Links:
California Guidebook
National
Parks
California State Parks
California Highway Conditions
Highway 395
Lone Pine trails
Topozone of Whitney
Mt Whitney and Langley weather
Highway 395 Weather
Lone Pine chamber of commerce
Lone Pine motels
Whitney message board
Mt Whitney home page
Inyo National Forest
Aerial photo of Mt Whitney
About hiking to Mt. Whitney
Whitney Portal store
Alabama hills
The regular trail
Approximate distances from portal to summit (in parenthesis my 2003 time):
| Landmark | Distance | Time | Altitude |
|---|
| Trailhead | 0 | 0 | 2550 m. |
| Lone Pine Lake | 4kms | 1h 30' (1h10') | 2900 m. |
| Outpost Camp | 6kms | 2h | 3100 m. |
| Mirror Lake | 7 kms | 2h 30' (1h40') | 3200 m. |
| Trailside Meadow & Consultation Lake | 8.5 kms | 3h 45' (2h 30') | 3600 m. |
| Base Camp | 10 kms | 4h 30' (3h) | 3700 m. |
| 96 switchbacks | | 5h 30' | |
| Trail Crest | 13.5 kms | 6h (4h 30') | 4,145 m. |
| Summit | 17 kms | 7h 30' (5h40') | 4,421 m. |
The trail from the parking lot to Lone Pine Lake is long switchbacks with
a moderate grade. At the top of these switchbacks, there are a fork and a sign.
To the left one goes to Lone Pine Lake, to the right one goes to Mt Whitney.
If you take the right turn, you are likely to meet a pathetic ranger checking
that you have a permit. If you take the left turn, no permit is required.
The trail from Lone Pine Lake to Mirror Lake is very easy.
After Mirror Lake, the trail starts going up steeply and runs along a creek
to the base camp. This is where you are likely to feel the altitude.
If you look to your left (past the creek), at some point you can see
Consultation Lake down below. You are not far from base camp.
Base camp is a little lake and it has restrooms.
From the base camp you head for the face of Mt Muir. The "96 switchbacks"
(there are actually more than 140) take you to the Trail Crest. The switchbacks
are a very mild grade, but they are very long and the altitute kicks in.
At the Crest you crossover to the other side, with incredible views of the
Sequoia Park wilderness. The trail goes down and you reach the second fork of the hike: left
you go to Sequoia Park (a very long trip). Turn right to Mt Whitney.
The trail goes up mildly. You
will see three giant spikes sticking out of the mountain on your right-hand side.
The third one is the peak.
When you get to its base, you still have to climb some steep switchbacks.
Due to altitude, most people take a long time to complete these last 500m.
If you are in reasonable shape and acclimatized, it shouldn't take you longer
than eight hours to hike from the parking lot to the top (and five hours
to hike back down). If you are in excellent shape, you can hike to the top in
less than six hours. (If you are not in shape, you should not even think of
trying this hike).
We normally leave around 4am and are back way before sunset.
For the record...
Check how Whitney
compares with other mountains
Western trail
The "western" trail (the third way to get to Mt Whitney) can be accessed via the
Cottonwood Lakes.
This hike requires a car shuttle, because the trailhead for Cottonwood Lakes
and the exit point at Whitney Portal are more than 50 kms apart.
It is also too long a hike to be done in one day.
See directions for
Mt Langley.
The beginning of the trail is the same.
These are the milestones if you also want to summit Mt Langley (an extra
10 kms roundtrip).
- Cottonwood Lakes trailhead (3060m)
- to Old Army Pass (3700m, 10km)
- to Mount Langley (4275, 15km)
- to Old Army Pass (3700, 20km)
- to Rock Creek ranger station
- to Guitar Lake (3535, 45km)
- to Mt Whitney (4416m, 55km)
- to Whitney Portal (72km)
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Permits
Campgrounds
Choices for camping include:
- the Whitney Portal campground, at the trail head ($10): 1-800-280-2267 or 1-877-444-6777. They require a minimum reservation of two nights.
