Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving. The day everyone celebrates being totally over-stuffed with delicious turkey and all the trimmings by spending a fortune Christmas shopping online or at the mall. Well, not quite everyone. American Dingoes neglect their patriotic duty to keep the economy humming. They prefer to go on adventures instead!
At 10:06 AM (50°F), SPHP parked the G6 at the Newton Lake (a pond, really) trailhead a few miles NW of Hill City just off Deerfield Road. Time to start working off a few zillion calories! The N end of Smith Mountain (5,897 ft.) was immediately to the W. Lupe couldn’t just go W, though, to get there. The Newton Fork of Spring Creek, too big to simply leap across, was in the way.
Lupe and SPHP crossed Deerfield Road and got on the Mickelson Trail heading WNW. The trail was covered with 6″ of snow. Lupe and SPHP trudged along, burning calories already. The trail soon crossed Newton Creek at a very nice bridge. 0.5 mile after Lupe got on the trail, she was a little N of the N end of Smith Mountain. Lupe and SPHP left the Mickelson Trail, climbed up the embankment to Deerfield Road, and crossed over to the S side of the highway.
Smith Mountain was the first of 3 peakbagging objectives Lupe had for the day. The other two, Flag Mountain (5,896 ft.) and Campaign Hill (5,800 ft.), were both S of Smith Mountain. Smith Mountain is a nearly mile long ridge running N/S. Lupe and SPHP started climbing the slope at the N end of the ridge. There was quite a lot of deadfall timber to work past, and snow everywhere, too. By the time Lupe reached the first little saddle where she could see over to the W side of the mountain, the sun was so warm SPHP had to stop and take off a jacket.
Lupe gained the top of the ridge close to the highest point at the very N end of Smith Mountain. If there had been fewer trees blocking the view, she would have gone to the very top of the N high point to take a look at Lowden Mountain (6,055 ft.) a mile to the N. Instead, Lupe headed S along the ridge looking for the true summit of Smith Mountain. She came to a couple of high spots definitely higher than the N high point. SPHP thought the second one she came to was likely the true summit.
Lupe continued S along the Smith Mountain ridge. This part of the forest had been thinned before the pine bark beetle infestation started. There was far less deadfall timber to contend with. The remaining trees were healthier. More sunlight could reach the ground between them, so there wasn’t nearly as much snow around. It was far easier to move along, and Lupe and SPHP caught better glimpses of the views to E.
The ridge started angling a little more to the SSE. After having lost some elevation, Lupe was climbing again. As Lupe went higher and higher, SPHP began to realize that Lupe hadn’t actually reached the true summit of Smith Mountain yet; it was still ahead.
Lupe didn’t have very far to go to reach it. Soon she was sniffing around much bigger rock formations at the true summit of Smith Mountain. The highest rocks were so huge, she couldn’t actually get up on top of them, but she climbed up almost as high. SPHP lifted her up so she could put her front paws on the highest rock, just a foot or two below the very highest point, which was out of reach to the W.
From the true summit, Lupe and SPHP continued only a little way farther SSE along the ridge before turning more to the SSW to start losing elevation. Lupe stayed high enough on the mountain to avoid a couple of draws that drained W. Eventually the terrain sloped more to the SSW. Lupe and SPHP headed down.
Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire! Hunters were about. Lupe was instantly alarmed. She insisted on stopping. SPHP found a dry spot. Lupe and SPHP took a break just sitting on the pine needles on the forest floor. Lupe wasn’t hungry, but SPHP ate a tangerine and a few carrot sticks. The gunfire had come from quite some distance to the S or SW.
A little while after the gunfire ended, SPHP was ready to move on. Reluctantly, Lupe tagged along close by. Almost as soon as Lupe started off again, SPHP spotted a road ahead. SPHP didn’t realize it at the time, but this was USFS Road No. 386.1B. Lupe reached it at a bend at the NE corner of a big clearing. She could follow the road W or S. Lupe and SPHP headed S in the direction of Flag and Campaign mountains. There was quite a bit of snow and ice gradually melting on the road.
Eventually, No. 386.1B began turning E to go around the S end of Smith Mountain. Lupe left the road continuing S. Before long, she reached a big field extending E/W down in the Patterson Creek valley. Lupe crossed the field. Patterson Creek meandered along the S side of the field. It had plenty of water in it, and was flowing along quite nicely. Fortunately, the creek was just small enough to leap over. Both Lupe and SPHP made it across without difficulty.
Near the S side of Patterson Creek was a snowy road going E/W. A quick check to the W revealed a dead end. The road went farther E following the Patterson Creek valley downstream. Lupe went just a little way E on the road, before turning S to start the climb up Flag Mountain. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground here, and some deadfall timber, too. Lupe succeeded in avoiding most of the snow and some of the deadfall timber by climbing up a little ridge approaching Flag Mountain from the NNE.
The last 200 feet of elevation gain up the N slope of Flag Mountain was different. It was fairly steep, full of snow and choked with deadfall. Lupe had lots of time to sniff around in the shattered forest while SPHP struggled up the mountain. Meanwhile, the sunnier skies Lupe enjoyed earlier in the day disappeared. A cold breeze started up out of the WNW. The mood had turned a bit gloomy by the time Lupe and SPHP made it to the top of Flag Mountain.
