4820, Wild Horse Butte, and Camp Howard Ridge

Doing my usual exploring on the interwebz, I spotted a cool route with promised great views. A quick poll of who was in, a check on the weather, and we were off. From my house, a little over a two hour drive to Pittsburg Saddle.

And there's our first peak of the day, or close enough.

Art and Carol were traveling separately for social distancing and later, for social interaction; they were scheduled for a Zoom dinner with the grandkids.

Meanwhile, Dave, Craig, and I were marveling at the views just 10 minutes after leaving the rig.

Lots to see on the horizon. Lots to see on our path.

More.

Note that the wildflowers are not even near their peak. I think two or three more weeks?

But for now, more views on the horizon. The long ridge with the bump on the left is Wild Horse Butte. The peak with snow more on the right horizon is Camp Howard Ridge.

This is looking south, from where we had come from.

Sharp eyes will notice the lookout tower on Grave Point.

The summit of 4820 is sort of a broad expanse, so we only paused briefly before charging down the north ridge in pursuit of Art and Carol. About here, Ruby picked up their scent and disappeared to go say Hi to her friends.

There's the spoiled pup now, sitting in Carol's lap. Art is doing what Art does, reading the map. And Craig is trying to wrestle his pack into submission.

As we proceeded up the ridge, what started as little white bumps on the south horizon became the Seven Devils. Right in the center here is He Devil.

Looking to the west from our ridgetop, there's Peak #2 for today, Wild Horse Butte, with its long ridge approach.

Most of the ridge is just up-and-down hiking, up-and-down, up-and-down, and up-and-down. But with a little scrambling here and there.

Somehwere in here, Art and Carol had to turn around so that they wouldn't be late for their dinner. I'm guessing they only had 10 minutes to the summit.

Dave on the summit. Crazy views in all directions. This is looking south into Hells Canyon, with the Seven Devils on the left and Oregon on the right.

Summit shot.

And for a different perspective, this picture was taken last year during a flight up Hells Canyon with my good friend Sandy.

I can't be sure, but I think we were sitting on the rocky prominence just below the left skyline.

After a little lunch, we reversed the ridge back to our north-south trail. From that saddle, we found a really nice traversing trail heading around to Big Canyon Saddle, saving us a bunch of elevation. Then it was north up the ridge to Howard.

More ridge with crazy views.

The girls made the most of the snow patches near the top.

Summit....

... and an example of really poor backcountry manners. If this is the level of appreciation this person has for wild lands, they should just stay home.

To quote from LeaveNoTrace.org, "Carry plastic bags to haul your trash [. . .] including organic litter like orange peels".

Tangerine peels, whatever. C'mon, people!

And more incredible views. With a good zoom lens, this is Patrick Butte.

Looking south into Hells Canyon again, now with Wild Horse Butte in the middle distance.

Here it is approaching the saddle with the ridge to Wild Horse again.

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