06/05/14 Unnamed 7359, Unnamed 7562, and Blackrock Peak 7660' #37, #38, and #39

On June 5th, I left town early and drove a little over an hour to the Kennedy Creek Trailhead.  I was packed and on the trail by 8:20 a.m.  It was a beautiful, cool morning and I was excited to be hiking a new trail.  I was also excited to be climbing some peaks I had wanted to climb for awhile.  I had first seen them from Ch-paa-qn Peak last fall when I first made it to the summit.  Since then I had been looking at maps trying to figure out the best way to get to them.  After climbing Ch-paa-qn again on May 30th my interest in these peaks was renewed.

Early view of Blackrock Peak

The trail starts out on an old road so the grade is nice and it served as a good warm-up as I slowly climbed higher.  Right when the trail leaves the road it goes straight up.  It seems like the polar opposite of the nice road grade, but it doesn't last too long.  Eventually it mellows out and starts to climb with the ridge and through switchbacks when the ridge is too steep.  There was one section low on the ridge that is rocky and open and gave me some of my first views to the mountains I would be climbing.  It was inspiring.

After some more climbing I came to the beginning of the snow on the trail.  I decided to stop and get some water and put on my gaiters.  As I sat down I found a tick on my sock.  Thinking that I hadn't been in an area with ticks I was a bit surprised, but did the usual check before continuing (looking at socks and pants and taking off my shirt and checking it and my back).  It was a good thing I did, because I found seven more climbing up me, trying to find that perfect blood-sucking spot.  I hate ticks with a passion, so not only did I pull them off, but I made sure they would not be biting anything or anyone ever again.

Ancient rock art found on Unnamed 7359

After clearing myself of ticks and getting geared up for hiking in the snow I carried on and continued climbing, now on patchy snow.  The patches didn't last long and before long I was entirely on snow.  As the trail began to leave the ridge and head toward Ch-paa-qn I left it and climbed up to the top of the ridge.  There I found an open spot with dry rocks.  Here I had my first view of Ch-paa-qn and good views of Unnamed 7562 and Blackrock.  I could see the high point I would have to cross before dropping to the saddle and then climbing to Unnamed 7359.

There were some trees cut near the ridge and I wondered why.  All I could think of was that it was some sort of landing zone for a helicopter.  As I headed toward the trees I came across where the rocks had been moved and aligned to make a path leading into the trees.  This seemed odd.  Part-way through the trees, on snow again, I came across signs of a crude trail.  Where there were dry patches there was a faint trail, and I could see where branches of trees had been cut off by chainsaws.  Once I topped out on the high point it all made sense.  A fire from last summer or the year before had burned right up to the highpoint.  The trails had been for and by firefighters.

This was a nice discovery as where the burn met the green it was mostly dry and I could avoid walking on the snow.  It also afforded some great views.  I walked through the edge of the burn down the steep ridge to the saddle and then up the other side about 100 feet to where the fire had stopped burning.  At this point I reentered the green and was back on snow.  I followed the snow up about a couple hundred feet and I was to the base of the rocks that led to the summit of my first peak of the day.  I climbed up on dry rocks about 40 feet to the top.

Summit fin and Ch-paa-qn Peak

Upon reaching the top I saw that the summit ridge was a long fin that stretched way out toward the second peak.  What had looked like a nice smooth and easy-to-follow ridge from a distance now was made clear.  I would not be able to walk along this fin, at least not with any speed or confidence.  The rocks below the fin were all like the rocks up on Ch-paa-qn--big broken boulders strewn about in no particular order.  I realized here it was going to be a difficult walk over to Unnamed 7562.  There were a couple of snowfields below and covering parts of the boulder jumble and I decided to head there first for what I hoped would be easier travel.

