05/16/14 Unnamed 6004 and Black Mountain 5951' #29 and #30

Hillside of balsamroot

I set out on May 16th to hike up O'Brien Creek.  The trails in the area had just opened that morning after being closed since December 15th for elk wintering ground.  I had an early start and walked up the switchbacks to the loop.  The balsamroot were out and abundant and blanketed the hillside.  Once I hit the loop I realized it was on an old road.  It took me through the hills at a good grade until I came around a corner and had my first view of Black Mountain.

Eventually I came to a trail sign that pointed me down the hill.  I saw no trail and carried on down the road.  I was surprised when two minutes later the road ended in a bunch of brush in a drainage.  There must have really been a trail there at the sign.  I found a bit of a trail heading down into the main drainage, which I knew I needed to cross, and found my way around a wet section.  Then I didn't know where to go.  I was lost in as much as I didn't know exactly where the trail was, but I knew where I was and where I was trying to go.

Larkspur

I found a way to go up through the forest and eventually popped out on a trail.  I knew it was the upper part of the loop and so I headed back to the left to get nearer to the junction and where I had picked out on the map to leave the trail to start my ascent.  Before getting to the junction I found a way up toward the ridge I wanted to be on and went for it.  It seemed to maybe be an old road or some sort of old track used when they had logged the mountain long ago.  It was steep but easy enough to follow.  It was getting me higher on the mountain and that was good.

At some point I looked down and saw a tick on me.  It was the first I had found of the year.  After finding one, I looked around for more and found seven more on me or my pack.  After taking care of the ticks I carried on up the mountain.  I made it to the ridge and found an old road crossing the mountain.  Here I decided that maybe I would try to head for Unnamed 6004 first by traversing around Black Mountain so I wouldn't have to reclimb Black on the way back.  I took the road a ways and then started an ascending traverse to get to a saddle.

Unnamed 6004 from near saddle

From the saddle, I started my traverse across the backside of Black to get to the saddle with Unnamed 6004.  This was a difficult part of the hike as it was steep.  I was side-hilling and looking for any bit of a game trail to help me get to the saddle.  There was not much in the form of a game trail--perhaps they didn't like traversing this slope either.  It couldn't have taken me more than 20-30 minutes and I had found my way to the ridge of Black and a short descent led me to the saddle.

The ridge walking was great and easy.  I found what seemed to be a hunters camp up near the saddle that had some trees cut down and even a corral made out of cut trees.  From the camp on up toward Unnamed 6004 I was able to easily follow their trail--it had even been cut out.  This was a pleasant surprise and made the going very easy and enjoyable.  The trail stopped at an old road, and from there I carried on up the ridge.  It was a bit harder without the trail, but I found it to still be quite fun.  Before long I reached open slopes of flowers that led directly to the summit.

There was a snowbank up top and I used it to cool off my water while I sat and enjoyed some food.  Views were okay except for the massive power lines and towers that passed over the sub-summit a bit beyond where I sat.  Either way, it was a new ranked peak and I was glad to be there and looked forward to climbing up Black.  I packed up and headed back down the ridge to the saddle and then started up Black's ridge.

Black Mountain from Unnamed 6004

The route took me up toward a small high point on the ridge.  It was easy to follow toward the high point and then I cut toward the small saddle to avoid extra elevation gain.  From the saddle up the final slope it was not as easy to follow.  There was a lot of downfall from an old burn.  I was climbing over and walking around many trees and it made the relatively short distance to the top seem a lot longer.

I reached the top and sat again to rest and snack.  The top was a neat little throne of rocks and was mostly clear of trees.  With it being open, and what trees were there being burned, the views were good.  There was a great view down into Missoula and up the Bitterroot Valley.  I could look across Missoula and see Woody Mountain, which I had climbed two days earlier.  I enjoyed seeing Stuart Peak, which I had climbed at the beginning of the week.  After enjoying the views I decided to head down.

View down to Missoula

I took a different ridge down.  It ended in an open slope.  The slope was steep and a bit painful, but I followed it down to the saddle where I had started my traverse around the mountain.  From the saddle I dropped to the road and had a decision to make.  Would I follow the old road to the spot I had come up tick alley, or would I just follow the drainage I was in?  If I stayed where I was I would end up on the trail closer to the junction I needed, but I didn't know how easy the travel would be.  If I went back the way I went it would add distance.  I opted for staying in the drainage and taking my chances and seeing a new part of the mountain.

Yellowbell

The drainage was easy enough to follow for a ways until it sloped steeply down to the creek.  I traversed out away from the creek on another old road until I found an easier slope.  This too ended up funneling me into the creek and I had to eventually just follow the creek down.  It was a bit brushier, but it was beautiful with all the trillium growing.  Before long I was out on the trail.  I followed this quickly to the junction with the trail I had missed.  I took this down and ended up in the same wet spot and found the faint trail up to the old road.  At the sign I had passed in the morning I looked closer and found the trail I had passed.  This means I had passed that section too on the way back when I was down in the drainage.  I guess it's just not marked well (or I wasn't paying close enough attention).

From that point back was uneventful except I stepped on a snake.  I hadn't seen it, but when I stepped it felt weird and squishy.  As I looked back I saw a small, grey snake slither off.  The other bad thing about the hike was the 28 ticks I found.  Otherwise it had been a great day and I made it to my 30th peak.

Elevation gain:  3300'     Total gain:  45,245'