Jim and I have been trying to climb Mt Whitney for the last several years. One trip didn’t go due to weather. The other didn’t go because of a fire closures.
The day before our trip in June, we were informed that Whitney Portal was closed due to a fire. Whitney Portal was our exit route. After a phone call with George, the three of us decided to go anyway and see what happens.
I quickly communicated with our shuttle company to see if we could make changes to our pickup and drop off. They said they would get us picked up even though we didn’t know where. Our exit would be determined enroute.
I can’t recommend East Sierra Shuttle Service company enough. They handle shuttles anywhere in the Sierras. The owner retired to Lone Pine, California and quickly got bored. Started giving rides. Then started a business. 5 years later, he has 5 employees and 3 electric cars which work great when your day is driving up hill and then charging the battery while going down hill.
Jim, George, and I boarded a plane to Las Vegas in late June. We had a renal car and a new plan. After a stop at REI in Vegas, we headed across Death Valley and into Lone Pine. We could see the small fires on the hillside above town. Looked pretty much out to us. We were hopeful that Whitney Portal would be reopened by the time we were ready to exit the Sierras in 6 days time.
We car camped just outside Onion Valley. In the morning, we assembled our backpacks, dropped our car at the Onion Valley trailhead, and headed up to Kearsarge Pass.
The pass topped out at 11,760 ft. Good news: we got to start at 9,200 ft. Bad news: no acclimated to the altitude.
When we crested Kearsarge Pass, I could see why everyone loves the High Sierras. Mountain lakes and jaggity peaks.
After a lunch break, we descended into the basin. We passed by Kearsarge Lakes in order to get further down the trail. With Whitney Portal closed, we needed to make sure we had time in our schedule to access a different exit point if necessary.
We took a break at Bullfrog Lake.
Jim and I don’t do a lot of trail hiking so it was interesting to be on part of the Pacific Crest Trail and John Muir Trail at the same time. Lots of thru-hikers.
On our way down to Vidette Meadow camp, we came across a ranger telling us to be sure and camp where there was a bear vault. There was a mother with two little cubs in the area. A hiker had hung their food a few days back and the momma bear had climbed the tree and taken their food. As much as I wanted to see two baby cubs, I didn’t want to see a momma bear. We would definitely be camping with a bear vault.
We found a nice camp in the trees next to a stream. We covered almost 10 miles with no acclimation. I was happy with that.
For day 2, the standard route on the PCT is to go over Forester Pass. The high point in the traverse. CalTopo had shown an abandoned trail which took us over a different pass and rejoined us with the PCT 12 miles down the trail. Since George had already been over Forester Pass, we opted for something new.
Once we made the turn, we didn’t see another person on the trail except the climbers who cut over the trail on their way to a nearby peak.
When we broke out of the trees and into the high basin, we were so glad we had opted for this route.
As we frolicked through the basin, we came across Golden Bear Lake which demanded a long, boots off lunch break.
From here, we traversed the basin passing by high lakes and tarns. Eventually we hit the ridge where we could see the PCT and Forester Pass in the distance. We had definitely picked the better route.
We continued up the ridge to Junction Pass. Beautiful!!
After a break and pictures, we headed down soft dirt. The trail was very difficult to follow. Soon there was no trail and we were navigating by GPS. The slope was lose and very unstable. Took me over an hour to drop 500 feet.
The basin below wasn’t much better. Still no trail. A large boulder field for as far as your eyes could see. It took us hours to cross it.
At the other end of the mile long boulder field, we found the trail again. It lead down to an oasis.
We had the place to ourselves.
In the morning, I talked the guys into just cutting cross the hillside instead of dropping down more to hook up with the main trail and then hiking back up. Within a half hour, we were back in a lose boulder field. Yes, the trail would have been a heck of a lot faster.
The climb up to Shepherd Pass was slow and tedious. The slope was ready to slide with every step. Good thing this trail was maintained or we might still be there.
The other side of the pass was a 3 mile long basin. We enjoyed striding out on a long, flat, dirt trail.
Soon we were descending switchbacks and rejoining the PCT. We had met up with a ranger along the way who had informed us that Whitney Portal was still closed. He advised exiting Cottonwood trailhead which had good trails. Cottonwood was an additional 16 miles. We were going to have to climb Mt Whitney tomorrow if we were going to get out in time to catch our flight. We started hoofing it down the trail.
In the end, we made camp in a basin enroute to Mt Whitney. Not the optimal camp but close enough.
In the morning, we headed up the trail just after day break. Every mile or so the trail passed another lake.
When we came to Guitar Lake, I was tempted to send the guys on and spend my day relaxing. But the summit was calling.
Soon the trail began to climb steadily. And then came all the switchbacks. Hours of switchbacks.
The switchbacks did offer amazing views of the Guitar Lake basin.
Then finally we came to a junction. One trail went up to the summit. The other down to Whitney Portal. Super bummer that we wouldn’t be going that way later.
After a lunch break, I headed up the summit trail.
It was a long ridge run on or just below the ridge. Either way, it was a nice break from the switchbacks.
The trail went on forever. This as one long ridge.
Then the trail turned upwards and we were heading to the summit. 30 minutes later and we were still heading for the summit. Where the heck was this thing?
Then we saw the old building. A few steps more and we were on the summit. Wow!
While doing the hiking route up Mt Whitney, you forget how steep and rugged the east side of the peak is.
We could see down on Whitney Portal and Lone Pine. It was a little irritating that there was no smoke and yet the Portal was still closed. It was nice to have cell service. You can’t believe how many people were on FaceTime with friends.
George was ready to leave before us so we agreed to meet at Camp. Jim and I took our time exploring the old building including signing into the summit register.
By the time we started heading down, it was getting hot. We felt sorry for the people we past on the trail going up as we were going down. They looked miserably hot. As we got closer to Guitar Lake, we could see that no one was camping there.
It took Jim and I about two minutes to decide to stop for a swim before returning to camp. It was lovely.
When we got to camp, we found George sitting by the tent. Refreshed from an afternoon nap. He got to camp 3 hours before us.
We got an early start the next day. There was limited water sources between us and the Cottonwood trailhead so we had to do 16 miles today.
We had a nice shady trail until after lunch when we started to climb and climb and climb. We got so lucky to have a light cloud layer to ward off the heat. When we took a break in Siberian Outpost, we became aware of how incredibly dry it was here. And no dirt just sand. How were all these trees growing?
Chicken Spring Lake was a fabulous sight. We had just enough time to pitch our tent and take a swim before the sunset over the ridge.
What a perfect last campsite for our trip!
The miles the next day went by very quickly. We hit the trailhead almost an hour before our shuttle driver.
After the shuttle back to our car at the Onion Valley trailhead, we stopped for a cold drink and lunch then headed across Death Valley. We did make a stop at Furnace Creek just to get out of the car and experience 124 degrees. We didn’t realize that everyone at home was currently experiencing 117 degrees. Not sorry I missed that.
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