Peak 5,069 AKA "Station Peak"

Date: Feb 15, 2017.

Partners: Mark, Dan and Ketchum.

Stats: Station Peak:  4.17 miles, >500 feet of gain, class 1.

Gear Notes: N/A.

IdahoSummits Trip Report


Mark, Dan and I had planned to hit a small peak in the Danskin Mountains.   Its a fairly easy task, but I was feeling slow and a little sore after hauling my old butt up the cliffs the day before.  None the less, I picked Mark up at Starbucks and we met Dan at Blacks Creek Summit at 10am.  We had set our sites on peak 5096.

The weather was perfect; slightly cool, clear skies and almost no wind.

Our route took us up a hillside and onto an old road.  The peak has over 300 feet of prominence so, yet, even though it is small, it counts as an actual peak.

A beautiful day in the Danskin Mountains.

Shaffer Butte.

Peak 5096, "Station Peak".

 As we cruised down the road toward our peak, we caught up with each other about our recent adventures and discussed future plans.

Mark and Dan surveying the area. 

Three Point Mountain.

Both Dan and Mark are fairly competitive peak baggers with a long list of peaks accredited to their names.  They are also quite aware of what constitutes an actual peak.  For conversation sake, it must have over 300 feet of prominence.  Interestingly enough, this means that Three Point Mountain is actually not a peak and just a point.

Trinity Mountains.

It was about an hour of walking until we reached our objective for the day.  All the usual suspects were in view and I'll spare you the list.

House Mountain.

Danskin Peak, the ranges high point.

Other than looking at the map and Google Earth, I hadn't done much research on this peak.  It wasn't until we hit the top that Dan informed us that no one had claimed an ascent on LOJ, so we would claim the first.  Aside from the barbwire fence that sits a ways back from the peak, there was no cairn, trash or anything else to suggest that someone had actually been there.



Fortunately for me, I don't have T-Rex arms and I haven't completely given up on life, so I have not bought a selfie stick.  Here is a handy-dandy flow chart to aid you in deciding if you should get one.

After hanging out on the peak for a while, we decided we needed more miles added to the day.  Mark had noticed these odd structures from the top, so we went down to check it out.

Peak 5096, "Station Peak".

There is an overgrown road that leads between the two old foundations.  These structures were obviously inhabited at some point, but the purpose is not clear.  My best guess is that since they sit at the top of Station Creek and on the edge of the National Forest Boundary , it was a Forest Service station of some sort.

The concrete foundations had been stripped of whatever had composed the buildings.  We found some miscellaneous debris and an obvious rock-lined walkway.

After a short time investigating Marks cool find, we headed down Station Creek.  Now we had a first world problem to deal with.  We had just done a peak, now the peak needed a name.  Dan appropriately suggested Station Peak.

Looking up Station Creek.

On the way out there was some light to moderate bushwacking through Station Creek, but nothing too bad if we don't count the barbwire that Mark found, and we eventually found a trail that lead us back down to Black's Creek Road.

Hiking down Station Creek.

The road walk back to the car was uneventful and we passed the time with more witty conversation than you can shake a selfie stick at.  It was a great weekend to be out enjoying what will probably be a teaser dose of spring.  The weather, company and hike were all equally awesome.  The only complaint, if you could call it that, is it had gone by so dang fast.

You know what they say; Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana!

Happy trails!

- Granola, out.