TR: Stanislaus and Sonora Peaks 09/30/2016

[SNOOOOW]

Sonora Sign.jpg

Since I had only ever been to Sonora Pass area during the winter I decided to head down there and climb a peak or 2. I decided on Stanislaus Peak - 11,233' and Sonora Peak - 11,459'. I drove just passed the actual Sonora Pass and started my day trip at the St Mary's pass trailhead which is just west of Sonora Pass. Since it was Fall the colors were very nice on the drive thru hwy 108 which is 1 of the reasons I chose to head down there in the 1st place. A lot of people hike these 2 peaks together but it seems most people hike Sonora 1st then head to Stanislaus which is further in. I chose the opposite and decided to head to Stanislaus 1st mostly because it is a really cool looking peak, in my opinion. The trail goes north from 108 up to the pass and it very easy to follow and from there you follow the trail basically all the way to the base (SE corner) of Stanislaus.

Stanislaus 2.jpg

After the trail peters out, the summit of Stanislaus was pretty easy and I just headed up and found what I thought was an easy way up on the southern side but turns out that you can basically walk right up it on the SE/E side, which is the way I came down. Nobody was out there and nobody had signed the register for about 5 days or something. I took the photos, snacked and then headed down towards Sonora peak and the car.

Sonora.jpg

From St Mary's pass there is a trail that heads towards the summit of Sonora but I did not want to go all he way back to the pass to hit the peak so I went back maybe half way on the trail and just headed up SE up to the ridge where I thought was a good way. I ended up hitting the trail right at the base of Sonora Peak and just followed it to the top. The wind really picked up at that point and was way windier than when I was on Stanislaus. I summited Sonora and hunkered down in the rock barrier to relax for a bit and snack some more.

Stanislaus.jpg

The views from both peaks are great, the fall colors were all around. Somebody had signed the register earlier in the day but I saw nobody all day and I really enjoyed that. After signing the register I took some photos and left cuz I was starting to get cold and the wind was annoying. Back to my car in about 5 hours total and I called it a day. If you have never been to this area I recommend it although from what I understand it gets a lot of foot traffic during peak summer, but doesn't anywhere that close to the road and PCT?? All in all I had a very enjoyable day and got to knock 2 summits off my list as well. Now I just gotta come back and ski these 2

[rlown]

man, we need some snow.. nice report..

[cefire]

Nice TR