The summit area was a little surprising. It was as big as several houses, and mostly level. The biggest part was toward the E where the ground was mostly grassy, with trees along the N and NE perimeters. The very highest point was near the W end, where the summit was much rockier and narrower. The rocks weren’t very large. Lupe hopped up on top for a look around. There were quite a few trees around, but she could see Harney Peak (7,242 ft.) to the SE.
The most wide open views from Flag Mountain were toward the E and S from the larger E portion of the summit area. There were a few bushes, but no trees along the SE perimeter to block the view. The most impressive view was SE toward Harney Peak, but Lupe also had a pretty good view off to the ENE toward Five Points (6,221 ft.).
Lupe had now climbed 2 of her 3 peakbagging goals for the day, Smith and Flag Mountains. Her 3rd goal, Campaign Hill was supposed to be just 0.5 mile S of Flag Mountain, but at first glance, SPHP did not see it. After looking more carefully from the SE edge of the Flag Mountain summit, SPHP saw the E end of a low forested hill to the S. It seemed too low to be Campaign Hill, but after consulting the maps again, that had to be it.
Campaign Hill wasn’t very far away, but the S slope of Flag Mountain was too steep to go directly down that way. SPHP got cold feet. No, really, truly cold feet. SPHP’s old boots leaked badly. After tramping around for hours in melting snow, SPHP’s feet were totally sopping wet. They had been that way essentially the whole day. Now, standing around on Flag Mountain in the cold breeze, SPHP’s feet felt like they were freezing up.
The sun was low in the sky, but there were still a couple of hours left before sunset. Lupe and SPHP hadn’t gone all that far as the crow flies, but it had taken a long time to get to Flag Mountain with all the snow and deadfall timber along the way. It might take quite a while to get back, too. SPHP needed to start moving to get the circulation going again. Decision time.
Well, no sense risking frostbite. Campaign Hill would still be there another day. Lupe and SPHP started slowly back down the N slope of Flag Mountain through the snow and deadfall timber again. Lupe went all the way back down the mountain to the Patterson Creek valley again.
Lupe and SPHP crossed Patterson Creek and went over to the N side of the field. Since there was no need to climb Smith Mountain again, Lupe and SPHP followed the fence along the edge of the field heading W up the valley to see what was there. The field branched out into two even bigger fields, one to the SW and one to the NW. Two big spruce trees stood near an old abandoned cabin where the fields met. It was a pretty spot.
Lupe continued along the NE edge of the field heading N along the fence line. The field soon divided again. One arm of it went off to the W. The other arm turned and went N a long way. SPHP could see a home way up toward the far N end. The fields were probably private property. Lupe and SPHP decided to angle NNE through the forest, hoping to find USFS Road No. 386.1B again somewhere W of Smith Mountain.
Lupe did find No. 386.1B again near the big clearing where she had first reached it earlier in the day on the way to Flag Mountain. This time, Lupe followed No. 386.1B going N. The road wound around a little, but most of the time made steady progress to the N. Along the way, Lupe was exploring new territory W of Smith Mountain. She saw deer and squirrels in the forest, so she was having some fun.
After a little while, SPHP saw an intersection up ahead. As Lupe got close to the intersection, her fun suddenly ended. A shot rang out very close by. Hunters again! This time much, much closer. Lupe wanted to hide near a big tree close to the intersection. SPHP complied. Several more shots rang out. SPHP knew Lupe wasn’t going anywhere until they stopped.
Ten minutes of silence went by. SPHP headed for the intersection. Lupe didn’t want to go, but was scared to be left behind. The side road was marked No. 386.1F. It went NNE and looked like a shortcut back to the G6 compared to No. 386.1B, which would take a very long way around to the NW. From the intersection, SPHP saw the hunter’s pickup truck parked not too far away along No. 386.1F.
Another shot rang out. Lupe and SPHP retreated SW to a big rock. SPHP sat and looked at maps, while Lupe huddled as close as she could get. The maps showed it would have been faster to take No. 386.1B around the E side of Smith Mountain from Patterson Creek. Too late for that! No. 386.1F was definitely a shortcut back to the G6 from here. It would save at least a mile compared to staying on No. 386.1B.
After it had been quiet for a while again, Lupe and SPHP returned to the intersection and started NNE on No. 386.1F. Within a few minutes, Lupe was past the hunter’s pickup truck. The road was snowy and icy. There were lots of tracks in the snow. There must have been quite a few hunters. Lupe saw a couple of them to the E higher up on Smith Mountain. One waved. SPHP waved back, but did not stop. No more shots were heard.
No. 386.1F led down into a big draw NNW of Smith Mountain. Lower down, the road became so choked with deadfall timber, Lupe and SPHP left it. The mountain slopes seemed easier going than the road. The sun set. For just a few minutes, there was a beautifully colored sky to the SW.
It was 4:59 PM (41°F), and getting pretty dark by the time Lupe and SPHP reached the G6 again. SPHP’s feet were still cold, but moving on the long march back had helped. They weren’t as cold as they had been standing around on top of Flag Mountain. Carolina Dogs have great circulation. SPHP felt Lupe’s paws. They were practically burning hot! It felt good just holding them! Lupe just grinned.
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