My wife and I were heading to the McCall area to visit our daughter. Seemed like a perfect opportunity to hike with my friend John who lives near McCall. Turned out the first peak I suggested was still too snowy. John had a great alternative... Humdinger Peak on the ridge between Duck Lake and Hum Lake.

We met in McCall and jumped in with John for the 45 minute ride to the Duck Lake trailhead. The trailhead was pretty packed with vehicles when we arrived just before 10am.

It was a bit warm to start, but once we got up a little higher, a cool breeze starter blowing. This stayed with us all of the way to the summit and was quite nice!

After the turnoff to Hum Lake, we ran into 2 hikers, but then wouldn't see any for the next 4 hours or so. We made it to the saddle where our ridge started and took a break. It was shaping up to be an amazing day; as the weather was near perfect, we had John pointing out all of the peaks in the area, and we had John's puppy Ruby there to entertain us.

We now transitioned from trail to scrambling. With snow covering John's previous route in places, we had to work back and forth on the ridge to keep things safe.

I chose snow more often than they did, although at one point, I didn't appreciate that choice as I led us up a really steep snow drift that made me a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully I could kick good steps and John and Carrie quickly followed me up that section.

The summit block was a fun scramble and soon we were looking at great views in all directions. What a neat area! Some peaks that caught my attention were North and South Loon, Rain Peak, Beaverdam Peak, Sawtooth Peak, and Bruin Peak (I'm sure I am missing a bunch too). We also could see the Wallowas and Seven Devils in the distance.

John wanted to do a loop, which was fine by us, so we headed down the northwest ridge looking to catch a trail that would take us back to Duck Lake. This worked out great as we got to see more terrain and the impressive north face of Humdinger Peak!

Excellent day in the mountains with a great friend and my adventurous wife!

From McCall drive to Lick Creek Summit. This road starts out on pavement and passes beautiful Payette and Upper Payette lakes. Even when paved it is quite narrow. Eventually it becomes dirt as it winds its way to Lick Creek Summit. Once at the summit, the road drops a bit before arriving at the Duck Lake trailhead. From the summit to the trailhead is just over a mile.

We hiked the trail toward Duck Lake. Around a mile into the hike, we took the right fork of the trail heading for Hum Lake (it is signed). When the trail hits the saddle, and before it drops into Hum Lake, we turned north and climbed the south ridge of Humdinger Peak (Peak 8573 on the Box Lake quad).