- the overnight hikers' campground at the trailhead
- Tuttle Creek (5 kms west of Lone Pine on Whithey Portal Rd, FREE): 760 872-4881
- Horseshoe Meadows (8 kms west of Lone Pine on Whithey Portal Rd): 760 876-6200
- Check others at Reserve US
- the mountain itself (need permits, of course)
Lone Pine restaurants: High Sierra Cafe and Bonanza are my favorites (2005).
What To Bring
For the campground...
- sleeping bag, mattress, pillow
- blanket (if you get cold easily)
- flashlight and batteries
- insect repellent
- toilet paper
- aspirin (for altitude) or, better, DIAMOX (generic: Acetazolamide)
For the hike...
- flashlight and batteries
- hiking boots or good walking shoes
- sunglasses
- sunscreen lotion
- hat
- WATER AND FOOD FOR THE HIKE
- light fleece sweater/rain jacket/windbreaker for the cold part
If I had to list the most serious dangers of the Mt Whitney hike:
- Getting hurt (always #1 concern when I go on a long hike). Carry band aids.
- Sunburn (even if the temperature will be chilly most of the way). A hat is very important.
- Dehydratation (above 3000m the body needs a lot of water, and there is
no water most of the trail). Calculate how much water you need for the
16 kms going up (going down you will be dead anyway).
- Altitude (if you suffer from altitude). If it gets bad, walk back down a
little bit and see if you recover quickly.
- Getting stuck on the way back in the dark.
Directions from the Bay Area
The town where you want to go is Lone Pine
(Map)
From the Bay Area go to Yosemite (580 to 120 east). Once
you enter Yosemite watch for the sign "Tioga Pass - 120 East".
Turn left at that sign and keep driving for about one hour.
Eventually,
you reach Lee Vining (eg, Mono Lake). Turn right on 395 south and keep driving
through Bishop and Independence till you reach Lone Pine.
The total distance from Pleasanton to Lone Pine is about 560 kms:
320 kms from Pleasanton to Lee Vining and
240 kms from Lee Vining to Lone Pine.
Add the kms from your house to Pleasanton for the total distance
(Redwood City: 610 kms, San Francisco: 625 kms, Berkeley: 605 kms, etc).
Realistically, you should get to Lee Vining in 4-5 hrs (depending on stops)
and to Lone Pine in 2-2.5 hours (good road, high speed limit, no traffic,
you can easily make 120 kmh).
Take the I-580 EAST towards STOCKTON
Merge onto I-580 E. 47.1 km
Take I-205 E towards TRACY/STOCKTON. 1.6 km
Merge onto I-205 E. 20.2 km
Take the I-5 NORTH exit. 1.5 km
Merge onto I-5 N. 2.0 km
Take CA-120 RAMP towards MANTECA/SONORA. 0.4 km
Merge onto CA-120 E. 9.5 km
Take the CA-99 NORTH/CA-120 EAST exit on the left. 1.3 km
Merge onto CA-120 E. 1.4 km
Take the CA-120 EAST/YOSEMITE AVE exit towards SONORA. 0.3 km
Turn RIGHT onto CA-120. 257.6 km
Stay straight to go onto US-395. 162.3 km
Drive south on 395 to Lone Pine
Drive west on Whitney Portal Rd to the end of the road
Total is about 600kms from 880&580 to Lone Pine.
It should take you about 6 hours (add one hour if you leave during rush
hour and add any stops you will take).
An alternative route if you don't want to drive through the mountains is
to head south on 99 to Bakersfield, then southeast on 58 to Mojave, then north
on 14 that turns into 395.
Clickable map
The regular trail is the one that goes through Mirror Lake and Consultation
Lake.
The mountaineering (North Fork) "trail" is the one that ends at Iceberg Lake.
Notes of the 1998 trip
Notes of the 1999 trip
Notes of the 2001 trip
Notes of the 2002 trip
Notes of the 2003 trip
Notes of the 2006 trip
Notes of the 2007 trip
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