When you first drive out of Lone Pine you will see
several mountains that look very tall. In fact Lone Pine Peak to the far left of Whitney
looks much taller then Whitney itself. This is an illusion stemming from the fact that
Lone Pine Peak is much closer in the foreground. Lone Pine Peak in actuality is about
13,000 feet. Mt. Whitney is the spire situated on the right side of all the other sharp
jagged spires. It is 14,496.811 feet in elevation. Most people when they stand on the
summit are over 14,500 feet in elevation.
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This hike is best spread out over several days. The entire trip is 22 miles from the
trailhead to the summit and then back to the trailhead. The trailhead starts at
approximately 8300 feet. There is a small restaurant and fishing pond. A
small store is also located here. This pond is
stocked with trout and is a favorite place for the children to practice their fishing
skills. There is a large parking lot here, which fills up during the busy weekends in the
summer months.
Sunset along the Mt. Whitney Portal Road, taken near Movie
Road |
Located right at the trailhead are several info signs about hiking Mt.
Whitney. It is a good idea to review these before starting your climb.
As of mid 2005 The forest service is currently running a volunteer "poop
and pack" trial system - in which you pack out any poop you create while
on the hike. This is modeled after the system on Mt. Shasta in northern
California where its mandatory to carry out all poop. The problem is
that the solar toilets on Whitney are not always open and at times
cannot handle the volume. I suspect in the near future this will become
a mandatory system for hiking Mt. Whitney. There is also a hanging scale
located at the trailhead which is good up to 100 pounds. You can weigh
your backpack before you start hiking.
I have been told and have read that the Whitney hike is the most popular hike in
California. After hiking it I can see why. Not only are you hiking up to the highest point
in the Continental United States but you are hiking through some gorgeous rock formations
and you have spectacular views of not only the eastern desert regions but once you reach
12,500 feet, also of the western Sierras. People hike this trail in different times of the
year. By far the most popular months are July, August, and September. I know of several
people who snow shoed the entire trail in a 3 or 4 day trip in the springtime.
When I say that this hike is best if done over a span of several days I mean that you
won't have as much problem with altitude sickness and you will not need to be in excellent
physical shape. The main drawback to hiking this hike in several days is that multi day
permits are extremely hard to come by. They are sold out months in advance. I recommend
that you call at least a year in advance if you want multi day permits. The PHONE
NUMBER
to call for permits or campground reservations is 760-873-2483. Also visit www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/wild/wildpermits.html
for more information about how to obtain a wilderness permit. You may
find that during the summer the phone number above is hard to get through. You
may be bombarded with constant busy signals. Try calling very early in the morning.
The Lone Pine Chamber of
Commerce can be contacted via the web: www.lonepinechamber.org
or by calling PHONE NUMBER is 877.253.8981
Various permit fees apply. At last check, day hike tickets are $5 per person.
Overnight trips into The Mt. Whitney "zone" are $15/night.
Visa or Mastercard are accepted.
There are several campgrounds that you can stay at. The most preferable is the Whitney
Portal campground which is located nearby the trailhead. This is usually full so I
recommend to call for reservations months in advance. Dave hiked the Whitney
trail with 2 other
friends. We were able to secure 2 nights camping at the Lone Pine Campground which is
located next to the Lone Pine River at about 6000 feet just before you start
climbing up the 2 major switchbacks leading to the Trailhead.
There are two minor disadvantages to this
campground; one is that you are camping at 6000 feet instead of at 8300 feet
so its harder for your body to adjust to the altitude as you are at a
lower elevation. (See the Nepal article and the subsection on
altitude sickness for lots more information). and the other disadvantage is that you have to drive
about 5 miles up a steep grade to access the trailhead before starting your
hike.
The main advantages of the staying at the Lone Pine campground is that this campground is
far less crowded then its counter part at the trailhead. This means that you will be able
to get a campground reservation over the phone. I was able to get our reservation for this
campground for the two nights, about only 1.5 months in advance. You are also next to the
Lone Pine River which can be very relaxing. This river is quite cold and feels nice to
splash around in on a very warm Owens Valley summer day. There are fish here and I saw
several fisher people have some luck with catching small trout. Bear proof
containers are available at each campsite.
Another good camping alternative in the Whitney area is the Tuttle Creek
campground. It doesn't have any water or bathrooms but it is always
available if the Lone Pine Campground or the Whitney campground become
full during peak times. It is a bit on the rustic side though.
In order to defeat some of the effects of the altitude my friend and I camped out for a
night at 10,200 feet. During one of the days I hiked up to 12,000 feet as fast as I could.
I paid for that hike in the short term with a splitting headache. In the long term on the
Whitney hike (which was done at a more leisurely pace) I had no altitude effects. This
location where we camped was in the wilderness area near Saddlebag Lake about 2 or 3 miles
off of Highway 120, about 2 miles on the eastern side of Tioga Pass. We were just outside
of Yosemite National Park. The access road is dirt and a bit rocky in the beginning. If
you drove slowly you could get an RV over this road. The first part of the road is the
worst and then it gets better. The steep portions are even paved. To camp over night,
without staying in a campground, you need to get a free wilderness permit from the general
store above Saddlebag Lake. The hike to the wilderness area is about 15 or 20 minutes at a
rapid pace, around the west shore of the lake.
The Lone Pine Campground is about 6 miles due west of downtown Lone Pine, just off of the
Whitney Portal Road. The Whitney trailhead is about 13 miles from downtown Lone Pine. Be
sure not to miss this portal road. It can be quite easy to do as it looks like any other
road branching off of the main street (US 395). It is located next to a pizza place that
advertises "we toss em', there awesome"! I ate here and I recommend this place
before you begin the hike as you will want to pasta and carbo load.
