Peak 8340, aka Mount Heinous, was my last peak on the Fitsum Peak quad.
- August 6-8, 2020
- Team: Tuesday Dave
- Mount Heinous, 8340'
- 15.1 miles, 7494' gain, 49:43 car-to-car, Class 2 and 3 (plus some miles and gain not logged on the GPS)
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
This was my last peak in the Fitsum Peak quadrangle. For a reason. This peak has several possible approaches, and none of them are easy. So I debated, going back and forth, for over a year. Finally, Dave said, "Let's camp at Lake Thirtythree. If all else fails, we'll at least have a great camping trip." Can't argue with that. So, on Thursday, with a three-day prediction of lower temperatures, we were on our way up the brushy valley that leads to the pass to Lake ThirtyThree. |
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It's a fair piece of work, but the views from up-valley offer encouragement. And we had been here just a few weeks ago so knew what to expect. |
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And when you crest the saddle, Lake ThirtyThree always looks amazing. It IS amazing. And there, just left of center, lies our objective. |
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Our objective zoomed in. |
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But first, we have to get down to the lake. This is backpack trail, Lick Creek-style. |
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From near our camp, looking back at the saddle we had dropped in from. Note the darkening clouds. The prediction for today was 30% chance of precip and thunder. |
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We had worried that we would not get our favorite camp site. Don't worry, be happy- we didn't see another soul for the entire three days. |
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It was just barely after 1, so what are we going to do? What started as a short walk to the outlet turned into a two-hour excursion. I had told Dave about a little unnamed lake around the corner to the south, so we were off for an explore. This is looking back at camp as we headed out. Sorry, I didn't record this one on the GPS. However, we would go right past the same lake the next day. |
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| Our pretty little lake. Because it is close to Lake Thirtythree (which according to folklore is named that because it is 33 acres in size) but much smaller, I jokingly called it 'Lake Four'. |  |
Dave and Ruby enjoying Lake Four. No fishies, though. |
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When we got back to Thirtythree, the clouds had lifted. Time for some more fishing! |
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The next morning dawned misty with steam rising from the lake. Weird. But the cooler temperatures would work to our favor as long as it didn't precip. You can see our orange tent as we head out again. |
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We walked down the lake outlet, then followed the valley. Gorgeous, but the density of the trees made photography impractical. As we moved down the valley we found an old trail! Time for some investigation..... The trees eventually opened up to give us this view of the other side of Fitsum Creek and Mt. Heinous up there just left of center. |
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| After crossing the creek, this is a small taste of what we were dealt: Slide alder. Big boulders. Super-steep hillside. Cliff bands. Climbing this crap for hours is how the peak earned its name. |  |
We slugged it out, each of us questioning what the heck we were doing. Camera stayed in the pack, for risk of tearing it off while clambering through the evil deadfall. After dragging ourselves up a Class 3 dirt chute to gain the summit ridge, dodging around boulders and over deadfall on the ridge seemed actually pleasant. So we eventually got to our summit. Views! If you look closely, you can see Lake Thirtythree in the distance. |
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Or you can just use the zoom on your camera. GPS said 2.49 miles as the crow flies. For us non-crows, it was almost exactly 5 miles. |
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Mt. Horrendous on the right, The Spear on the left. It didn't take either of us long to decide we didn't want to return via the scary dirt chute and then the slide alder. So instead, we traversed to the left of what you see here, under Mt. Horrendous and The Spear roughly following our route from last year. |
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This is the view after completing that traverse, looking east at Mt. Horrendous on the left, The Spear on the right. Our Mt. Heinous is behind Horrendous, east on the same ridge. |
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That's why we call it The Spear. When we finally got back to camp, we were thoroughly exhausted. But not too exhausted to enjoy some swimmin', some fishin', and some drinkin'. Note that the fishing in Thirtythree wasn't particualry good. And when swimming I had to escape the lake quickly but carefully as my back muscles tried to cramp.... |
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The next morning, now Saturday, we were faced with a return to civilization, Covid, and a busy McCall. To delay that pain, we decided to investigate a small pond that the map shows sitting in a hollow below and east of Thirtythree. Despite the required up and down, it was worthwhile. Very pretty little lake. This explore is shown on the map included below. |
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And as we finished the climb back up to the outlet of Thirtythree, the moon gave me a chance to experiment with my new camera. I think I'm going to like it. Back at camp, we finished packing, had a little more food and water to make up for yesterday's deficit, and finally hit the trail home. |
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| With full packs again, it was a slow plod back up to the pass above our home for the last three days. Sun on the lake. Mt. Heinous sticking it's pointy little head up slightly right of center. |  |
On the saddle, we took an extended break and reveled in our adventure. Then a little more first-class Idaho backpack trail and back to refreshingly-cold beers at the truck. And sure enough, about 50 yards from the trailhead our beatific peace of the last three days was assaulted by the loud grinding of ATVs on Lick Creek road. |
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| Map |  |
See Tuesday Dave's excellent photos:
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