Peak 9693 (Worthing Peak) by Livingston Douglas

Elevation: 9,693 ft
Prominence: 511

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This peak is not in the book. Published November 2019


Peak 9693 is a gentle giant located at the head of Worthing Canyon, just south of Mahogany Canyon in the Beaverhead Mountains. The peak is overlooked since it is a sub-10K peak and is not on the Continental Divide. It is one of three unnamed, ranked summits that are massive hills/humps arranged in a north-to-south alignment [Peak 9693, Peak 9768, and Peak 9625]. These peaks are members of the South Beaverheads as they lie south of the sharp eastward turn in the Continental Divide. USGS Scott Peak

West Ridge, Class 2

Access

Mahogany Canyon is a bit tricky to get to. The BLM roads leading here are not well signed. From the signed BLM access road for Mahogany Canyon Is located along ID-28 7.3 miles north of the north entrance to the Birch Creek Campground and 100 yards south of the Kaufman Picnic Area. It is next to a crossing of a small creek so you must look for it. The road is narrow and is easy to miss.

Reset your odometer at ID-28. At 0.9 miles, go left at a junction just after crossing a cattle guard. At 1.0 mile, go left again. At 1.3 miles, go right onto a rougher road. At 3.9 miles, go right/straight-ish at a junction. At 4.0 miles, reach a 4-way road junction. Park here (7,167 feet). Straight ahead is FSR-906 (signed) and Mahogany Canyon. None of the road junctions prior to this one is signed. Use a USGS topo map to help you navigate here.

Note: This is a slightly different driving route from the one detailed in the Lopez book. I tried to drive that route a few years ago and was quickly turned back by rough road conditions, a cattle fence, and a sharp drop off a bench into a gully. This became my access route for Mahogany Canyon and I’ve driven it twice now.

The Climb

From the road junction, hike east up FSR-906/Mahogany Canyon Road for ¼ mile to reach the base of the [obvious] west ridge on the right/south side of the road. Leave the road and bushwhack up through easy field grass onto the ridge. Early on, skirt the right/south side of a rocky ridge outcrop (or climb over it). Continue up the easy, short grass/scrub on the rounded ridge to reach a rocky point where the ridge merges with the south spur at 8,100 feet. This is a critical ridge corner to remember when you descend this route. There is a “window” rock here that serves as an excellent navigational reminder.

The ridge turns left/northeast here and climbs over Point 8201. The ridge drops about 60 vertical feet from this point to a minor saddle at the base of a steep, ominous-looking section of the ridge. This section is forested and has rocky outcrops embedded/hidden on the ridge crest. No worries. If you stay to the left/north of the ridge crest (in the forest), you will find a weak game trail to help avoid downed timber and stay clear of the mountain mahogany/rocky outcrops on the ridge crest.

In this forested ridge section, the ridge is heading east-northeast. Once you reach tree line, the ridge bends right/east. From here, it is a cruise on flatter terrain of broken scree and short scrub/grass to reach the gentle hump that is the summit of Peak 9693. The summit high point has a cairn and a large section of dead pine tree trunk nearby. There is a [lower] false summit to the northeast (Point 9684). There is no need to visit it.

Additional Resources

Mountain Range: Beaverhead Range

Longitude: -112.84189   Latitude: 44.26009

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