Mt Langley from Horseshoe Meadow

Drive on hwy 395 to Lone Pine. Turn west on Whitney Portal Rd. After five minutes, turn left on Horseshoe Meadow Rd and drive up the mountain almost to the end of the road (30 minutes). When you reach Horseshoe Meadow (announced by lots of bureaucratic signs), pay attention to the fork: if you go straight, you get to the campground and to the trailhead for Cottonwood Pass; if you turn right, you get to the trailhead for the Cottonwood Lakes (near the equestrian campground). Therefore the the campground for hikers is NOT near the trailhead for Mt Langley. If the campground is full, remember that down the road it was "national forest", so you can camp just about anywhere you can safely park the car, or just camp where there is no vegetation and most likely the rangers will not bother you.

(Click on the map)

From the Horseshoe Meadow parking lot (about 3,000m of altitude) follow the clearly marked trail to the Cottonwood Lakes (again, NOT the trail to Cottonwood Pass - the connection between the two doesn't seem to exist anymore). It is about 10kms to the Cottonwood lakes. There is a first creek crossing after about 15', then another one after another 30'. After 20' a plateau is reached with the New Army Pass fork. If you want, you can follow the New Army Pass route: you'll miss the Cottonwood Lakes 2 to 5 but you'll see some other lakes, including Cottonwood 1. If you stay on the trail to the Cottonwood Lakes, another 30' of walking takes you to the Muir Lake fork (again, don't go to Muir Lake) and, immediately afterwards, to the first Lake of this route (which is actually Cottonwood 2), announced by a little house. Just before this house, your trail merges with a trail coming from the south. Make a mental note of where you arrived from because (as of 2020) there is no sign when your trail merges with the trail coming from Cottonwood 1, and on the way back you may miss the left turn to Horseshoe Meadows (again, not marked as of 2020). One can already see Mt Langley (the tallest object in front of you to the northeast). To the left, one can guess the location of Old Army Pass, although it cannot be seen yet. The trail continues to the left of the second lake (apparently unnamed) and to the right of Cottonwood 3 (very long) lake. Now Mt Langley is no longer visible because the basin of the fifth lake blocks the view. On the other hand, as you coast Lake 3, you start seeing Old Army Pass. At the end of the third lake, the trail turns left between Cottonwood 4 (left) and Cottonwood 5 (right) lakes, and then begins climbing up the pass. Unless it's really early in the season, don't worry about the snow: the trail cuts to the left almost immediately, way below the snow patch. After about 45', the pass is reached. The trail is wide and well-maintained all the way to Old Army Pass, despite having been erased from some maps. It offers, in fact, one of the best views of all the Sierra passes on both sides.

If you followed the route to New Army Pass, the trail climbs a little hill and then descends to the top of Old Army Pass. The main reason to use New Army Pass is that the snow melts earlier on that route.

Now that you are on Old Army Pass, walk to the Sequoia Park sign (very visible) and take the trail on the right. If you go straight, you end up to Soldier Lake. As of 2020, the route to Mt Langley is clearly marked with both signs and colossal cairns. You can see Langley but Langley's top is gigantic so you don't really see the summit until the very end. From this point the trail leads to the base of Mt Langley via a vast and tedious plateau.

Once you reach the rocky base of the mountain, there are different ways to get to the summit, depending on how much you like scree and how much you like rock climbing. There are colossal cairns that mark the preferred route. This is mostly class 1.

Distance from parking lot at Horseshoe Meadow via Old Army Pass to summit: 16.8 kms. So round trip it is about 33kms. The elevation gain is about 1,300 meters.

