Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published December 2024

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Peak 9628 is a rather insignificant hump located below the west side of the lengthy south ridge of Mount Jordan in the Eastern Salmon River Mountains. It sits off on its own side ridge and is rarely visited. Peak 9628 is most easily climbed either from Lightning Lake or from the south ridge of Mount Jordan. USGS Mount Jordan

Access

Same as for Mount Jordan. This is the second leg of a 3-peak adventure that includes Mount Jordan, Peak 9628, and Peak 9734. It covers 9.5 miles with 3,900 feet of elevation gain round trip.

Northeast Ridge, Class 2

The Climb

From the 9,180-foot ridge saddle to its northeast, scramble west then southwest then south up the open, somewhat-rocky ridge to the summit of Peak 9628. The summit has a modest cairn. There are some scattered pines on the northeast ridge but it is not thickly forested as the USGS topo map suggests.

East Ridge and Traverse to Peak 9734, Class 3

The Descent

From the summit, descend the rocky, loose east ridge to reach a lower shoulder that leans left-ish/northeast to reach the bottom end of a beautiful, wet meadow. From the meadow, cross the small outlet stream then bushwhack east in easy pine forest which has some open grassy areas initially. Bend right-ish/southeast to climb a diagonally upward through a mix of live pine forest with a few rocky/gravelly sections to reach the ridge crest about 30 feet above, and north of, the semi-open saddle.

Descend south to the 9,220-foot ridge saddle. Contrary to the USGS topo map, there is no foot trail leading up to this saddle from the west side of the ridge crest. The diagonal upward traverse up to this saddle was not easy. The angled terrain is steep and loose in most sections of the traverse. This concludes the second leg of today’s 3-peak journey. Peak 9734 is up next.