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Jul 18, 2020 — Ward Mountain was a surprisingly pretty mountain that I did more as an afterthought, recommended by my friend Adam Walker. I knew the road leading to the summit was very rough in spots, so I parked at the junction with the Paymaster Mine road, the end of 2WD. While my car could have made it farther (though not by much), I anticipated trying to make the route into a loop. Despite not having any information on my intended descent route, my idea ended up being a succesful endeavor, and this junction I parked at would mark a good end point later on.
I hiked the crap road to the summit of Ward Mountain. Nothing of note on the ascent, except that the views were pretty nice and the grassy terrain felt unique. From the summit of Ward Mountain, I scoped the ridgeline to Hamels Peak, which began about a half mile back along the road to Ward Mountain. The ridgeline included some light Class 2, and overall I enjoyed the route to Hamels Peak. You could drop down the east ridge and reunite with the ascent road, but my plan was to bag a couple more unnamed 10,000 foot peaks along the ridge and attempt a way down another ridge. There was a steep, grassy slope down from Hamels Peak and then a dirt road brought me halfway up to Peak 10218. There was some very minor bushwhacking to this peak's summit, and then a mellow slope to the next peak, Peak 10182. The two unnamed peaks felt like the same mountain, both pretty but neither with much personality.
From Peak 10182, I dropped down its eastern slope, fully expecting some bushwhacking to complete my intended loop. However, the ridge was pleasant and without obstacles for the most part. I intercepted an animal trail which led me most of the way down, and then a very old mining road helped me avoid some cliffs around 8800 feet. I could see the Paymaster Mine below (a series of abandoned buildings), and I used it as a landmark for reference as I descended. The ridge continued pleasantly until the last hundred feet to the mine where I decided to do some minor bushwhacking to get off the ridge and get to the buildings. After some poking around the old abandoned stuff, I continued along an ATV road (which was quite busy, in fact) back to my car.
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