This hike was in support of an effort by the local Black Hills Group of the Sierra Club to further protect land in the Black Hills. The Black Hills Group, and a coalition of other conservation organizations, were recommending five areas for Wilderness designation: Breakneck on the Centennial Trail in the northeast hills, Black Fox around Swede Gulch in the central hills, Sand Creek in Wyoming, Pilger Mountain in the southern hills, and additions to the Black Elk Wilderness. I was helping the Group by scouting these areas, and managed to visit each one.
Pilger
Mountain was a new area for me. It is located on Elk Mountain on the outer rim
of the hills in the southwest corner, not too much different from Summit Ridge
or Elk Mountain Lookout (Summit Ridge & Elk
Mtn.).
The proposal for Pilger Mountain set boundaries using BHNF roads. My goal was a
16 mile solo loop around the perimeter of the north half of the area, using
BNHF Road 312 to cut across the middle of the area.
Pilger Mountain.
I
drove in via Pleasant Valley Road and BHNF 319, and parked roadside at what was
presumably the end of safe driving for my pickup. I started hiking south on 319,
soon reaching the junction with BHNF 312 which was well signed. From that
junction it was a short walk to the 4,788’ Pilger Mountain summit, which had
been recently logged, but had no tower on top. I kept walking south on BHNF 319
and passed a claim notice.
Somehow
I knew that there was an old tower site just across the Fall River County line
(it is not shown on the USGS topo). From the north end of a small meadow, I
headed due west and picked up an old two track road. The road led to the 4,613’
tower site that had four concrete footers and two other cement slabs on a 12’
by 12’ base. It was too foggy for any views, but the top was heavily wooded.
There was another claim post on the west side (for U?). The main Burlington
Northern RR line was just to the west, and I could hear noise from the tracks
for most of the morning. After the quick side trip to the tower site, I went
back to the perimeter road.
My
field map for the south half of this loop is lost, but my field notes are
intact. The notes reflect the care I needed to complete an off-trail loop in
unfamiliar terrain. The notes also allowed me to reproduce most of my route for
this report, though that effort was complicated by the change of names for some
of the BNF roads. Just after the 4,613’ tower I noted a 4,515’ benchmark and
soon reached the signed intersection with BHNF 312.
BHNF
312 bisected the proposed Pilger Mtn. Wilderness. It led west across the area
to Bennett Canyon, then formed the boundary of the proposal on the northwest
side. While BHNF 319 had been smooth and looked little used, 312 was more used
and deeply rutted. The BHNF online map (2023) now labels 312 as Bennett Road,
without a USFS number. A hundred yards up the road was a spur road to a water
tank. The next major intersection at a stock dam was two track BHNF 312-1A,
which led south to Driftwood Canyon. I also spotted the junction with 312-3E
leading east.
BHNF
312 would take me to the west side of the proposed Wilderness to the junction by
a concrete covered well with two track BHNF 380 heading south into Roderick
Canyon. Here 312 turned north, lost most of tis traffic, and was at its
prettiest. I saw a few claim location notices, but otherwise there seemed to be
only light grazing. Next 312-3D would split right to a well #2 with two tanks
and a large stock dam, and then further
up East Bennett Canyon. From here my route gets hazy. I followed the “main”
road until it dissolved into cow paths in the upper canyon in a heavily grazed
meadow. To this point my route had been entirely bikeable, but the cross
country segment was not.
The
canyon became tighter, began to meander, and was filled with junipers. I could
see buff colored sandstone cliff above. I followed the canyon through a turn to
the east, then left it to the south to reach the rim by some exploration
trenches. The canyon was easily the prettiest part of the hike. Unfortunately,
this description could apply to either fork of Bennett Canyon or to East
Bennett Canyon. I am uncertain if I followed my “planned route”, or went up
East Bennett Canyon.
From
here my notes indicate I followed an unlogged spur ridge to the east thru open
timber back to BHNF 319, and had good views (east) to Robinson Flats. There is
no further route info. The reference to Robinson Flats would indicate I did not
complete the planned loop, had cut back to make a shorter loop via East Bennett,
and neglected to make any other notes on that short cut. However, the remaining
field sheet shows a return up BHNF 312 (now BHNF 394-2B, just to confuse things
even more) as well as an out and back route on 319. I tend to trust the notes
more. Maybe the highlighted map route was just the planned route? In either
case, losing data is an expected pitfall of waiting 32 years to complete a trip
report. But it would be nice to know which canyon was the pretty one I walked
up. My final note was that I saw only two trucks all day, both on BHNF 319.
Of
the five areas proposed for Wilderness, only the additions to the Black Elk
Wilderness were approved. Pilger Mountain was borderline for deserving
wilderness designation. The canyons were very pretty. The area was remote and
little traveled. But it also was ranching country, with cattle and their
watering stations. There were mineral claims, and several two track roads
cutting the property. The perimeter roads were not the best way to see the
area, but I had cut across its center going west on BHNF 312. If I had cut back
east to BHNF 319 at the end of the hike, my lack of comments might be telling.
