Peak 4602 5-18-2015

Partners: Dog.

Stats: Distance 5.27 miles. Elevation Gain approx 2,000ft. Total time 2:30.

Route: From Highway 55 scenic overlook to pt 4114, to pt 4430, to Peak 4602 and a side trip to pt 4304. Topo Map Peak 4602 on Lists of John

Gear notes: Ended up bringing three jackets despite packing "light".

Peak 4602.

I've been looking at some peaks off of Hwy 55 since it is so close to my house and I haven't explored the area.  Peak 4602 caught my eye for this short trip because it sits on a long ridge that I decided to walk since it was sure to provide a great view of Horseshoe Bend.  It looks like Mark Jones made the first ascent of this peak on his list of peaks within one hour of Boise, at some point.  Peak 4602 sits on BLM land so I figured access shouldn't be too tough.

Dog and I hit the road about 10am and were parked at the scenic overlook on Hwy 55 about 15 minutes later.  Cloudy, fairly humid, temp 57F with light wind and an occasional rain drop.  The first goal was to run across Hwy 55 to get on route.  That in itself is a terrifying experience.

Mores Mountain on the left, Shaffer Butte on the right. 

Once across the highway, my route followed the steep hill side to point 4114 where we had to duck under a fence on BLM land.  Once past there I was treated to a fine view of near by Shaffer Butte and Mores Mountain.  Turing to the east to gain the next point brought up another fence we had to duck.

Approaching Peak 4602 along the ridge.

From point 4430, there is an old road that leads directly to peak 4602, so naturally, that's the way I went.

The actual summit of Peak 4602.

Once I was on top of what I thought was peak 4602, I realized that wasn't the highest point, so I headed a little farther to the east.  Once there, I found this bump on the ridge was about ten feet higher than the other little bump.  The odd thing is that the USGS map clearly identifies the elevation as 4602, but my altimeter, which was calibrated, read 4580 and the GPS on my phone indicated 4590 - somthingish. Hhmmm...  The other odd thing was that the GPS compass went all weird and wasn't indicating the correct heading.  I concluded these anomaly's are due to the large flat area of the summit actually being a UFO landing site used by Grey Aliens that probably come from Zeta Reticuli.  No actual science was done regarding this conclusion, its just a blind guess.

Ketchum on the flat summit.  Squaw Butte is in the background.

I was certain of where I was, but not certain why the elevations did not check.  Oh well...

A slightly confused summit photo.

Then it was on to point 4303 to finish off the whole ridge.  There is a big dip and the hike is steep on both sides, which made for a good time to run in boots with a pack on.

Point 4303 on the far end of the ridge.

The view over Horseshoe Bend was totally worth the effort to get there.

Horseshoe Bend from point 4303

From pt 4303, I simply reversed my steps, bypassing pt 4430 on the way back to the car.
This was a great opportunity to explore a different part of the foothills and it turned out to be a good workout as well.  In the end, I got in another lame-local peak, safely made two crossings of Hwy 55 and avoided alien abduction.  The next ascent party may not be so lucky.

Happy Trails!

- Granola, out.