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| Shooting star seen on the side of the trail |
I had planned on a big day for May 20th but I just couldn't get the early start I wanted. I did go to the same spot to hike just to see the area and scout the trails. I drove as far as I could up Albert Creek to where a trail starts. Initially I had wanted to climb Albert Point and the two Unnamed 5620s that are all connected by trails. I also wanted to try to figure out general mileage for a loop starting there and climbing Petty Mountain. With the late start I opted for another plan.
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| Albert Point |
I started hiking up the trail and it cut out onto a slope over Albert Creek. The creek was noisy below me in the canyon. It was a beautiful hillside with views up the drainage and many wildflowers. I climbed steadily up the trail to the junction with the trail that drops to Albert Creek and climbs Albert Point from the creek. This is where I made my final decision to not go for three peaks and I carried on up the trail toward Petty Mountain.
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| View up Albert Creek |
At the next junction I turned away from Petty Mountain and followed trail up to a dirt road. I crossed the road and began following the broad, mostly-open ridge toward Unnamed 5810. It was easy walking through many flowers and in spots I picked up an old road that climbed up the mountain as well. There were some tracks from motor bikers heading up that way, but I doubted that they had been heading up to get to the top of the mountain.
There were a couple of spots where I could not tell if I was on the summit or not. It looked like there was higher ground beyond me so I kept on going. Eventually I came to a spot I was quite confident was the summit. It was forested and a little hard to tell. The only possible higher ground was to the east, so I dropped to a small saddle and started up that way but quickly determined the spot I had just been on was indeed the high point.
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| Arrow-leaved balsamroot |
There weren't many views from the summit because of the forest, but there were good views as I descended the open ridge back to the road and trail. There were also good views looking into Albert Creek as I descended back to the car. It had been a nice afternoon climb to an obscure peak.
Elevation gain: 1890' Total gain: 47,135'
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