Olancha Peak Dayhike

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Near Olancha Pass

Olancha Pass

After driving up from Ridgecrest, Brian Veit, Brian Choragwicki and I set out from the Olancha Pass trailhead at the end of Sage Flat road around 6 a.m. The driving and hiking directions on climber.org were right on and we had no problem finding the junction between the trail and the "cow driveway". Brian Veit had hiked up the pass previously so he was also able to offer some insight. We chose the "horse/hiker" trail and headed up the switchbacks toward the pass. 

Around 7:15 we got to the saddle below the false pass and took a short break. We were at the pass by 8:30, 2.5 hours from the car. From there we descended to the PCT where found a good deal of snow covering the trail. It had been a pretty dry winter, but a small storm had come through a few days prior. We knew there would be some snow at the summit and that there was a slight chance of more snow in the afternoon. We got to "cowboy camp" 30 minutes from the pass. 

Snow along the trail

Cowboy Camp

Summit in view

We navigated the semi-confusing network of trails in the area and continued along the PCT passing some buckets of water that we figured were placed for thirsty PCTers. We climbed back above treeline near 10,000' and reached a saddle from which we caught our first views of the summit covered in a dusting of snow. We walked for another quarter or mile or so then left the trail and headed up the class 2 slope. Brian V. turned back shortly after we left on account of snow and the fact that he was wearing trail runners and shorts, but Brian C. and I continued on. A thick mass of clouds swirled and lingered just east of the summit. Views to the west were mostly clear. The ~1 foot layer of snow didn't cause too many serious issues besides slippery rocks, and we summitted at noon, 6 hours from the trailhead. 

Looking north from the summit

Looking northwest from the summit.  Langley pictured.

Looking northwest from the summit.  Kaweahs in the distance.

Looking west from the summit

Looking southwest from the summit

Looking south from the summit

Starting back down

We sat and ate at the top for 20 minutes or so then retraced our steps to the PCT. I picked out Langley to the north. The descent was slippery and tedious. We expected to meet Brian V. along the PCT about 1/4 mile from where we left the trail for the summit, but he was nowhere to be found. Brian C. and I decided to continue on figuring that he had gotten cold and decided to keep walking toward the car. We passed another party heading for the summit and they claimed not to have seen Brian V. based on our description. We passed a solo hiker who also hadn't seen him, so we got a bit nervous. We wondered if we had missed him sitting along the trail somewhere but continued on and eventually found Brian V. sitting by the Lowe's water buckets. We all sat for a few minutes and compared notes about the afternoon then continued on toward the car. 

We got back to Olancha Pass around 3:30 p.m. and got back to the car at 5 p.m. 11 hours and 22 miles round trip.