Gunnshy Peak of Jumpoff Ridge is the #2 tallest in the Wild Sky area after Gunn Peak. Despite only a few feet shorter than its neighbor, the peak doesn’t see as many guests. But the views on top are just as comparable.
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Gunnshy Peak at a Glance
Access: Barclay Creek Road (NF-6024)
Round Trip: TBD
Elevation Range: 2180′-6218′
Gear: helmet
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: on the trail
The Steep Beginning
I wanted to make use of the largely snow-free southern terrain in the mountains. So the yellow pup and I tackled Gunnshy Peak in Wild Sky Wilderness after yesterday’s trip on Index Creek Trail.
The insanely steep start was what I remembered the most from last year. Someone had since removed the fire pit in this helpful drawing with directions. But the trail before the end of the spur road was still easy to locate.
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En Route to the Waterfall Gully
Soon, we crossed Barclay Creek via the logs. It was a bit tricky but manageable. Once we left the old roadbed, the easy-to-follow trail then went up steeply. It zigzagged through the southern slope to meet the headwall at 3600′.
There the path veered to the east. Then we weaved our way up below cliff bands and continued. Soon, we made a short but steep drop into a waterfall gully where water dribbled from the overhead rocks.
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Head of the Basin
Meanwhile, the silhouette of Baring Mountain loomed in the south through the dense forest. On the other side of the gully, the faint trail climbed steeply to the right. There we followed a cairn or two out of the trees and onto moderate terrain.
We went off route here last time. Instead of heading north by the clearing, we continued east below the buttress into heavy slide alder and devils club. Luckily, I caught the mistake early to pull ourselves out of the messy situation to go back on track.
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Onward to Gunnshy Peak
I spotted cairns over the steep drop-offs that would break up the path at times. So I paid extra attention to stay on track. The trail roamed through the meadow along the east of Tailgunner’s south ridge. Then it ended above Tailgunner-Wing Peak saddle at 5400′.
Later we bypassed Peak 5760 by dropping 200′ from the east. Then we climbed up to the saddle north of the peak. At last, we had our first look at Gunnshy Peak. Shortly, we went down the west slopes to 5200′ to bypass Gunn Peak’s southwest buttress.
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Final Stretch to Gunnshy Peak
Soon, we made a rising traverse above Gunn Lake in the Lewis Creek Basin. Then we went through lots of talus, boulders, and heather slopes up to 5600′. Then the terrain flattened a bit.
It was a lot of fun moving up through slabs with a few snow patches from the recent snowfall. Shortly, we made it onto the east ridge at 5950′. There we had our first sighting to the north.
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Gunnshy Peak Summit Views
From the ridge, we moved west while staying on and south of the crest. The pup needed a bit of coaching through this part. But before long, we were up on the rocky summit.
Views were excellent on this warm and sunny day. All the high points on Heybrook Ridge were visible. Mount Townsend, Gunn Peak, Merchant Peak, Wing Peak, Tailgunner all eagerly awaited their photo ops.
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Outro
We spent an hour on top soaking in the views around us. Then we retraced our steps down through the basin and went back up to the Tailgunner-Wing Peak saddle.
Afterward, we made a stopover at the pristine tarn below Tailgunner. Soon, we were on our merry way down the mountain and out.
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