Olancha Peak

[dhstein313]

Instead of moaning about the SoCal forest closures decided to drive north and hit the first promient peak in the Southern Sierras. We started at Sage Brush - bushwacked up the canyon rather than the switchbacking on the sandy trail. There was remnants of an old trail but mostly COW PATHS. Hit the PCT after the pass. And then Xcountried/scrambled to the summit of Olancha 12100 +/-. Very cold and windy on the top and just a few patches of powder in the shade. The peak is very interesting - great views of Owens Valley, Langly Peak area, and Southern California. Saw no one the entire time and the last hikers to sign into the register was over a month ago. The trail down in the dark is a little sketchy through the sage brush and VERY SANDY - which can be very tiring. Got to the trailhead at 11:30 and very tired after a three hour drive home.

Very nice work out - 12 hours 21+/- miles w/just over 6000 ft gain. Got most of our research from Summit Post. Very different than SoCal - cattle grazing, fences, Cow Corrals, large meadows, historical water troughs, and some weather -radio towers on the summit. Nice day in the wilds!

D

[KathyW]

D: Congrats on doing Olancha - it is a great peak. Do you think you saved many miles or time doing the shortcut? I kind of recall that the hike via the trail is around 21 miles but my memory isn't always that good.

I'd like to do Cartago Peak up in that area sometime.

Kathy

[Cy Kaicener]

Olancha peak and Cartogo are two fine peaks. Here are two links about them.
http://www.geocities.com/kararkarar/index-27.html
http://www.geocities.com/kararkarar/cartago1.html

[dhstein313]

Kathy,
It sure felt like more than 21 round but that is probably close -- my guess just going up the canyon would have saved us probably two miles. The trail designed for horses has quite a bit of switches and tends to stay high on the ridge. I could not imagiine the agony though of hiking up hill in the sand - coming down was bad enough.

D

[KathyW]

Thanks - It's been a number of years since I've been up there - I didn't remember the sand on the trail.

[tomcat_rc]

4 of us climbed Olancha Peak yesterday - 12 hours round trip and a great day on the mountain.

the way the lower trail works - about 1 mile in the trail splits
the right hand spit follows the drainage up with the final mile being an uphill slog up loose dirt - this is the cattle trail

the right hand slpit is the hiking trail - many of the horsed riders use this trail also. it is in good condition and switchbacks up the the ridgeline.
both trail meet up at the high side of the canyone near Olancha Pass. the preferred method is up the cattle trail and down the hiking trail.

[dhstein313]

We actually took the canyon split, but much lower than the sign you mentioned. We started just a 1/4 mile in where the barbed fence Y -ed. We did run into the the trail you mentioned higher up but found very little tread just some cattle meanderings. Impossible to get lost - just head up and you'll hit the saddle.

D

[hvydrt]

was there any water in there creek at the wrangler camp??? How about the stream a few miles past the wrangler camp on the PCT???

[dhstein313]

There was water off and on in the canyon up to the first pass - more at lower elevations. Near the old trough just East of Olancha Pass was wet so you could probably find water there. There was one or two places with flowing water near Gomez Meadows on the PCT. Saw no H20 near the wrangler camp but did not go down into the meadow to find any.

D

[tomcat_rc]

one of our party missed the trail also and headed down in the canyon before realizing and jumping back up on the trail - easy mistake to make in the dark - especially when there is a trail leading down from the corral.

we put a spin on the trip by employing a variation to the trip. before the hiking and cattle trail reunite there is a draw that can be ascended leading directly to the ridgeline and shaving miles off the trip. normally water can be taken from small feeders around Bear Trap Meadows. we only saw one of these with just standing water only - no flow - but could be used in an emergency

picts from trip:
http://tomcat-rc.smugmug.com/gallery/3780267#217858776