Boulder jumble heading toward Unnamed 7562

The snow did turn out to be easier except on the edges near the rocks.  There it was difficult to tell how solid it was, and I learned quickly to expect to fall through as the rocks had warmed it and melted it enough that it would not hold my weight.  This was a bit worrisome as well as I was falling through snow onto broken, piled rocks.  Once out on the boulders it was rock-hopping to get to the next snowfield.  The snow was angling me down below the ridge and the next saddle more than I liked so I looked for another way.  There really wasn't any ground that wasn't piles of rock.  I sought out trees and would find small patches of grass around them, but usually the ground around the trees was covered in bushes.

The longer I spent looking for the easiest way the more I realized this was not going to be an easy ridge walk.  I patiently would pick my way through rocks and seek out any ground that wasn't rock or snow where it was possible.  The snow was mostly on the north side of the ridge and it would be good for awhile and then it would get steep and turn to cornices and I would have to leave the snow and toil through the rocks.  This became the pattern for the whole afternoon.  From rock to snow to rock again.

View of Blackrock Peak from Unnamed 7562

I made it eventually to Unnamed 7562.  It had taken me over an hour to get there from Unnamed 7359.  That seemed acceptable to me.  At first I thought it should take about the same amount of time to get from Unnamed 7562 over to Blackrock Peak, but when I saw the ridge and the peak it looked closer than it had been between the first two peaks.  It also looked like there was a lot more snow I could utilize heading over to Blackrock and it was at this point I decided I would indeed head over for my third summit.  Blackrock was after all the main peak of the group I had wanted to climb.  It was the only named peak and it was the tallest of the three.

I still felt good and was looking forward to being on more snow as it would be much easier to travel on than rocks going up or down and it would be faster coming down.  It did turn out that there was more snow to use on this ridge.  Most was easy, but some was steep and some was a cornice and too dangerous.  One very steep section had me moving cautiously.  I wasn't really afraid of sliding out of control because the snow was so soft and it would be easy to stop.  The run out was good in this steep section, but I didn't want to slide and have to climb way back up to the ridge.  So I pulled out my ice axe.  I had been carrying it after all and it did give me a great degree of confidence.  With the ice axe out I was down in no time and on slopes that were less steep.

Section of overhanging cornice I did not walk on and Blackrock

Despite there appearing to be a lot more snow on this section of ridge there was also a lot of rock I had to cross.  Some of it was because there was no snow to cross and others was because of a long cornice I hadn't seen from the second summit.  I picked my way through the rocks and eventually made it back to some final snow slopes that deposited me 30 feet from the summit.  I clambered up those last rocks and stood on top of Blackrock Peak.  The views in all directions were great.  I really enjoyed seeing the blue-green Flathead River flowing way below me to the north on its rush to meet up with the Clark Fork.  The view of the ridge back the way I had come was daunting.  I could see where I had parked my car and contemplated how quickly I could be back if I could fly like the raven I saw flying below me.

I quickly pushed out the thought of flying or continuing to McCormick Peak and that trail as it would not take me anywhere near my vehicle.  It had taken me longer to get to Blackrock from Unnamed 7562 than I had thought.  It too had been over an hour.  I figured I had at least two hours to get back to near Unnamed 7359.  Fortunately I planned on using the snow and not resummiting either peak.  I left the summit and slowly worked my way through each snow and rock section.  It took as long as I had expected, but I kept my mind positive and enjoyed the ridge and found that the two hours had passed by rather quickly.

Ch-paa-qn Peak

A little below Unnamed 7359 I traversed into the forest and the snow and found my prints leading down to the saddle in the burn.  From there I had my final climb.  I knew this was going to be the most difficult because of my fatigue.  It was and I stumbled up through the burn and then back down to the trail.  At this point I was walking in zombie mode and could have walked by any number of animals and would have never known.  Being that exhausted and spent after a long day my mind focused on the pain, in my feet mainly, and the hunger in my stomach.  The trail passed by like a fog and I finally came to the old road and had a nice cool-down on a good grade before reaching my car 15 minutes shy of 11 hours after I had started.

Elevation gain:  4125'     Total gain:  62,140'