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Late in the afternoon on Thursday, 4-30-15,\u00a0SPHP’s spouse\u00a0called and asked if Lupe and\u00a0SPHP would come to Casper, WY\u00a0for the weekend.\u00a0 SPHP said sure!\u00a0 Shortly before noon\u00a0the next day,\u00a0Lupe and SPHP were in the G6 and pulling out of the driveway.\u00a0 Lupe knew something big was up, because SPHP had piled up luggage, pillows and blankets … Continue reading A Quick Trip to Casper, Wyoming (May 1-4, 2015)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":742,"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":[128],"tags":[105,130,106,129,131,26,132,104,11,275],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-casper-wyoming","tag-american-dingo","tag-bridal-veil-falls","tag-carolina-dog","tag-cascade-falls","tag-casper-mountain","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-laramie-peak","tag-lupe","tag-peakbagging","tag-wyoming"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/P1060216.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\/738","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=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49423,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions\/49423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"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>Lupe didn’t arrive home until about 5:30 PM.\u00a0 She and SPHP\u00a0had spent 10.5 hours to get from Casper to home, a trip that had only taken 4 hours on Friday.\u00a0 So what? Lupe and SPHP had a great time wandering and seeing some\u00a0new territory.\u00a0 In\u00a0the evening SPHP went to Safeway and bought some fried chicken.\u00a0 Lupe\u00a0volunteered to help\u00a0devour it.\u00a0 With a tummy full of chicken, suddenly Lupe was pretty tired.\u00a0 It had been a long day of barking at cows, horses and pronghorn antelope, plus all\u00a0the running around near\u00a0Buzzard Peak and other little stops along the way.<\/p>\n