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| Albert Point from the trail |
On the 15th I set out to climb my 70th peak of the challenge. I wanted to make it special as 70 seemed like an important mark. I had been thinking about Petty Mountain all summer as I had climbed at least four peaks in the same area and used some of the trails that I would need to use to climb Petty. Most people climb Petty from Petty Creek, but I had spent so much time in the Albert Creek drainage already and had my mind set on using the trails that circle the rim of that drainage. I was going to start from the Albert Creek Trailhead, but I decided I would actually save some mileage from starting at the unmarked trailhead on the road up above Albert Creek. I made the long, bumpy ride up that road to the start of the trail and began my adventure.
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| View toward Petty Mountain from the ridge extending from Albert Point |
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| View toward Petty from highpoint |
The trail descends initially from the road to the junction with the trail that drops down to Albert Creek. I could have carried on from there and just followed the trail up the ridge to the summit of Petty, but I had had it in my mind to do the big loop for this peak and it was fitting for #70. At the junction, I turned and headed down toward Albert Creek, turning at the next junction, in almost one mile, to the right and descending further to the creek. The total loss of elevation was about 1000 feet from the trailhead to the creek. I didn't mind as the creek is a great spot with a nice little footbridge and because the ridge that extends from Albert Point toward Petty was incredible. I had spent a little time on that trail earlier in the summer and was looking forward to walking the entire ridge.
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| Summit hitchrail |
I crossed the creek and began my climb up to the ridge. Once there, I enjoyed the walk through the cool forest and recalled the previous hike where I had been up there. There were some spots with great huckleberries and I stopped to sample them. The trail along the ridge is very nice with an open forest and decent views. It also feels surprisingly remote. I saw quite a bit of bear and lion sign in torn up and flipped logs and cat scat. Both of these helped to increase the feelings of being in a place more remote than it actually was.
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| Clouds moving in |
The day had started a bit overcast, which was fitting as the day I climbed Albert Point along with the two unnamed 5620s it was raining. However, once I made it up to the ridge, the sun was out. I thoroughly enjoyed my time walking on the trail along the ridge, gaining and losing elevation here and there as I slowly climbed toward the head of the drainage. Eventually the trail came to what seemed like a four-wheeler road. The junction was unmarked and I was glad I wasn't heading in the opposite direction as I may have missed the trail. I was expecting it to be a trail junction and not as much of a road as it was. It was still a very rough and very steep road and I climbed quickly to some highpoints along the ridge. I stopped on one and had a quick snack and took some photos before heading for the summit.
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| Enveloped |
The storms seemed to be building and there were dark clouds around and rumbling from thunder could be heard in the distance. I dropped off a highpoint and onto a trail from the end of the four-wheeler road. This took me past another trail junction, and I stayed on the ridge trail. In less than 30 minutes from the highpoint where I had stopped I came to the summit of Petty Mountain. It was a bit of a strange summit, as it was not very obvious where the highpoint was. There were some concrete blocks, which had helped hold down a structure or tower that was no longer there and a hitch rail right on the top. I had carried one beer up to celebrate and I sat on a concrete block and drank it as the storm clouds moved in.
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| View back toward Petty |
The clouds and the rumbling came closer and closer and I knew I had to head out. I quickly followed the trail along the high, open ridge until the ridge became more defined and started dropping. I thought for sure I would be hit with some rain and lightning and thunder, but some clouds moved in over the ridge and enveloped the ridge and me along with it. I was able to descend quickly and really was not rained on much until I was closer to the end of my loop and the last five-minute climb back up to my car. My knees hurt a bit on the hike down and I was worried for what that might mean for the remainder of the peak challenge. Despite that, it had been a great day, and I had climbed a peak via a route I had been wanting to do since May. I highly recommend it!
Elevation gain: 3650' Total gain: 127,320'
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