Southern Sierra > Olancha Peak > Climber's LogOlancha Peak Climber's Log
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| royanderson | Sage Flat  Date Climbed: Jul 13, 2009 | |
| A quick unplanned trip with my brother Ed. | |
| Posted Mar 9, 2013 10:32 pm | ||
| revolvingscimitar | From Sage Flat via PCT Date Climbed: Sep 29, 2012 | |
| This is a hard dayhike, but it's even harder when you drive from LA in the morning, summit, then drive back the same evening... The trail to Olancha Pass is so dusty, one in the group was coughing black phlegm for a week after. The summit scramble takes a lot of discipline, particularly when done late in the afternoon and on tired legs. Views to die for at the top. | |
| Posted Jan 28, 2013 4:59 pm | ||
| seano | From Sage Flat Date Climbed: Oct 8, 2012 | |
| A nice, moderate day before the snow was supposed to arrive. Leaving the trail too soon added some work. Trip report. | |
| Posted Oct 9, 2012 3:18 pm | ||
| ScrambledLeggs | PCT Ascent | |
| I climbed Olancha during my 2012 thru hike. | |
| Posted Sep 17, 2012 6:19 pm | ||
| cab | Sage Flat Date Climbed: Jun 9, 2012 | |
| Dayhike from Sage Flat. The trail starts out pretty sandy for the first 1.5 - 2 miles which makes for slow going, but it starts to improve above that. Perfect weather all day and a nice climb to the top which had great views. Didn't see a mosquito all day. | |
| Posted Jun 11, 2012 10:46 am | ||
| krrt2000 | Monache Mdws Date Climbed: Aug 16, 1985 | |
| With Jeff, Helo on summit. | |
| Posted Feb 26, 2012 9:08 pm | ||
| laswanso | One day from Sage Flat Date Climbed: May 28, 2011 | |
| Very long day because the trail was so difficult to follow. Some snow and lots of water covering the trail. Got off the trail several times, but thankfully found our way back down in the dark. | |
| Posted Dec 29, 2011 3:29 pm | ||
| mrchad9 | Monache Meadows Date Climbed: Oct 9, 2011 | |
| Great late season hike from the meadows via the Pacific Crest trail, would've been a lot easier without the 6-12" of snow most of the route from the previous week's storm. Came down the west ridge but cut south too early and followed the drainage east of Hessian Meadow (still not difficult as the area here lacked snow). Really liked the views down the east face and into Owens Valley. | |
| Posted Oct 11, 2011 8:32 pm | ||
| CaHikr | Monache Meadows Date Climbed: Aug 21, 2011 | |
| Great clear day! We went up the creek and then bushwacked to reach the trail near the pct jct on the way up, then came back on the trail to the trailhead. I must say the first 1.5 miles of trail that we came back on were in very poor condition and required route finding to get us back to the car. The final summit approach was a bit of a challenge but very doable. The road to the trailhead should only be attempted with a 4x4 vehicle but can easily be driven by anyone with a little offroad experience. All said great day! great hike! | |
| Posted Aug 22, 2011 2:05 pm | ||
| Climber Dave | From Sage Flat Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2011 | |
| A hot dusty hike up the cow trail, winter is definately over and the skeeters have come out!! Great views from the summit | |
| Posted Jun 27, 2011 10:48 am | ||
| holly sorenson | sage flat Date Climbed: Jun 19, 2011 | |
| Alice and I bush wacked from the cow trail, following her "track' on her GPS to the PCH. Nasty route through manzanita, but saw bear tracks in the sand, bounding deer, and a bright green frog. Nice pay-off for blood loss in the 'thrash-fest' that was supposed to be the "shortcut" :) Great summit day, Returned via trail. Ahhhhh.... | |
| Posted Jun 20, 2011 11:51 pm | ||
| GigaMike | Sage Flat Date Climbed: May 21, 2011 | |
| Dayhike from Sage Flat with a great group. | |
| Posted May 23, 2011 2:28 pm | ||
| Thomas Erspamer | From Sage Flat Date Climbed: Nov 4, 2010 | |
