This year's fall outing was originally scheduled in September. Bad air quality prompted me to change the date to October. Dry weather held and the smoke cleared, so the outing was looking good for this new date.

The peak chosen for the group to climb was Mystery Peak. Mystery Peak is beautiful mountain with over 1500 feet of prominence. The peak dominates the immediate area and is visible from many other peaks. Though the peak is dominant, it is rarely seen from roads, un-named, and not often climbed; thus it is somewhat of a mystery.

Tom Lopez and I headed over to the Trail Creek area on Friday morning before the group outing. On Friday, we ascended Wildhorse Lookout. After the hike, we setup camp at Phi Kappa Campground just off of Trail Creek Road.

We relaxed in the sun, ate, and then got warmer clothes on. Eventually, people started arriving. First Deborah, then Mike F., then Pat, Jill, and John. Then Michael and his wife Lisa.

It was a bit cold, but we did have some fun hanging around the fire and getting to know one another. After the stories and fire died down, it was off to sleep. During a late night bathroom trip, I noticed it had warmed up since we went to bed, but the stars were still very bright. In the morning though, some low clouds had moved in.

In the morning we were joined by Leslie, Margo, and Basil. Off we headed to the trailhead.

After some confusion finding the correct road, we finally started making progress up Miller Canyon. We didn't expect to get too far up the canyon, but to our surprise, we got 2 miles up the canyon and to 8100' on a pretty good road.

It took a while for the group to get moving, but we finally started heading up. Our plan was to ascend the northwest ridge to Point 10500, then traverse over to the peak and climb the east face.

I think we were in a race, my watch said we ascended 1400 feet in the first hour of climbing. The group finally stopped for a break, but before I even got a drink down, part of the group was heading up again. Oh well, at least it would be a quick day.

Once we got above the tree line, the views were great. Mystery Peak was rugged, the ridge we were on was very interesting, with multi-colored rocks, towers, and great views. The ridge was fun to ascend and even had a few small sections of easy scrambling. We could see goats at several points in time on this traverse. One large group of 5 or 6 nearly climbed Mystery Peak while we watched.

We all re-grouped at the saddle between Mystery and Point 10500. We then followed Tom's lead, since Tom had climbed the peak 20 years ago. Tom basically got us to the base of the east face and class 3 slopes. From there, everyone kind of picked their own line and went for it.

Aside from some loose rock, this climb was pretty fun. The rock had a lot of grip and the exposure was minimal. We were all standing on top soon. After some relaxation, talking, and photos - it was time for a summit shot. Once the summit shot was over, we headed down as the wind was getting chilly for some of us.

I was nervous about the group staying safe for the first 200 feet of descent, but they did great and soon we were on stable, easy terrain. Instead of taking the ridge down, we headed down the major drainage on the west side of the peak. Despite taking our time on top and a few short breaks on the way down, we still finished in under 5 hours.

We relaxed at the trailhead and drank beers, told more stories, and enjoyed the sun.

After pizza in Hailey, it was back to Boise.

It was nice to meet you new people, great to hang out with the people I already knew, and a fun 2 days of hiking with you Tom. It was a great time and a great peak, thanks everyone!

From Trail Creek Road, turn onto North Fork Big Lost River Road. Follow that road 8.7 miles to the signed Miller Canyon Road. Follow that road over the bridge and take an immediate left. Ignore 476A, then take the next right to go up into Miller Canyon. Follow this road to a fork, where the right fork starts to descend. Take the left fork, which is the end of the road and some an area to park.

We hiked out of Miller Canyon. Got on the ridge containing Point 10500. Once at Point 10500, traversed over to the base of the east face of Mystery Peak. From there, we ascended the east face on class 3 terrain.