The section of Raven Ridge from Pt. 8580 east to Pt. 8572 isn't the most challenging to scramble, but if you’re a fan of high rocky ridges, this is a good one. Great views from Bigelow around to Star, Oval and Hoodoo, down into Crater and Libby Lakes and east over the Methow Valley into central Washington.
From Seattle, the drive to the 4760' trail head takes about 4.5 hours. The group planned to meet at the trail head around 1:00pm and hike the 3.9 miles up trail #431 & #416 to Crater Lake where we'd camp for the night. Sunday morning, we planned to scramble Pt. 8580, run Raven Ridge east to Pt. 8572 (Libby or Corax Peak) and then drop south back to the lake and hike out.
It was drizzly and overcast for the drive over, but no problems for the group to meet at the end of FR#300 and the trail head for Crater Lakes. We hiked to the lake, found a large established camp at the outlet and got settled in. We took a walk around the lake before dinner and discovered two additional camps on the south and west shores. Must be a popular place. With evening came increasing winds and a dusting of snow/ice crystals up on the ridge top.  The wind continued overnight, gusting pretty good at times, but a nice screen of trees at the outlet shielded us from the worst of it.
Sunday morning arrived with calmer winds, but still threatening and overcast skies. After breakfast we hiked along the north side of the lake looking to gain the (south) ridge leading to Pt. 8580. There was some disagreement as to the exact route; consensus eventually favoring a spot just south of Pt 8580 at about 7800’.
We made the top of Pt. 8580 and looking east along the ridge, it sure looked to me like Pt. 8572 was indeed the higher of the two points. Not what the map indicates, but it really looks that way. The scrambling along the ridge top is not difficult, although the skin of icy lichen and light snow on the rocks meant that we weren't going to set any speed records. But that's as it should be. There are many interesting rock formations up here and even a petroglyph etched into one of the boulders. Not sure if it's the real thing but it does look to have been there for a while.
We touched all the high points along the ridge (yes, it is a sickness) before scrambling through the keyhole on Libby Peak. There is a register, which we signed before dropping south down to Crater Lake and our camp.
When we got back a woman walked into camp asking if we knew of any other camps around the lake. She seemed a little disappointed to find our tents still in place on a Sunday afternoon. We told her not to worry, that we’d be gone in half an hour and she’s have the whole place to herself.
Uneventful hike back to the cars, a missing set of keys (the day was saved by a hide-a-key) and a long drive home after dinner at East 20 Pizza in Winthrop.