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Juli and I drove up to Kennedy Meadows after work on Friday and slept in the campground near the PCT trailhead. The next morning she planned to do a long trail run along the PCT while I dayhiked Smith Mountain and Crag Peak. I took advantage of the possibility for a car shuttle and had her drop me off further up Sherman Pass Rd. at the Fish Creek CG. I would hike back to Kennedy Meadows bagging the peaks along the way.
It was 18 degrees out when she dropped me off in the dark, and I didn't have room to pack my down jacket. I sat in the car with the heater on full blast for a few minutes before jumping out and heading up the 4WD road in my Nike running pullover, running shorts, and running tights. As I hurried up the road, I noticed that it was leading generally in the wrong direction. I checked my GPS and realized that I should have had her drop me off at the Aberdeen turnout 1/4 mile back down Sherman Pass Rd. I corrected the error by following a not-very-obvious 4WD road past the end of the Fish Creek overflow CG. This road led generally in the right direction and eventually met up with the "main" 4WD road that I had marked on my GPS.
I made good time along the main 4WD road even jogging some sections. I didn't want to make Juli wait too long after her 4 hour outing. The road was completely drive-able for about 3 miles from Sherman Pass Rd. At that point the road dead-ended into a trail. I followed that as best I could for a few more miles before leaving the trail to slog up Smith, climbing over many many downed trees along the way. I happened across a black bear about a mile from the end of the trail as well. He saw me before I saw him, and he climbed 30 straight up a tree trunk in about 2 seconds. Then he hid behind the trunk and poked his head out to see what I was up to. As I circled the tree, he circled with me always keeping his head poked out to observe. It was a funny scene.
Not long after the bear encounter I got to the spot where I had marked on my GPS that I should leave the trail to ascend the eastern slopes of Smith. I slogged up the tree-covered slopes and summitted about 30 minutes from the trail. There was one semi-tricky easy class 3 move to be done to gain the summit. The views at the top were great, especially after spending the entirety of my morning in the dark or in the trees. I tried to pick out Crag Peak to the east but I wasn't entirely sure which one it was. I planned to descend the north ridge, pick up the trail, then follow it east through some meadows and around the south end of Finger Rock.
On the descent I encountered the first real snow of the day, but it didn't pose any real problem. I found the trail I was looking for and followed it east as planned. I lost and found it several times on account of downed trees and snow. I had expected to have to leave the trail and head cross-country to the south beginning at Agua Bonita Springs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that a trail led all the way past Corral Meadow and a lesser-travelled use trail all the way around the south tip of Finger Rock. I took advantage of these making good time and resisting the temptation to follow the more obvious trail to the north to the PCT. I got confused at one point thinking that the west face of Finger Rock was the west face of Crag. I thought to myself... "crap I'm gonna have to climb that". It turned out not to be the case, and I contoured around its southern end.
The first views of the Crag Peak ridgeline also made me hesitate. I had read a few online trip reports in which the climber had ascended the wrong summit because of confusion caused by the incorrect peak being marked on most official maps. The ridgeline has three high points, and the highest is the furthest north. Most maps mark the center one. Thus, I thought I had taken care to mark the correct summit on my GPS, but as I looked at it from below I really doubted that. I wondered whether I should trust what I had marked on my GPS, which appeared to be the center peak or whether I should climb the northerernmost high point. I decided that I'd hike up the gully just south of the center summit either way then re-assess because the gully just north of the center summit didn't look very climb-able anyway. That turned out to be a good choice, as few-hundred foot ascent was relatively easy. I ended up going all the way to the top of the false summit since I was already so close anyway. From there I became 100% sure that I would need to traverse north to the true summit. It took about 20 minutes to descend then re-ascend to below the class 3 summit rocks on the west face of the peak.
All of the class 2 stuff behind me, I looked for a feasible route up to the exposed fin-shaped rock that I had read about. I explored a class 3+ dead end along the left side of the rocks then found the easy way up along the far righthand side. Easy class 3 climbing led to the fin rock, and I scooted on my butt to the opposite side. From there a couple more class 3 moves got me on top. I was 5.5 hours from the trailhead. I could see Olancha Peak, the Whitney Group, and the Kaweahs in the distance. Juli climbed nearby Deer Mountain on her outing.
The descent to the PCT was long and hard on my ailing IT band. It took me about 1.25 hours to get from the top to the trail. I followed a faint use trail or deer trail for some of it then a creekbed. I jogged most of the remaining 4 easy miles back to Kennedy Meadows, arriving about 7.5 hours after I was dropped off. The final distance was 20.4 miles.
