Mount Whitney Trail
Trail Location and info: Whitney Portal is in the mountains above the
town of Lone Pine. You can get to Lone Pine by taking highway 395. This is a very interesting hike. You start off
in the desert (driving of course, unless you choose to hike from the
campground in the desert) then you go up a steep road and can watch Owens
Valley fall below you quickly (although if you're driving it would probably be
better to look at the road), After awhile it begins to look like the
mountains. You start seeing trees and by Whitney Portal they get pretty dense.
You can camp there, get acclimated or whatever. This is was the actual walking
begins. You start off at about 8300ft on the 6000ft elevation gain to 14,497ft
in 11 miles. The trail is pretty steep and you quickly get above Whitney
Portal and have some good views of Owens Valley. The scenery changes a little
too. You then come to Lone Pine Lake, which is a pretty nice lake. You can get
some pretty good views from it. There is a little bit of level trail after the
lake. After a little while you start heading up toward Outpost camp. The trees
really start thinning as near Outpost Camp and shortly after Mirror Lake,
there are no more trees. Above
Mirror Lake, past where there aren't any trees, it really starts getting
beautiful (not to say it isn't before there). You can see all the high peaks
around you and the valley far below. The next fairly long level spot is at
trail camp, but before Trail Camp is the beautiful Consultation Lake, nestled
in a moraine. Trail camp is the last water and just before the infamous 99
switchbacks. The switchbacks are hard and at a high elevation, so it can be
hard to breathe at times. After the long climb to Trail Crest, you get a
beautiful view of the mountains in Sequoia National Park and Hitchcock Lakes
and possibly Guitar Lake. After this there is still a fairly long (2 miles I
believe) ascent to the peak. Along the way are some windows with drops on both
sides and more great views. Then you finally come to the top and if you are
lucky and like most people will get there before or around noon. You will
enjoy great views all around you. Be sure to sign the registry outside the
hut. Stay up there for an hour, maybe even two or more if you like. Take time
to enjoy it. Before you leave, you should look toward the west for a wall of
rocks, behind it is what has to be the highest toilet in the continental U.S.
Links:
Whitney Portal Store,
Mt Whitney
Information