Mt Whitney is the goal of many who search out adventure and challenge in the High Sierra. It is the highest peak – 14,498 feet – in not only these mountains, but all the summits in the states south of Alaska beating out Colorado’s Mt Elbert by 65 feet and its neighbor to the south, Mt Harvard by 78 feet. Being the highest is a magnet.  A magnet means too many people and the result is the Mt Whitney lottery system.

But the crest of the High Sierra is so much beyond Whitney. There is a lifetime of peaks waiting for you here. The views are incredible and so can be the efforts to attain them.

THE BIG ONE

I do not know of one “lottery” the Forest Service uses where people are very happy.  70% of applicants are denied annually for a permit.  My one climb of Whitney was lucky enough to be before the lottery system was expanded to include one-day climbs in the 1990’s.  There was already a system in place for backpackers.

Having experienced the lottery system twice on Mt St Helens and the Ticketron experience in the San Gabriel backcountry in the 1970’s, I was glad to have made the climb of Whitney the year before the one-day experience went to the lottery system.  I see where there are simply too many people. The problem with being number one.

normal route

The easiest way up Whitney in a day means an elevation gain of some 6,600 feet with 22 miles.   That means a very difficult time for even an experienced hiker.  I have read that only 30% are actually able to summit on a one-day trial.  It is a hard hike with the altitude and distance playing seriously into the game.  Then there are the costs for the application(s), plural because you have $6 for the lottery application and an additional $15 per person in your group if you get a permit.

mountaineer option

Supposedly, the Mountaineers Route up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek is easier to get.  Be aware, this is a class 3 route and not a trail.  This route gains as much elevation but in only 8.8 miles instead of 11 with the serious elevation in the last half mile – no 99 switchbacks here.  Most times, you need to have some alpine experience for this route with crampon and ice axe experience.  Most will go down the Whitney trail so making a 16.5-mile trip out of the affair.  Climbing down the same way up can be more challenging than the ascent.  A one-day affair is maybe 17 hours though that can be said the same for the normal hike.  Weather on either route is key, meaning you need even more luck with your lottery.

Is it worth it?  I can only speak of the Normal route, having only looked down the Mountaineers.  Much of the Normal route on a one-day hike is done semi-consciously.  You have to start early in the morning, so it is dark for a large part of the way – it was not all that magical on the way down.  The sunrise at Trail Camp is special with the sun glinting off Whitney and its needle ridge.  Nothing fun about the 99 switchbacks except to get up them. 

The path from the Trail Crest to the top of the peak is pure magic, as long as the altitude is not causing problems.  The view from the top is special as well.  I am happy to have done it, but not living close to the area, I am not sure I would want to go through all of the hoops required by the Forest Service to repeat.

DIDN’T WIN THE LOTTERY?

MEYSAN LAKE

Alternatives.  Two come to mind.  First, from nearly the same starting point at Whitney Portal, though a little further lower from the store where you buy your “Whitney In A Day” t-shirt, is a trail going up to Meysan Lake.  This trail covers 4.2 miles up Meysan Creek canyon ending at the lake at about 11,500 feet – a little below the elevation of Consultation Lake just off the main Whitney Trail.  Hike up the grassy north-northwest slopes to gain a ridge at about 12,200 feet where you have a magnificent view over the east face of Whitney.  From here, you have a magnificent view over the entire route of the normal Whitney trail.  The view over the Meysan Lake basin to Mount Mallory Mount Irvine and Lone Pine Peak is not too shabby either.  Plus, you do not need to play permit games.

MOUNT LANGLEY

A second recommended option is to climb Mount Langley.  Langley is another 14er, barely – 14,032 feet, the ninth highest in California.  It, like Whitney, is one of the 14,000-foot peaks that is easier to summit – I have seen it rated as third easiest after White Mountain peak and Whitney.  Langley is the furthest south of California’s 14ers. Plus, if you do it in a day, you do not need a permit. For those camping at one of the lakes, the permits are explained here.

That said, it can be a 20+ mile day with 5,940 vertical feet involved.  It is a long way.  There are some delightful lakes on the east side where you could camp, but then you need to get into the permit system – $5 with some walk-up options.

