W7I/BL-145 Wedge Butte

Wedge Butte was the second peak of the day, after climbing to the Timmerman Hills high point. The butte is a few miles south of the Timmerman Hills. My original plan was to drive around to the east side of the hill, then hike around and climb up the north face. However, Picabo Desert Road was very muddy after the rain yesterday, and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to drive out if I went too far in. So instead I parked about a quarter mile from the highway and hiked.

View of the summit from my parking space.

I climbed up the side of the sub-peak, then contoured around to its col with the higher butte. It looked like there were some gaps in the cliff on the south face, but I didn't want to hike up and find that they were impassable, so I went around the west side. Here I followed the line of cliffs up to the top. It was quite steep near the bottom, but leveled out closer to the top.

Summit on the right.

There was a tall post sticking out of the ground that looked like it once held a sign, but there was no sign of the sign. There was a benchmark in the rock at the summit as well. I got set up, then got on 30 meters. There was excellent cell service the entire hike. After working all the chasers on 30, I went up to 17 and worked a few more. I had to get back in time for work, so I didn't spend as long on top as I would have liked.

Gully I took on the way down.

To get back down, I mostly retraced my steps, but instead of going over the sub-peak, I followed a gully down to the road, then walked along the road to the car. This probably would have been an easier way to get up. Overall, this was a nice hike. It would have been nicer if the summit was farther from the highway and didn't have car noise.

Trailhead: Somewhere along Picabo Desert Road.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Cross country. I climbed up the sub-peak, then around to the col, then up along the cliffs.
Red Tape: None. All on BLM land.

Camera looking south.