A Southern Sierra Loop

Peaks: Sawtooth Peak (S), Spanish Needle, Lamont Peak

May 2024

After a successful—and hot—few days in Death Valley, Anthony and I were glad to be heading to the Southern Sierra. On our agenda were five peaks (six for Anthony, who had yet to climb Owens Peak) over the course of three days. We rolled into the Chimney Creek Campground and had the place to ourselves. The weather was magnificent. We enjoyed a peaceful dinner and went to sleep.

Early the next morning, we started our hike. I’d just be out for the day, doing a big loop to link Sawtooth Peak (South), Spanish Needle, and Lamont Peak. Anthony would be doing an overnight trip to also tag Owens Peak. After a few miles on the PCT, which brought back fond memories for both of us, we reached the saddle below Sawtooth. The climb was uneventful and straightforward. Soon we were on its summit, with panoramic views of the southern part of the range.

From there, we dropped back onto the PCT, eventually peeling off trail to climb Spanish Needle. We severely underestimated this peak. The traverse to the summit ridge was a sketchy and arduous sidehilling adventure that took well over an hour. Once on the summit ridge we were greeted by solid class 3 terrain. Eventually, we found ourselves at an impasse. There was allegedly a “class 3 friction slab” that Bob Burd mentioned but we could not find it. Eventually, we realized it was an insane looking slab of granite that required navigating a challenging system of flakes to even get to the base of. We somehow managed our way up the flakes, and made our way across the traverse. Anthony led the way. It was steep enough to be scary, and the drop below would certainly result in our untimely demise. Without thinking too much, we both scurried across the traverse and climbed some solid third class rock to the true summit.

We did not take much time to soak in the views, as we knew we’d have to reverse our steps on sketchy terrain sooner or later. After signing the register, we were off. Anthony navigated the traverse well, but had some trouble transitioning onto the flakes. After pondering his predicament for some time, he eventually made the rest of the down climb look easy. My nerves were pretty frayed from waiting at the top of the traverse, but I was able to managed the downclimb without major issue.

We were extremely relieved to be off of the summit and we even welcomed the arduous sidehill back to the trail, as it seemed a good deal safer than what we just did. Once back on the PCT, we enjoyed a few more miles together before I peeled off for Lamont Peak and Anthony continued along the PCT.

It took me a couple hours to traverse the ridge of Lamont Peak. The terrain was slow and bushy, and the views from the peak perhaps didn’t justify the effort to attain them. In any case, it was fun to make the trip a loop, and eventually I found a dirt road that I could trot along all the way back to camp. It was a big and pleasant day in the mountains.

The next day I rested, read, provided some PCT trail magic to hikers, and ran down the dirt road to meet Anthony for the last few miles of his hike. After this trip, we were off to Kennedy Meadows South to climb a couple more peaks.