Coming from a long way out of the range and being semi-spur of the moment, we elected to tackle the peak as a one-day affair.  From the Cottownwood Lakes trailhead – a spectacular road approach Horsehoe Meadows Road coming off the Whitney Portal Road west of Lone Pine – we hiked up New Army Pass and returned down Old Army Pass.  It is over 26 miles if you go up and back New Army, but Old Army can be ice covered even into late summer.  A long distance, but the trails are more interesting than the Whitney normal route and the view from atop Langley rivals Whitney.  Plus, it can be much lonelier since it is number nine.  The difference of 495 feet.

The first and last seven miles are relatively flat as you hike into the lakes from the 10,051-foot-high trailhead.

the hike

Take the Cottonwood Lakes trail from the road end, not the Cottonwood Pass trail.  The trail will bend west just past the Golden Trout Camp and veer left at the trail junction towards New Army Pass – 12,297 feet and slightly over eight miles out.

Now, you can see the broad slopes of Mt Langley to the north rising just under three miles away.  First you drop 300 feet down to Old Army Pass and then ascend scree slopes up 2,000 feet.  The ascent is straightforward with a little scramble near the top.  Return the same way you came up or save a few miles by dropping down Old Army Pass – careful with late season ice – to 4th and 5th Cottonwood Lakes, returning to the Cottonwood Lakes trail.

Don’t want to hike it? Do it virtually on the Youtube video though he goes up and down the New Army Pass.

white mountain peak, but then we are not really in the high sierra

White Mountain Peak is the easiest of California’s 14ers to tackle.  No permits and a path using a jeep road.  That said, you still cover 14 miles a gain 3,400 feet, plus the trailhead is a long way from anything.  This peak is not in the Sierra Nevada but gives you a fantastic view of the east rim of that range.  Flat tires seem to be the big thing on this peak.  The access road is rock and if your tires are not up to it …  You can see more here.

The other 14ers tend to be a bit more technical.  Not a problem if you are alpine-oriented.  Many are class 3 meaning as long are fear of heights is not your thing, you should have no problem.  But there are so many options in the eastern Sierra where you do not have to get to 14,000 feet and still experience magic.  I like summits with a view.  I do not like to carry climbing gear nor worry about permits.  Day climbs up class 1-2 peaks are the answer.  Here are a couple of options in this magnificent range for you to try out.

MT GOULD

Moving north from the Whitney-Langley area is Mt Gould.  Mt Gould is an easy trudge north up from Kearsarge Pass.

To reach Kearsarge Pass, very busy backpacking trail takes off from the trailhead at Onion Valley Campground – 9,198 feet – reached west out of Independence on the Onion Valley Road. The campground can get quite busy and bears like the trail and camps on either side of Kearsarge Pass. Backpackers need permits and day hikers do not.

From the trailhead you have a busy trail going up to Kearsarge Pass – 11,823 feet and four miles out. It is a pretty trail switch backing past several lakes before rewarding you with a view over the Kearsarge Lakes on the other side. If camping on the west side of the pass, realize you are out of the Inyo National Forest and into Sequoia National Park where a different system of permits takes over.

At the pass, going up the north slopes is a boot path which moves inexorably up to Mt Gould an easy class 2 path for a little over a half mile gaining 1,250 feet quickly.  Being a climbing path means little in the way of switchbacks.  The hardest part is the altitude as you are over 12,000 feet.  As you pant and sweat, the views which were dramatic at Kearsarge Pass, become magnificent with each step you ascend.  Many of the peaks of Sequoia National Park can be seen from up here. 

Finally, you reach the summit block.  The final 30 feet are a cluster of class 3 slabs which are easy enough to master to reach the 13,011-foot summit.

don’t stop yet!

Don’t stop here, however.  A rocky plain lies ahead to the north.  Hike a half mile across aiming for a radio repeater antenna.  This puts you atop cliffs from which you have a magical view north across the Rae Lakes and on towards the high peaks of Kings Canyon National Park.  The views are incredible. Return the same way you came up.

MT STARR

Jumping to the north of Bishop Pass and Kings Canyon National Park, Mt Starr is not memorable by itself.  It sits at the head of the gorgeous Little Lakes Valley amidst several peaks rising above 13,000 feet which are memorable.  The peak also stands at a point in which the eastern wall of the High Sierra turns 45 degrees to the northwest becoming somewhat more jumbled in the gap between Mt Humphreys to the south and the Banner-Ritter massif near the southeast border of Yosemite National Park.

You turn west off US 395 halfway between Mammoth Lakes and Bishop heading up the Rock Creek Lake Road to its end at Little Lakes Valley trailhead – 10.4 miles away off the highway.  From the trailhead, head south on the well-traveled Little Lakes Valley trail.  A little less than half a mile in, turn right onto the Mono Pass trail which you reach before the first of the many lakes lying ahead in the Little Lakes Valley.

