Finger Peak

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Matt, Dan, Cali and I made a weekend trip from Wishon Reservoir to the White Divide and back. Being one of the most remote parts of the Sierra, it ended up being a ~50 mile hike. Besides a few cow prints and horse prints, we didn't see anyone else on the trail. 

Lots of trees

After picking up permits in Clovis, we slept Friday night at the Rancheria Trailhead (near Wishon Reservoir) on the ground then started hiking the next morning around 7:00. We spent the entire morning walking through the trees of Woodchuck Country before eventually catching some views of the high country and the White Divide to the east from near Crown Pass. 

At Crown Pass

We descended Crown Pass following the trail as best we could, eventually finding Halfmoon Lake. The whole area felt incredibly remote. Dan found an obsidian arrowhead on the ground near the lake; we left it there. Despite the remoteness, trail signs were plentiful as we continued on toward the Blackcap basin. We climbed gradually through the blackcap basin eventually topping out above treeline at Portal Lake. From there we scrambled up some slabs to Midway Lake where we made camp. 

We found an arrowhead along the trail.

Camp at Midway Lake

Sunrise on Finger Peak

The next morning we were up at 4:30 ready to summit Finger Peak then retrace our steps to the Rancheria Trailhead. The first part of the route involved an easy walk up to Cathedral Lake then a class 2/3 scramble up a gully to the ridgeline below the peak. There was some debate as to which gully we should take, but we ended up taking the first feasible option up from Cathedral Lake as Bob Burd had. The top of the gully offered some interesting class 3 scrambling, but the ridgeline itself was mostly class 2. 

Dan and Matt helping Cali up the class 3 section

Once we got directly below the summit, the climbing turned slightly more technical and we had to help Cali up some of the tricky spots. We finally summitted about 2.5 hours after we left camp. The register dated back to the 70s, and Cali was only the 2nd dog ascent; a dog named Morty had climbed the peak 30 years earlier. Views toward the Palisades were great in the early morning light. 

Labelled summit pano looking east

First entry in the summit register, 1977

Looking south

Looking southwest

Looking west

Looking northwest

Looking northwest

Looking north toward Goddard

Looking northeast

Looking east

Descending to Cathedral Lake

The long walk back

We spent about 30 minutes on top then started the treak back to the Rancheria Trailhead. We got back to Midway Lake about 1.5 hours from the summit. We got back to Halfmoon Lake about 5 hours from the summit where we had lunch. The slog back to Crown Pass and the car was incredibly grueling mentally. We got back to the car around 6:30 p.m., which was 14 hours after we had left camp.