I found that I was able to coast down the entire 13 miles of the Whitney portal road
without applying the accelerator. The 5 miles or so near the trail head are quite steep,
so watch those brakes. Gear down!
We woke up at 4:15am towards the end of August and were on the trail by 4:45am. We decided
due to the unavailability of multi day permits to trek the entire hike in one day. It
turns out that had we known that an entire group of 12 decided to not show up, we could
have gotten multi day permits the day before. I guess it is a good idea to call a few days
before your hike to just make sure there are not any multi day cancellations. The number
of permits given per person is 6. The Forest Service only allows a certain number of
people on the trail per day and when that number is filled, no more permits are given out.
Our hike started out in the darkness and stayed that way for about an hour until the sun
rose. We began our hike up the side of a steep canyon. Just about most of the hike to the
top was up hill. The trail condition varied from flat to quite rocky and rugged in places.
There were several steep canyons that we hike up. The sun rising over the eastern hills on
the far side of the Owens Valley was spectacular. We passed several small lakes and creeks
next to the trail. Tree line ended around 10,500 feet. There is a solar bathroom around
9,500 feet and then again at 11,000 feet. There are solar cells lining one side of the
slanted roof. A ranger we met on the way down told us that they are used to power a fan
which dries out the waste. This makes is extremely light and then the rangers pack it out
and use it as fertilizer.
The rock strata looks like granite but is more white. Some of the formations look like
some of the granite that you would see in Yosemite National Park. There are 2 campgrounds
where most people camp. Apparently you can camp near the trail in other areas but at least
100 feet away from lakes and streams. The second campground lies in a small rocky plain at
the base of Mt. Whitney and the other spires. This is about 11,500 feet and above timber
line. This would be a good place to camp on your first day if you were taking 3 days to
climb to the top. This campground also lies at the base of the infamous 99 switchbacks.
There are actually 99 switchbacks that make there way up an incredibly steep slope, almost
a cliff towards the middle top part. If you are susceptible to altitude sickness the base
of these switchbacks is probably where you will start feeling some symptoms. I took a
precautionary Advil at this point and was fine for the rest of the hike. I probably did
not even need to take it, but after my Nepal travels I was very, very, very leery of
altitude sickness!
One member of our party took the motivation to cut the switchbacks. He was making at least
as good a time if not better as the rest of us. You are able to cut the switch backs
during the first part of the 99 switchbacks as the terrain is not too steep yet. You are
climbing over boulders and many many rocks. Some of these 99 switchbacks are so tight that
they extend for maybe 15 feet in one direction before they make there next cut. It was
about half way up these switch backs that we saw several people dealing with headaches and
the usual altitude symptoms. I also briefly talked to a jogger who said he made it to the
summit and back to the middle of the switchbacks in 4 hours. That is incredible time!
After what seems like an eternity you will reach the end of these switchbacks at the edge
of a divide at the trail crest. The elevation is about 13,800 here. On the eastern side of
the divide you won't feel any wind but as soon as you step onto the divide and on the
eastern side you will be blown around as the wind is quite strong. Just out of reach of
the wind on the eastern side is a good place to take a lunch or snack break. On the other
side of the divide you will unbelievably drop down. We all became discouraged because
dropping in elevation was the last thing that we wanted at this point! Don't worry, as
this elevation drop was not more then a couple of hundred feet and the trail soon resumed
climbing. The top of the 99 switchbacks (the small divide) is about 1.5 to 2 hours from
the summit at a leisurely pace.
As you climb this part of the trail you can look west and see some impressive terrain. You
are nearing 14,000 feet and you can look down steep cliffs and see valleys far below where
trees have only partially taken hold as most of the terrain is above timber line. Peaks of
12,000 to 14,000 rise in the distance. The trail crest is 2.5 miles from the summit, about
2 hours of hiking. The crest is also a good place to stop and look at the sky. If there
are thunderheads beginning to build, now is a good time to turn back. When hiking in the
high country it is better to err on the side of caution. There is little in the way of
protection from a lightning storm or the elements at this elevation.
Soon you will be hiking on the backside of the jagged spires that you saw in the distance
as you were driving along the 395 or the Whitney portal road. The backside of these are
really quite gradual in steepness, not the sheer cliffs like on their eastern side. At
several points on the trail you will be hiking on a trail that is about 3 feet in width.
On both sides of the trail are steep cliffs that drop for a thousand or more feet. I only
lingered here for a very short while in order to snap a photo. The wind was stronger in
this part of the trail.
We were hiking on a Monday and as we hiked up towards the end of the trail we were greeted
by people on there way down the trail. They all had words of encouragement. I was
surprised to see the large number of people for a Monday. I can only imagine how crowded
the summit would be on a weekend. Once you get close to the summit you will hike up a
gentle slope on the backside. There were several small snow banks around, but they were
not very large or extensive.
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We all reached the summit at
about the same time. We were greeted with clear skies in all
directions. There is a guest book that is stored in a metal lift
up drawer on the outside of the lone building on the summit.
Everyone who makes the summit is rewarded with signing this
guest book. There were people sleeping in this small building.
There are signs notifying people of the extreme danger of
staying in this building in the case of an electrical or
lightening storm. There is one rock with a plaque commemorating
the end of the construction of "the highest trail in the
continental United States". |
As far
as I could tell this was the true summit. This is a good place for a photo op! |
