Mt. Whitney Summit Hike and Camping in the Eastern Sierras

As part of our quest to conquer the highest peak in the lower 48 my brother and I reserved 3 nights of camping in the eastern Sierras. Two nights were in Lone Pine campground just a few miles down the road from Whitney Portal and 1 night was at Gold Ledge campground about 15 miles north of Lake Isabella on the south western side.

Lone pine was a very nice campground at 6000 feet and well maintained (the sand had even been raked into a pleasant pattern before we arrived!). We had site # 20 which turned out to be great. It was separated on one side by a giant boulder and well spaced from the next campsite on the other side. Down the gully a short ways was a peaceful stream and even a perfect fishing hole where they had just recently stocked some trout. This is definitely a repeat site in the future. Its also a great staging area of Mt. Whitney being located only a few miles from the portal (which is quite drivable the morning of the hike) and much quieter, cleaner, and with slightly warmer weather. As it was late July I expected the weather to be hotter than it was but it turned out to be a very pleasant 75 degrees or so when not in direct sunlight.





 Gold-ledge campground was not quite as idyllic. I actually think it would have been fine if not for the party-type atmosphere it seemed to exude. Since this campground is located right next to a particularly fine part of  the wide, deep, and refreshing Kern river it proved to be just the right place for young parties from Stockton and the LA area. Loud music and drunk laughter threatened to keep us up late. I resorted to ear plugs and Owen moved his sleeping pad to a more remote patch of sand directly adjacent to the white-noise producing river. In addition the campsites were not as well kept with bits of trash and garbage floating around, the bathrooms were nasty, and there seemed to be no campsite hosts maintaining any sense of order. Despite all this there did seem to be a fair number of families attempting to have a nice weekend trip. I think they all left a little wiser.

The river was nice and refreshing to swim in and seemed to offer good fishing opportunities though I didn't catch anything. The weather was a bit warm in the afternoon (95+) and pleasantly warm in the evening. The campsite elevation was maybe 3500 feet.

The hike up Mt. Whitney itself went well (we took the RED route). We got a later start than we intended, waking up at approx 5:15 am and not on the trailhead until 6:30 or so. So we started off quickly and within several hours had already begun to pass people who had started a few hours earlier.

The hike was long and mostly gradual. It is mostly in the shade going up (until near the top) and mostly in the sun coming down due to the positioning of the mountain. We took the Whitney Trail route which requires a reservation and we had only a single day to complete the 22 mile round trip hike which ascends from 8000 ft at Whitney Portal to 14,505 at the summit.

Its quite doable for someone in good shape and with good hiking shoes. I brought hiking poles which probably weren't necessary and only seemed to slow me down. I ate maybe 4 energy bars, some dried plums, and some trail mix all day long. I carried only enough water to get me through maybe 6-8 miles of hiking then filled up at one of the clean springs coming out of the rock. The water was clean enough to drink straight without filtering. Many people on the trail concurred with this including a park ranger. Owen said it was important to choose water than came out of the rocks where the filtering action would help insure its cleanliness.

Slight headaches and dizziness persisted at the top but it was manageable. Bring Tylenol for worse cases. The views of the Sierras are incredible. Coming down takes longer than you think. Very nice hike overall. 12.5 hours from beginning to end. Showers at the store at the bottom but there was a long line so I drove the 30 minutes down to the Lone Pine hostel and paid 5 dollars for one of their showers. Well worth it!!