TR: Olancha Peak 5/5

[jokismo]

Had been eyeing this for awhile as it seemed right on the border of 'reasonable' driving range for a day hike from downtown LA.
I left my door at 5.30 and was at the Olancha Pass trailhead at 8.10. The dirt road was in good condition.
It was already in the 70s at the trailhead, and getting to the pass was a bit of a slog with scenery similar to the San Gabriels.
Once over the pass I was greeted with a nice scenery change and my first glance over into the Golden Trout Wilderness.
There is a trail marked on the Forest Service map on caltopo that seemed to cut off a fair amount of distance, so I took this route, which followed the first stream after the pass. It was a use trail at best which disappeared pretty quickly but did cut off a considerable amount of distance, eventually intersecting with the PCT.
After the PCT junction I was greeted with expansive views out to the west and to the North.
After following the PCT for awhile, postholing a few times on the patchy snow, Olancha peak came into view.
There was no marked route, the slope starts with some sparsely forested rocky terrain turning into a long boulder field. I elected to head up diagonally from the south-west.
I had been pushing the pace and was feeling pretty beat at this point, if I had been in better condition the long scramble to the top would have been much more enjoyable.
After slogging it up to what I assume is around 50 feet below the summit, I found myself stuck in a class 4 section and was too beat to re-approach so I called it a day. Re-assessing on the way down it seemed a west or north-west approach from below the summit would have been easier.
On the way back I took the longer route which followed the PCT until the official junction to Olancha Pass and chatted with a few thru-hikers.
There was another stream around this junction.
I reached the car at 6 after a long slog down from the pass.
Overall quite the enjoyable day, I will re-attempt the summit later in the season when I am in better condition.
My gps died towards the end but it was around 20 miles, I believe taking the shorcut both ways would have knocked it down to around 18.5. Elevation gain was 7k.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4snKcTpDFg81vSsj6