{"id":6811,"date":"2024-05-28T20:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T03:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yetihikes.net\/wordpress\/?p=6811"},"modified":"2026-04-13T01:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:55:29","slug":"pacific-crest-trail-day-64-scramble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yetihikes.net\/wordpress\/2024\/05\/28\/pacific-crest-trail-day-64-scramble\/","title":{"rendered":"PCT Day 64 \u2013 Scramble Bypass"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Day 64<\/p>

Start: Evolution Meadow<\/p>

Finish: Sallie Keyes Lakes<\/p>

Daily Mileage: 13.5<\/p>

PCT Mile: 864.9<\/p>

Link to Andrew Skurka’s Over the Top route discussion and gps track<\/a><\/p>

Link to Andres Skurka’s Sierra Creek crossing and bridge outage alternates<\/a><\/p>

To download the GPS data, on the Caltopo page, click the folder icon on the left side of the screen, click export, then select your GPS format of choice, likely GPX.\u00a0 Or you can copy this map to your Caltopo account if you have one.\u00a0 Either way, you will have to have an external mapping program like Gaia or Caltopo (both subscription) to navigate with this data offline.\u00a0 There may be some other alternatives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Today was a day that I had been anticipating or wondering about since before I started the trail. Last year was a record snow year, and snowmelt destroyed the bridge over the South Fork of the San Joaquin River. This river flows pretty well, so it is dangerous to ford early in the season, as some hikers just found. I had been planning to do an alternate scramble that Andrew Skurka proposed to get around the bridge by avoiding the crossing of the river as well as Evolution Creek. His route is marked unproven, but I\u2019ve heard that a number of hikers did it last year, and at least a few more this year. However, there is still very little information on this \u201cOver the Top\u201d route other than a few sentences here and there in Facebook posts. I couldn\u2019t find any pictures or GPS tracks of actual travel on this route. Cookie Monster and I successfully completed this route, and I will use most of this post to describe the route, since it is possible.<\/p>

Disclaimer: I am very comfortable with off-trail navigation, route finding, and scrambling. I\u2019ve done the Hayduke Trail, Bailey Range, and other routes. This route is suitable for anyone who is also practiced in these areas. If you or someone in your group aren’t experienced with these, you probably should not do this route.\u00a0 Also, you should download Andrew Skurka\u2019s GPS data for the route and all of his Sierra alternates in general linked above. I used both Gaia and Caltopo on this route, and found slope angle shading particularly useful in deciding where to steer the hike, since the provided data is theoretical only. Farout is not sufficient to safely do this hike. That data is exceptionally poor even for on-trail travel. With that said, I had fun on this route and enjoyed all of it. I never felt exposed, and feel it is quite doable for a competent hiker with the above skills. However, others have said it scared them or they would never recommend it. You can only decide for yourself, and I bear no responsibility if you take this route and have a bad day.<\/p>

Cookie Monster and I camped near the start of the scramble, so there was just a half mile of warmup before we hit it. The scramble starts with a 800 foot climb up boulders and slabs. The angle is comfortable, and we found many places where there were almost natural switchbacks in the cut of the rock that you could walk up. We kept our poles out for the entire scramble, and only put hands down a few times.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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