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Ralston Buttes was completed this day, though not by me. I walked away dejected, to return another day. Ryan made the climb and provided route assistance, but between the temperature, wind, and my inability to harness my nerves, I was content to turn back after 1/2 of the pitch. We opted to drive around afterward to scout Scartop, Crescent, and other peaks in the area. We were somewhat grateful we didn't opt for the quick .26 mile romp through yards at on the East Side of Scartop, when we saw several dogs ready to eat us after a few passes. We decided on a gamble to drive up the private road that nears Crescent Mountain to see what access was like. We bumped into the owner there, named Bill. Bill was a very pleasant fellow and allowed us access to the peaks in the area. We had a series of several good chats with him. We made our way up to the saddle with Bill and his dog Hoover, and left Southward for the summit of Crescent.
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The snow and rock outcrops made the ridge a little slow-going, but we acquired the summit soon. The views exceeded expectations for a peak of this elevation - Coal Creek Peak is visible to the east in the photo above. Heading back down the ridge, we once again arrived at the saddle to head up the unnamed peak between Scartop and Crescent with many unofficial names as we would later see in the register. We were slightly faster on the descent to the saddle, and soon we were atop "Jack's Peak", "Pagan Hill", and "Why Not" all at the same time. Apparently the latter applies more often when people think of hiking this peak naked, at least judging by the register entries - one couple in late November even - yikes! Below, Crescent Mountain dominates the view south:
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