Long day of peakbagging around Sonora Pass including Sonora Peak, Stanislaus Peak, and Leavitt Peak. For the second leg, I made the short drive to Sonora Pass summit and headed south on the PCT towards Leavitt Peak, passing scores of thru-hikers along the way. It's a stunning stretch of the PCT - completely volcanic with not a pebble of granite to be found, yet replete with the lakes, cirques, and snowfields that are typical in the rest of the range.

I chose to ascend Leavitt's NE ridge based on it's description on Summitpost as a satisfying cl. 2 scramble. In reality it was pretty sketchy. Top of the ridge was characterized by blocky volcanic aretes that went anywhere from cl. 3 to cl. 5, but chossy as hell. Right side (north) of the ridge was a sheer cliff. Left side (south) was a very steep slab covered with a thin layer of ball-bearing sized scree. I climbed the aretes when I could and dropped down to the slippery left-side when needed. Not recommended. Took the standard east slope down.

Dramatic views of the exploding Tamarack Fire from the summit.