Scodie Mountain Loop From Walker Pass Campground

  • Updated: April 30, 2017
  • Post By: Matthew Hengst

April 30th, 2017
Scodie Mountain (7,294')
9.8 miles, 2900' gain

This was another Sierra Club I provisional for an Orange County Wilderness Travel Course staffer and this time it was Dennis Loya aka Bear from Modjeska Group.  Since it was just a day hike this one didn't count for students needing an experience trip but it was a good chance to get out and hike a pretty area that's only a few hours from LA.  Plus they got to hang out with us!

Most participants came up Saturday night and enjoyed a fireside happy hour at the Walker Pass Campground.  I however had been up since 3 am helping to run an Advanced Mountaineering Program rappelling class in Stoney Point.  That didn't wrap up until 4 pm and then of course I had to go keep everyone company at the post class mexican food.  As a result I wasn't on the road until sometime after 7 pm which put me up at Walker Pass Campground a bit after 10 pm after a brief stop to answer emails before dropping into the cell dead zone around the campground.

After saying quick hellos and hanging out at the fire for a little while I crashed in the back of the Jeep grateful for a few hours of sleep.


We were hiking at 8 and I got up plenty early to enjoy coffee and breakfast while hanging out in the back of the jeep and catching up with Connie Morris who had come through Kaweah Group last year.  We had a good mix of 2017 students, former students, and OC staffers along with a few non affiliated hikers.


The campground is rather small and especially during the PCT hiking season can get really crowded.  This early it was just a few random folks but the parking is still fairly limited and at first I thought I'd have to bivy back near 395.  It's not the nicest looking but it does have a pit toilet and it's easily accessible unlike the far superior Chimney Creek Campground to the north.


After a quick trailhead talk 12 of us headed off along the PCT at 8 am.


The route up was fairly straightforward following the western gully.  You leave the PCT but there's a ducked use trail that takes you up to the summit plateau where things got a bit harder to follow.


There are ducks scattered around up here but it can be easy to get lost especially if you're restricted to only compass and topographical map.  Which of course Dennis was since it was a provisional.


The summit of Scodie Mountain
We found the summit fairly easily around 12:40.  




The summit plateau can be tricky due to the limited visibility and lack of terrain clues and we had a small reroute after we left the summit.  Then we picked up the proper gully and headed down.


The eastern gully was a lot more challenging than the one we'd taken up  It's passable but you do have to pick your way through vegetation and avoid the occasional slick rocks.  There was even water seeping out of the ground in a few places.


We were back down to the trailhead by 4:30 pm at which point a few people had to take off immediately.  Those of us who could go home via the 14 stopped at Mojave Cafe and enjoyed surprisingly decent post trip diner food which even included a few mexican options.  So it was basically post trip mexican...

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