Hill and Dale: Finger Rock, Pontatoc Connector, & Pontatoc Trail Loop

Finally made it back to the Finger Rock trail to complete the loop with the new Pontatoc Connector. On a hike up the Finger Rock Trail to the Saddle in early January of this year, I espied a new trail being built that wended its way southwest down from Linda Vista Saddle toward the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. Two weeks later, Misty and hiked the Pontatoc Canyon Trail in the hope of seeing where the new trails were headed. After hiking to the end of the trail, we decided to cut cross country up and over and sure enough, after about a mile or so, we came across some serious trail building, cordoned off to keep folks from tumbling down a cliff face and killing themselves. We went the other direction up to the Linda Vista Saddle. It was then we decided to make this new loop one of the first hikes of the 2025-2026 season. It ended up being the third.

This new loop is best hiked clockwise so as to save ones knees from the extremely rocky, steep, and frankly dangerous Finger Rock Trail. Let me say straight off, the Finger Rock Trail to the Saddle is a real bitch, with over 2,500 feet of elevation gain squeezed into two miles, with steep stretches of smooth granite slabs strewn with loose gravel that are not for the faint of heart, especially when wet. Descending the new connector is a real godsend, and makes for a great hike where the hard bits are front-loaded, and that last stretch comparatively free of steps and craggy rocks.

Beautiful clear day, highs in the low sixties with this cold spell. Saw only three other hikers and four trail builders working for a private firm hired by the National Forest Service, and apparently not cut by the fascist morons in the present administration. They thanked us for using the trail and they were the ones who needed to be thanked, and we did.

Finger Rock, after which this trail is named. Oddly, other hikers are always asking questions like, did you make it to Finger Rock. But the trail goes no where near the Finger. One would have to cut across a canyon and climb it using mountaineering gear. Seldom done that I know of.