Trip Report
I wanted to get out, but I wasn't motivated to rise early and drive too far. However, I remembered a couple of peaks that John and Dave had done back in January that were in the Danskins (30 minutes away) and were a challenge (over 3000 feet of gain total). So after sleeping in on Sunday, I finally printed a map of Hutton Peak and Fiddler BM and headed off to the Danksins.
What was an ordinary morning soon turned strange... On my way to the trailhead I saw a familiar vehicle at Blacks Creek Pass, it was Zach. Not only was his vehicle there, but he was in it. So I pulled over to say hi. He was heading up towards Kepros Peak, but seemed interested in my trip. So after a 30 second discussion, he jumped in with me and off we headed toward the trailhead. Had I been 2 minutes earlier or 2 minutes later, I never would have saw Zach... very chance encounter.
The next strange encounter was at the trailhead. While we were getting ready, I peered off the side of the road to look down the canyon at Arrowrock Reservoir. I noticed a bird and pointed it out to Zach. However, unlike most wild birds, this bird kept coming toward us. At first his just made a sqauwking hissy noise. We laughed and took photos. However, I then reached down and held out my hand to the bird. That seemed to set it off, as it came at me like a spider monkey! The bird was so persistent, I had to get out the video recorder (see video below).
Bird Video
As we finished preparing and started on the hike, our "Angry Bird" buddy followed us. He was a great hiking buddy for about 1/4 of a mile and then he finally stopped. Only dumb humans climb straight up a ridge must have been what he was thinking.
So Zach and I started up a steep ridge, which contained both Hutton and Fiddler peaks. Most of our gain on the day was on this ridge. We made great progress and topped out on Hutton Peak after 1600' of gain and about 90 minutes. We could now see our second target, Fiddler Peak. The route out to Fiddler was actually on a moto-trail. It had great footing, but the ups-and-downs were annoying. We made it to the top. Views were decent, but it was a somewhat overcast day. We found the benchmark, relaxed, and shot some photos before heading back down. The ups-and-downs to get back to Hutton Peak were quite annoying. I fought through. After one last climb just past the summit, it was all downhill.
We wanted to try a different ridge on the way down. However, I picked the wrong one and we ended up on some crazy steep terrain. While annoying, it did get us to the bottom of the hill in a fast manner. We descended 1500 feet in just 30 minutes from the top of Hutton. Of course, the crazy grouse was there to greet us when we arrived. I didn't have the energy to play, so I ignored him and we headed home. Great day in the mountains!
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