A FOURTEENER FOR THE EVERYMAN

Look at a topographical map of the Great Basin region and you will see mountain ranges looking like waves running in a south-to-north.  On the fringe of that region mainly taken up by the state of Nevada are the two greatest ranges of the region – the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains.  Both ranges have their origin in the Nevada Orogeny, the period when the many Nevadan ranges formed, as well.  The Sierra is simply one of America’s most magnificent ranges.  Separated by the Owens River Valley, the White Mountains, lying in the rain shadow, rise almost as high as their celebrated brothers to the west.  White Mountain Peak stands atop the range, California’s third highest peak at 14,252 feet-4344 meters – also one of only two peaks in California rising to over 14,000 feet outside of the Sierra.

WHITE MOUNTAINS

White Mountain Peak is the easiest of California’s 14er’s to climb.  A jeep road leads seven miles to an unmanned hut on the summit.  There are a few Sundays during the summer when you can even shave four miles and 790 feet-250 meters off the round trip – open gate days.  The area is dominated by the White Mountain Research center operated by the University of California.  The Center centers around three research centers set at different elevations:  Crooked Creek Station is at 10,200 feet-3,100 meters – just below the Patriarch Grove to the east slightly; Barcroft Station is 12,370 feet-3,800 meters and there is the small hut on the summit.

PREPARATION

I had never heard of ‘open gate’ days.  My hiking-climbing is usually done extemporaneously anyway – if I can – so I just did the 14 mile-23-kilometer, 2600 foot-800-meter gain round trip on the jeep road below the Barcroft Station. The hike is easy enough, but you still must consider the elevation.  Do it as a day hike from Los Angeles or the Bay Area – both at sea level – and you better be using aspirin before and during your hike to thin your blood.  Headaches from sudden elevation climbs like this are brutal and aspirin does not help much after the fact.  Even if you are somewhat acclimatized, hikes at the 12 to 14,000 foot level will have you breathing hard.

If a jeep road is too easy, you can always consider climbing up from the Owens Valley directly below to the west.  A steep ridge at the end of a rugged road gains 8,150 feet-2,500 meters in a direct route.  I will take the jeep road from the south, thanks.

The route is generally clear of snow from late June to November, but with the weather, there are no rules.

APPROACH

To reach the starting point, you take the White Mountain Road off California 168 which crosses the southern section of the range northeast of Big Pine. Built during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s to serve the science centers.  The road is paved for halfway up to the first Bristlecone forest – Ancient Bristlecone Pine Visitor Center – 23 miles up from Big Pine.  The oldest tree in the World is hidden away in the forest here.  A four-mile loop takes you through trees living up here for over four thousand years.

Another ten miles or so of gravel road takes you to another bristlecone forest – Patriarch Grove.  The gravel is emphasized by the Forest Service who must be used to people driving on the road with tires that have seen better days.  Tow trucks are a long way away.  High-clearance vehicles are mentioned sometimes, though I found the road normal as gravel roads go.

ANCIENT TREES

The trees at Patriarch Grove are simply magnificent at over 11,000 feet.  Not quite as old as the patch further south, the setting is more dramatic.  Equally dramatic are the views you have of the Sierra as you make your way through the gravel.  The east rim of the Sierra is all in view from Whitney to Yosemite.  The range typifies what a basin range looks like – sloping to the west with a dramatic eastern face.

Above the Patriarch Grove, you are above the tree line.  The scenery is truly otherworldly.  Four or five miles more gets you to the normally locked gate below Barcroft Station.  Park here and keep walking up the road to the station – two miles. Timberline at above 11,000 feet, quite different from what you find further north in the Cascades or Olympics of the northwes.

HIGH SCIENCE

Barcroft Station, dating to 1951, is a research center for the effects of high-altitude physiology.  The station draws power from a solar array on the roof.  Other research projects include anything else to do with high-altitude – i.e. Noble laureate George Smoot has used the facility for work on cosmic background radiation.  No one seemed to be at home when we passed through but there were a lot of resident sheep in the pens.

ASCENT

From Barcroft, the jeep road rises to gain a plateau where your first good views of the peak ahead come out.  Off the road and the science laboratories, the entire area is part of the White Mountain Wilderness Area. A sign in the middle of nothing along the road points out this fact. The way is not too hard except for the altitude and whatever the weather might be throwing at you.  This is not terrain you want to be walking in unsettled weather.  Nights can also get very cold this high.

The road rises towards the summit on the north end of the plain, popping over a saddle or two.  Finally, you are there.  Views from the upper half of the road are wide-reaching made more incredible on top.  Besides the entire Sierra wall to the west, you see far into Nevada.  The White Mountain range itself lays out in amazing fashion to the south and the north.  Bishop is 8000 feet below.  To the north, Montgomery and Boundary Peaks bob behind the vast Pellisier Flats, a long ridge walk away – described briefly in the Sierra Club’s book by John Hart Hiking the Great Basin.  Turn to the south, the mountains extend off into the horizon.  Below on the immediate east, irrigated circles stand out among the ranches of Fish Creek Valley running on the border between Nevada and California. 

SUMMIT VIEWS

Atop the peak, the Summit Hut stands built in 1955.  The hut both laboratory and living quarters for researchers atop the mountain.  Masts next to the hut are studded with weather instruments, internet and local communication devices.  Unlike the hut atop Whitney, this hut is closed to the public.  On our hike, there was no one up here, no one seemed to be at Barcroft, and we had the trail to ourselves, as well.

DESCENT

Anticlimaxes always seem to come as you descend from your mountain high.  The light might improve as the day gets longer.  The early morning and late afternoon light can give magical photographs, here and further south among the bristlecones.

Remember the climber’s adage, “Climb high and sleep low”.  You could sleep up here easily enough.  We slept at Grandview Campground, about an hour south on the slow gravel road, about 8,600 feet high.  Also, there is no water up here for either camping or hiking.  You must bring plenty along.