The Mono Pass trail heads up out of the valley and switchbacks up slopes above the northern shores of beautiful Ruby Lake.  Above the timberline, the trail turns to the north making its way over Mono Pass – 10,597 feet – through desolate high mountain tundra.  From the pass it is another 760 feet to ascend class 2 rocks to the summit – do not take the Mono Pass trail to Summit Lake beyond – unless you want to visit the lake.

The views from atop are simply gorgeous.  Mt Gabb and Bear Creek Spire soar to the south above the many jeweled lakes far below of the Little Lakes Valley.  The multicolored peaks in the Red Slate Mountain area rise to the west with canyons going off on the south side carrying forks of the San Joaquin River.  The total is only about 8 miles round trip with 2,600 feet to gain.

RED SLATE MOUNTAIN

Two normal routes exist to climb this big slag of a mountain.  You have the option of coming in from the McGee Creek or the Convict Lake trailheads.  The former is shorter, the latter we chose because of the utter beauty of the geological layers found above Convict Lake and Mt Morrison.  The view from the trailhead on the lake in the early morning is unique in the range.  The colors of the different rock bands popping out in the dawn sunlight, orange, reds, greens, blacks.  It is a very uplifting experience to a long day. For a slightly different Convict Lake option which includes McGee Creek try this Youtube video.

Red Slate, 13,140 feet (4,000 meter), is the tallest mountain in the High Sierra of the Mammoth Lakes area.  There are no peaks, in fact, rising higher than Red Slate to the north in the range.  From the top you have a wonderful view over the region, an area of colorful mountain tops belying volcanic origins as part of the rim of the Long Valley Caldera.  Long Valley Caldera is one of the largest calderas in the world 20 miles east-west, 11 miles north-south, and 3,000 feet deep.  Not only is Red Slate part of the caldera, but Mammoth Ski area to the northwest and Hot Creek Gorge just to the north of Convict Lake are also just part of the gigantic crater.

The mountain as a one-day affair is as hard as Whitney.  From McGee Creek you have a twenty-one-mile round trip while from Convict Lake it is almost the same.  A trail of sorts exists the whole way up to the summit.  The path is more of a climbers’ route on the final portions of the Convict Lake trip.

convict lake route

We chose the Convict Lake route because of the beauty of the route.  The trail starts out – 7,598 feet – going around Convict Lake with the magnificent colorful folded rock layers of Laurel Mountain rising high above to the west while Mt Morrison stands as a silent sentinel to the south.  Up the Convict Canyon the trail goes for a little over three miles until you get to cross the creek where a former bridge is washed out.  The hiking gets steeper for the next mile as you rise to Mildred Lake at 9,767 feet.  Red Slate lies at the end of the beautiful valley lying above Mildred.  On the east side of the valley, the unworldly beauty of the rock folds lying underneath Mt Baldwin with the greys and reds clash with the bright green of the valley down low.

The next mile to Lake Dorothy – 10,318 feet – is even tougher, especially if you have a full backpack on.  Lake Dorothy is about a mile long which you pass along its eastern banks.  Then comes another push up to Bighorn Lake – 10,564 feet high, 6.5 miles out from the trailhead.  The trail ends here.

onward?

If the summit of Red Slate beckons you, stay above Bighorn Lake to the south side and don’t venture to the left to the two lakes above.  That direction leads only to the magnificent North Face couloir which takes you to the summit quickly up 40-degree snow-ice pitches.  In addition to the steep factor, rockfall is an ever-present danger here.  Two young women died here a few years back from such an event.

You aim for the right shoulder of Red Slate, up scree and a snow tongue which leaves you on the summit ridge.  A little more scree takes you to the top.  From Bighorn Lake to the summit is a gain of 2,500 feet in a little over two miles, so make sure your timing is ok.  Ours was not.  A late start meant if we pushed ahead to the summit, we would return in the dark.  The pools at Hot Creek beckoned and maybe a beer at Mammoth Brewing.

For a day hike, no lottery or reservations are needed – at least at this date.  Unlike many of the trailheads in the High Sierra for backpacking options, you do not need to get a permit ahead of time.

There are a lot of other options in this incredible sea of peaks.  The Big One is great if your lottery number comes up. But there are plenty of other options to keep you busy for a lifetime. Can you say Yosemite 😎!