For those hikers who tend to seek out summits, one of the major sources of information (also known as beta) that we use is peakbagger.com. While not the nicest-looking site, the data stored within is invaluable. On the mobile app, the default starting point is a listing of nearby summits. Recently a new summit near my house was added to the database. So, every time I launched the app on my phone, this unclimbed summit was staring me in the face. As one who likes to complete things, this would not do. So, I finally decided to cross Peak 1005 off that unclimbed list.
I parked near the service road entrance to Black Mountain and set off in the late afternoon. It was still warm, probably low-80s. Making a turn onto one of the other service roads for the powerline before finding the use trail that I take up to the summit. The trail was very rocky and very steep. This route was certainly one that I would not recommend descending. The trail crest the bump, and I checked my location and I was on top of the summit. I decided to keep climbing to the summit of Black Mountain. My route linked up with the Black Widow trail, and up I went.
This trail is interesting, there is an almost straight route up the side of the mountain and a trail that snakes its way back and forth. I opted to plod straight ahead. Finally, I reached the main service road and then cruised onto the summit. This time there was no mountain biker sharing their music. I hung out a bit before heading back down, this time taking the service road the entire time. It was late enough in the day that almost this entire road was now in the shadow of the mountain. The shade was very welcomed. The entire hike was 3.1 miles in 1:17. The total elevation gain was 751 feet, which occurred in the first 1.1 miles of the hike.