Web Mountain via Putrid Pete's Peak, Ira Spring Connector Trail & Dirty Harry's Peak — Thursday, Jun. 6, 2024

2 X P3 === What was I thinking going up P3 twice in a week :)  Last week did the P3/Defiance/Mason loop, so figured it was time to try the harder P3/Web/Dirty-Harry loop.

TL;DR;

• Putrid Pete's Peak ( P3 )
  • Pretty much the same as last week's report ( link at bottom ),
  • Albeit more wildflowers ( the cute little purple/white ones )
• Web Mountain:
  • Fun little side trip from P3, with optional scrambles
  • But skirted the ridge as I was heading onwards...
• Web Mountain to Dirty Harry: 
  • Non-technical, but off trail skills and navigation needed 
  • Quite nice except for brush bashing on the connector ridge
  • Snow coming down from Web Mountain ~ 30% coverage
• Dirty Harry Peak ( DHP ): 
  • My first visit, upper trail is old logging trail
  • Patch of snow on summit, but otherwise snow free
• Parking: 20 cars 9am sunny Thursday, about the same at 5pm
• People: Saw zero souls except just at the very end

Putrid Pete's Peak:

• See last week's trip below,
• But starting to like this trail ( afterwards )
• No marmot today

Web Mountain:

• Traverse can be done with scrambles, or...
  • Skirt just below the crest if in a hurry ( like me today )
• Great views all along

Web Mountain to pond @4322':

• Follow SW ridge down until you can see a path through to the talus
• I was on snow about 30% of the way
  • Which was nicer then the talus, being that steep mid-sized stuff that moves unpredictably
• From there generally followed the descender's left creek ( and some tracks in snow )
  • Approaching the lake, the creek steepens, but it goes ( no cliff )
• Pond was beautiful today, looks like 1 site at the Web Mountain end
  • Bugs were starting though, but toads there to help
  • Guess should call this Upper Upper Granite Creek lake :)

Pond @4322' to Dirty Harry Peak:

• Here you have two choices, take the "unmaintained" trail down, or...
• Follow the "connector" ridge to DH, which is what I was headed for
• The connector ridge looked good on paper, here's what I experienced in rough order: 
• Nice talus, brush, bad brush, very bad brush, nice then really nice granite ridge, nice views down to granite lakes, not to bad forest
• Definitely need to follow your GPS until on the connector ridge proper, else would be easy to funneled down towards granite lakes
• Once I got "above" the main DH trail, worried about more brush, I did a sidling descent to meet the main trail
• Took main DH trail up to peak, just a boring logging track, but nice views on summit

Return:

• From there took DH trail, then
• Ira Spring Connector trail, which was surprisingly pleasant
  • A lesser used/maintained trail, with a choice of balconies.

Long day, but overall a really enjoyable day out in the hills.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2024-05-31.183025710131