Trail milestones (and 2005 times):

• Horseshoe Meadow trailhead (3060m)
• First creek crossing: 30'
• Second creek crossing: 1h
• New Army Pass fork: 1h15'
• Muir Lake fork: 1h35'
• Cottonwood 2 (first lake with house): 1h50'
• Second lake (unnamed): 2h
• End of Lake 3: 2h30'
• Bottom of Army Pass: 3h
• Old Army Pass (3700m): 4h
• Top of ridge: 4h 15'
• Base of Langley: 5h
• Summit plateau: 5h45'
• Summit (4280m): 6h15'

Mt Langley from Tuttle Creek

Take the road to Whitney Portal from Lone Pine and turn left into Horseshoe Meadow Rd. Turn right into Granite View Drive and drive almost to the end. Before some private property turn right into the only major unpaved road. (Most likely you'll get to the end of the paved road and then drive back and turn left into the unpaved road). Drive to the end, but, if your vehicle is a regular low-clearance car, you will most likely park before the steep section (there's an appropriate "square" on the right side) and walk the last km. At the end there is a wide parking lot. The road used to continue but now there is a sign "wilderness" and a boulder to block it. This is the trailhead. You are parked on the south side of the LeConte creek.

The trailhead leads in 30' to a wooden bridge over the Tuttle creek and in two more minutes to an abandoned building that used to be a temple. This building has a working roof and a fireplace (and great views of the mountains). Above the building there is a metal shed.

The use trail is washed out near the ashram, so you won't find it if you simply follow the trail going up from the ashram. Resist the temptation to climb the ridge in order to take a short cut while the creek bends right (it's loose granite dirt with extremely steep and slippery chutes). The trail that moves left from the ashram ends up on some steep sandy slopes. The use trail "would be" below you but it doesn't exist anymore. Keep walking in the same direction and, when the vegetation gets annoying, drop down. Most likely you will hit the used trail (that, as of 2017, was marked with frequent cairns). The use trail is never more than 50 meters above the creek. If you cannot see the creek, you are walking too high. The use trail does climb steeply. Coming down, it is harder to follow the use trail because every now and then it drops dramatically.

The trail enters foresty (and shady) terrain and calmly ascends the Tuttle canyon. When you see the waterfalls of the creek, you should prepare to cross to the other side (the right side gets very bushy).

I crossed just below the waterfalls at a clearing where the creek is almost flat. It only required a little jump. On the other side stay as close to the creek as you can without getting swamped in the vegetation. This should mostly be on friendly terrain. After a pine forest, you will be doing mostly bouldering to the Black Falls. These falls come down from the ridge to your right (from the north). Now the creek splits in three branches: to your left there is a south branch that is dry in the summer; in front of you there is a vertical wall (not so vertical when you climb it) that takes you to the (very dry) Tuttle basin and then to Tuttle pass; to your right are the majestic Black Falls.

Your route is the dry left branch (the "south fork"). Way before you reach that point, however, you have to make a strategic decision. There is an obvious deep, wide, straight and long chute that heads directly towards the summit of Langley. That's the shortest way to the top. Catch: it may have snow/ice even in the summer months. The astute hiker will certainly take a short cut: when you exit the forest and start the bouldering section, you might as well head straight up diagonally towards this summit chute. Once inside the chute, you need to scramble for more than one hour before you reach the summit plateau. At that pont you can go around the peak and take the touristy route to the top (the use trail that comes from Old Army Pass) or you can just climb any of the class-3 chutes in front of you that will take you to the broad flat summit, about 500 meters from the real summit.

When you are going up the Tuttle Creek, just past the Black Falls, there is a slightly longer way that is generally safer (no hidden snow/ice): climb and cross the moraine and head for the ridge to your left (south). There are a number of chutes that take you to the ridge.

On the other side you'll be surprised by a wide sandy slope that gently takes you to the summit plateau.

Once at the plateau, either go around to climb any of the class-3 chutes to the top.

To the sandy slope if you are coming down from the summit

Looking back at the point where you enter the Langley plateau from the ridge

See this page for more details on the Tuttle Creek trailhead and route.

• Trailhead (2050m)
• Wooden bridge and temple (2350m): 30'
• Waterfall 1: 2.5h
• Black falls (3300m): 4h
• Entrance to the diagonal chute: 6h30'
• Summit: 8h30'

Mt Langley from Meysan Lakes

See this page for more details on the Meysan Lakes route.