If you like white granite, Foolhen and Humdinger are great scrambles.
- September 2, 2012
- Team: me
- Summit:
- Foolhen Peak, 8269'
- Humdinger Peak, 8574'
- Car to car: 9 miles, 3470'total gain, 6 hours
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
I had spotted Humdinger Peak during a hike to South Loon Peak a couple weekends ago. I knew I had to go back. So here's the view from the road: Humdinger is on the left, Foolhen on the right. You'll understand the names shortly, I promise. |
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It was a crisp morning, and I made it past the Hum Lake intersection quickly. Here is the trail most of the way up to the saddle overlooking Hum Lake. |
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| From the saddle, you look right up the NW ridge of Foolhen. The summit doesn't look far off. |  |
Except that isn't the summit. The REAL summit is over there. I think.... I checked my altimeter on both summits, and the one over there is 10 or 20 feet higher. You'll already know this, but as I worked across the ridge, I was wondering if I was "wasting my time." |
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Sure enough, this is higher. Here's the aerial view of Lick Creek Road crossing Foolhen Meadow (see, I told you I'd explain it!) |
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From that vantage point, you can see that the south side of Humdinger is a long, rocky ridge. Fun! |
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Lots of cold white granite on which to play. If you got 'em, wear shoes with sticky rubber. If you stay right on the ridge top, you'll run into some Class 4. But you can easily drop down and avoid that. |
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The ridge isn't very exposed, so I was still in flatlander mode when I peered over the north edge of the summit. The sudden drop gave me a little momentary vertigo. Yikes! After stepping back a bit, I admired the views-- as you can see in the panorama below. It's looking south toward Sawtooth, Beaverdam, etc. |
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So here's why I call this peak Humdinger. Sounds a lot better than 'Doozy.' |
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| Here's another view of that north face, taken from our hike in to South Loon. It's a Humdinger. |  |
| I was so intrigued with this big hunk of stone I just had to climb down and look up at it. |  |
| And then it was time to head home. I climbed back over the ridge to the west of Hee Lake and headed back down the trail to Duck Lake. At the lake it was Sunday afternoon and fisherman central. Can't say if they were biting because I was in high gear again. |  |
| Map |  |
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