Hiked: 6/16/2022
Distance: 21.6 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 12123'
Prominence: 3083'
Elevation Gain: 6410'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 5.1
Round trip time: 14 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 224 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Sage Flats Trailhead
Difficulty: Very Strenuous
Olancha Peak (SPS #177) is one of only 15 Sierra Peaks Section Emblem Peaks. It is the King Kong of the southern Sierra, towering over everything 14 miles north in the range and everything south of it. Leisa was headed for a camping trip in Yosemite with friends. I prefer not to attempt 10+ hour adventures alone, but was unable to find a buddy on short notice. I also moved the hike date up one day due to gale force winds and a 20 degree drop in temps from Thursday to Friday. I piled into the truck at 1 AM for the 4 hour drive to Sage Flats.
I was the only vehicle in the large parking area. There was a full moon and enough light for me to get started without a headlamp. It was a warm 77F at the trailhead. There were four distinct sections of this hike:
Olancha Pass
Olancha Pass Summit Meadow PCT Olancha West Face
When I stepped out of truck, a mosquito bit my hand. Olancha is notorious for mosquitos, but 30 minutes up the trail, I didn't see another one until I got back. Not far from the start, the regular trail winds up the canyon walls on the right (north) while the cow driveway continues straight up the gully to Olancha Pass. Like the name sounds, the cow driveway follows the stream up the gully and is used to drive cattle up to the lush greenery of Summit Meadow. I had read mixed things about the driveway, but decided to take it up. The cow driveway was not clear in the lower half of the gully. I wandered around partial trails and ended up in a side gully where I found some kind of bones, maybe cow? The upper cow driveway was very steep, hard packed mud. It's not great to hike on, but better than ascending soft sand. It would not be fun going down that way. At the top of the pass, I cached a couple bottles of water for the return trip.
Summit Meadow
This section was relatively flat, crossing open slopes, then dropping slightly down to the wide, grassy Summit Meadow area. There was a cattle pen and a cowboy camp. Summit Meadow itself was like a miles long golf fairway, devoid of trees. The trail skirts the meadow. I kept expecting to see animals in the meadow, but didn't. The Bear Trap Meadow trail connects from the north and is considered a short cut to the upper PCT. I considered taking it back, depending on my water situation and how I felt. I stuck to the Olancha Pass trail to the PCT. Up to this point, I had seen nobody.
PCT
I turned north when I hit the PCT. This is a pretty section of trail through scattered pines and boulder piles. I had read in another trip report that there was a stream with possible water at 9700'. At the stream, there were two through hikers getting water. We had a brief chat. They were two of a dozen through hikers I met who recently came from Kennedy Meadows. The stream had a slow but steady flow. I was going to filter some water, but felt I had packed in all I would need. I'm glad I didn't need it because the slow flow turned into a trickle when I crossed the stream on the way down. Better views opened up as the trail skirted the western shoulder of Olancha. Just above 10000', I dropped a second water cache. After 9 miles of hiking, I finally got a view of the summit. I had seen the photos, but it was an intimidating sight in person. I still had another mile before reaching the best spot to leave the trail. Much work ahead.
Olancha West Face
At the high point of the PCT, I left the trail and started up. The slope was still in the tree line and not as vertical as I expected. Steep class 1. I generally aimed Northeast, weaving around trees and ground cover. I spotted cairns in various places, but there was no defined use trail and the cairns were mostly useless. Once I emerged from the tree line, all that remained was boulders, easy class 2. Boulders got larger the higher I went. The route can remain class 2 if you stay far enough north. I wandered a little too far south at the very end and needed some unexposed class 3 to top out. Several small radio towers were on the summit. I found the benchmark and a couple of reference marks. An ammo box held a couple of registers. Olancha sees plenty of visitors. The latest entry was from earlier that day, and I wondered how we missed each other. Views exceeded all expectations. It was thankfully clear enough to see Langley and Whitney. Owens Valley and the Panamint range were east, giant meadows and the interior of the Sierra were west, and south was the lower crest as it melted into the high desert.
It was about 45F on the summit, a sharp contrast from the desert temps at the trailhead. Winds were gusty but not bad. I hung around the summit a while, then started down. I found the class 2 route off the summit and got down quickly. Off the summit, I only had 10 miles back to the truck. I met another half dozen through hikers on the way back. All were friendly. One or two looked beaten up by the gain on the PCT as it entered the higher Sierra. Instead of the cow driveway, I took the trail down. Having been on both, I'd recommend sticking to the well maintained trail both ways. it does add a little distance, but was much more pleasant and had better views. Back in the parking lot, I was still the only vehicle. I was starving as I drove an hour to Ridgecrest, where I planned to spend the night. I was so tired I started seeing things on the side of the road. That's only happened on a two other very long day hikes (Whitney and Rabbit). I slept soundly, probably could have slept soundly on a pile of gravel.
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