My hiking partner completed a 5-month PCT through hike in September of this year and she said this route to Strawberry Peak—dubbed the Mountaineer’s route—was one of the most challenging hikes she’s done.  It involves quite a bit of rock climbing and scrambling.  We faced a few challenges on the day we did it.  First, though we started at 7:30am, the weather was already nearly 80 degrees.  Second, the trail is not clearly marked.  If it wasn’t for our AllTrails and Gaia navigation tools, I don’t know if we would have found our way.  Third, this route probably isn’t a good idea for anyone who has a fear of heights because some of the rock scrambles overlooked steep drop offs. For my partner, the biggest motivation to continue versus turning back was that the idea of descending the rocks (after climbing a bit) was more scary than making it to the top and going down the other way.  There are 2 sections of rocky scramble and there are no official markings to guide you.  Even with AllTrails there were times I had to move around to figure out the best way.  I don’t think AllTrails’ route is exact on the rocks.  Keep in mind it provides a general direction versus an exact route.  My hiking partner had done some research beforehand and knew to look for some spray painted arrows.  We only saw 1 set (a faded purple one  with a white one next to it).  I’m not sure if there were supposed to be others but we didn’t see any more.

The only other sign we ran across was shortly after reaching the saddle that leads either to Strawberry or Josephine.  We almost missed it.  It was tiny & placed low and oddly.  (See photo that reads “strawberry pickin” with an arrow up).

Other than the issues related to scrambling and heat, it was great.  The skies were clear, views of downtown and the ocean beyond were without haze or other obstruction.  The westerly and easterly views were very interesting in how different they were.  One was green & blue while the other was brown and gray.
We met a couple middle aged solo hiking men and a young couple at the top.  One of the men was nice enough to offer us a ride back to our cars, which were about 4 miles away at Colby Canyon.

The hike down to Redbox was uneventful and easy.  I liked the thrill of climbing and the change of pace it afforded.  My partner, though glad she summitted, said it was a little out of her comfort zone and would probably never take that route again.