With the clouds closing in and rain off and on all day we decided going to the park for the usual Thursday night concert would be an exercise in futility not to mention a very muddy evening. So... I scrambled to gear up to join the TNAB crew about 10 miles east of the Moosefish Estates for Putrid Pete's Peak.
When I arrived there were two questions.
"Is it September already?" (I had said I was out of TNAB until the Pine Lake concerts were done.)
"What happened to your legs?" Hmph.
I tried to take Clara and Tokul up the "mountain" (really just a high point on the ridge) way back in June 2004, but took one of the myriad of side trails. On the way down we did find the actual trail, but time didn't allow us to pursue it.
This time I hoped to take advantage of the other TNAB guys who had done this trail before, but we almost made the exact same mistake. Luckily, the actual trail has been better flagged so we retraced our steps and turned up the hill.
Up until this turn the trail had been almost completely in the forest with gentle switchbacks. However, from this point the trail is straight up. It skirts the right side of a talus field gaining quick elevation before crossing another field to the right. It was noted that this was clearly not an official trail because there's no way any governmental body would sanction such an aggressive track.
After crossing the second talus field it heads up again on the left side of a third talus field and then disappears. The trail, meager as it was, was at least reassuring. Now it was gone and we were on our own. We had no choice but to head up, occasionally spotting a footprint from some hardy soul who had preceded us.
At the top of the third field we were above the trees and could look down and see clouds blanketing the valley. Although there were threatening clouds above us it never did rain. The humidity was pretty intense, though, so both Tokul and I were terribly thirsty. Thankfully, Mr. Camelbak came to the rescue to reinvigorate us both.
The flanks of the mountain were covered with wildflowers in bloom. We saw beargrass and some cool little purple flowers, but the best were the tiger lillies dotting the hill.
Above the treeline the rocks were very unstable. Calls of "ROCK!" signaled a threat heading down hill. Tokul kicked a rock free and after calling it out I watched it cartwheel down the slope right at Chris about 20 meters below me. I watched as he watched it come closer and tried to jump out of the way, but it struck him below the knee. (Don't worry, he was fine.)
The summit itself was a little disappointing from the south side where we climbed. We only really knew that it was the top of the hill so when we ran out of places to go we knew we were at the top. The other side of the hill was significantly more dramatic. The rocks dropped straight down on the north side. Below us were the Granite Lakes, but with the clouds we couldn't see much of anything.
The actual summit (5,335 feet) was all rock so Tokul got to sit just below. We found the summit register and flipped through the previous entries including the actual Pete the peak is named for.
The route down was nothing special. We disappeared into the mist and followed the hill down. We found handy flags on the route that I wish we'd found on the way up, but oh well.
Crossing the second talus field I found one of my shoe laces had broken in multiple places. Luckily, I had a spare pair and took a few minutes on the talus to reboot. Dropping through the clouds in the forest made for some cool visuals, but ones I couldn't capture so you'll have to trust me on that one.
We hit the North Bend Bar and Grill before heading home.
Total distance was about six miles and 3,135 feet of gain. We made the top in about an hour and a half and down in an hour or so.
(TNAB report.)