| Departed Sage Flats at 4:30 am. Returned 7:00 pm. 14:30 RT. Excellent weather conditions. Clear skies with temperatures ranging from 45F to 65F. Followed route on Bob Burd's map on the ascent. We descended down the easier north slope then did a 180 degree arc traversing the west slope in the forest below the summit block connecting with the trail at the 10,600' knob. Connecting here avoids unnecessary altitude gain on the return trip. 8 hours up. 6.5 hours down. We made the mistake of taking the Cow Highway as a "short cut" on the way down. Don't take this route up or down. The "highway" looked like it had been flash flooded. It was littered with toaster-sized boulders for much of the way making the going slow and painful. Besides that it is an ecological disaster. The creek bed it occupies is completely destroyed. It's hillside is in a state of severe hyper-erosion. You must carry all your water (I consumed 5.5 liters). Although we crossed several running streams (storms had dropped a little rain and snow in the preceding weeks), cattle grazing has resulted in obvious water pollution. All told we had an excellent outing. Through the clear, deep dark, moonless starry night we could see the glow of Las Vegas in the morning. Visibility from the summit was excellent. We were lucky. | |
| Posted Nov 7, 2010 12:31 pm | ||
| kraymes | North East Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 10, 1987 | |
| What a fiasco this was. Twisted my ankle at 9000', buckled down and summitted. Came off at night in a raging lightening storm to 2 flat tires on the ole Commanche. Changed the spare and drove out on the flat/rim to the what is now the Olancha Mobil and put some fix a flat in a drove to the house (I was living behind Hiawee at the time). | |
| Posted May 22, 2010 12:03 pm | ||
| sierragator | sage flat sans manzanitas Date Climbed: Apr 10, 2010 | |
| http://sierragator.smugmug.com/gallery/11794870_PBrQq#833103455_phUQx | |
| Posted Apr 11, 2010 11:14 am | ||
| Princess Buttercup | From Sage Flat Date Climbed: May 9, 2009 | |
| Long day with plenty of bushwhacking through hellish manzanita. Punishment for something, I just don't know what... | |
| Posted Dec 1, 2009 12:16 am | ||
| KVHiker | Manzanita Hike Date Climbed: May 9, 2009 | |
| I went on a hike on Saturday, May 9th, 2009 to Olancha Peak. I car camped at the trailhead at Sage Flat so that we could make an Alpine start. I arose at 3:50AM, and got myself ready to go. We set out at about 4:45AM and I entered the Sequoia National Park in the dark with my headlamp on. We hiked up the cow trail for a long time gaining lots of elevation as we went. We veered off the trail, and located a shallow draw through the thick manzanita that was everywhere. It was about 3.5 miles from the trailhead to Olancha pass with an elevation gain of 4000 feet. After reaching the pass we set off at a rapid pace North. We crossed through Bear Trap Meadow, and located the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). We followed the PCT through Brush Meadow to a point just West of Olancha Peak. Some of the landmarks we could see were Monache Meadows, Monache Mountain, Brown Mountain, Jackass Peak, White Mountain, Granite Knob, Crag Rock, Deer Peak, and much more. The distance was 3.5 miles with an elevation gain of about 500 feet. At this point we turned East off the PCT, and set off to climb the rest of the way to Olancha. It is about a mile from the PCT to the summit, but the elevation gain is over 2000 feet. We left the PCT at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and the summit is at 12120 feet so at this altitude acclimation is a factor. This last section is a giant boulder scramble all the way to the top. The view from the summit is amazing, and we had great visibility with a 360 degree view. Some of the landmarks visible from the peak are Mount Whitney, Mount Russell, Mount Langley, the Domeland wilderness, the Golden Trout Wilderness, Jordan Peak, The Needles, Slate Mountain, Owens Valley, the Cosos, the Black Rock region, Kennedy Meadows, and more. We ate some food on the summit, and took pictures. We headed back down at 2:00. We made really good time on the way back in spite of getting really stuck in some dense manzanita. The total distance was 17 miles round trip with an elevation gain of over 6500 feet. The hike took us 14 hours, and it was nice to hang out with good company all day. Photos | |
| Posted Aug 13, 2009 6:40 pm | ||
| MarieP | From Sage Flat | |
| Beautiful hike, just stay away from the cow trail! | |
| Posted Aug 11, 2009 3:47 pm | ||
| farrisgl | Great 3 Day Long Weekend Climb Date Climbed: Jun 6, 2009 | |
| Climbed as a 2.5 day long weekend outing from Sage Flats. Really nice outing. We enjoyed Summit Meadows as a campsite. Very nice view. Well worth the time! | |
| Posted Aug 10, 2009 1:06 am | ||
| lakenyon | from Sage Flat Date Climbed: May 30, 2009 | |
| 2009/05/30: dayhike from Sage Flat; snow flurry on summit 2007/11/04: dayhike from Sage Flat | |
| Posted Jul 7, 2009 3:48 am | ||
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