A semi-local group of peaks near Dry Buck Summit, these hikes are just above Banks.
- November 20, 2018
- Team: Tom
- Peaks:
- Dry Buck Mountain, 6507'
- Peak 6340
- Peak 6323
- 4.5 miles, 1587' gain, 2:51 car-to-car (not including a short break or two)
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
JJ gave us some beta on the road and conditions, so Tom and I met in Banks for a casual Ruby Tuesday. First, we followed the sinuous road to Dry Buck Summit, which sits high above the North Fork of the Payette and somewhat NW of Banks. Then we beat feet. The rig belongs to a hunter who we kept running into, amiably. |
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Early in the morning on the shady side, in forest and brush. Not a lot to photograph. But this is meant to show that there are game trails aplenty. |
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The summit area includes the foundation of an old lookout. Also, that's Garden Peak in the background. |
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But the true summit is just opposite that. Tom celebrates his first ascent of the shaded nordwand. But Ruby put both of us to shame on this summit, basically running straight up the boulder as it faces you here. And running back down, as well. |
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We walked part way down on an ATV track, then cut back to our uptrack, finally joining the road we started on. Then we drove to the start of 6340 (with me forgetting to shut down the GPS). From our route up Peak 6340, this is looking easterly across the valley at Dry Buck. |
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And after following game trails and hunter's tracks, here's Tom about to summit. | ![]() |
There is sort of a cairn. Tom looked at the map and realized there was a faster way down by dropping to a saddle to the west, then down to the road. |
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That worked. Road attained. | ![]() |
We got back into the car, then drove to the base of Peak 6323. We found an area with the least underbrush, and started up. | ![]() |
The summit didn't take long. And there were no views- just trees. Our round trip for this one was just 36 minutes. I enjoyed the first two, but this peak not so much. Oh well, we had to give it a go to really know, even though JJ had warned us. |
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Map | ![]() |
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