Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Time estimate

We'll be hiking the High Sierra Trail from Lodgepole to Whitney Portal starting at the end of next week. Can anyone give me an estimate of the average time down from Trail Camp to the parking lot at Whitney Portal? We've got a pretty tight schedule to follow on our last day to catch our flight back east. I'm wondering if we can savor the sunrise and our morning cup of joe or whether we'll need to break camp at 0 dark thirty. We are very excited about returning to the High Sierras and finally get a chance to summit Whitney!
Thanks in advance for any info.
Mongoose & Buttercup

It will be semi slow going until you get below Mirror Lake. Then you will be able to fly.

Figure 3:00 to 3:30 hours to be on the safe side. Of course, your mileage will vary depending on pack weight and leg shape.

Bill

we had one girl in our party and it took her at least 5 hours to get down, maybe 5 and 1/2. no fault of hers, it's just a long trip up and back, you're tired, the backpack is killing you, and the adrenaline from summitting pretty much evaporates in that last couple of miles from outpost.

i mention that in case "buttercup" is not a guy. if "buttercup" is a guy, well, this is california!

it took me and another guy less than an hour from trail camp to outpost but we were practically speed walking, and it was downhill. at that point, we waited for the rest of the party. the going went slower went it got dark and we were doing headlamps. and the spring in your step is pretty much gone by then.

if buttercup is in good shape, i think the earlier post of 3 to 3 1/2 seems reasonable but I would give yourself plenty of time just in case a strap breaks, you want to take pictures, or something else comes up. enjoy the trip.

Thanks for the reply. That time estimate gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect. We'll be at the end of over a week of hiking so our leg strength should (hopefully)be optimal. Pack weight shouldn't factor in. Our packs weigh under thirty pounds to start, so by trails end with our food rations fairly well depleted we should be under 25lbs. We've got a six hour drive to make our redeye flight. It would seem reasonable then to easily make it to our vehicle well before noon from Trail Camp. We'll (hopefully) have a few hours to spare, kinda calling it close, but you do what you have to to make the trail time fit into your vacation schedule :-)Now, if we can just dodge that hurricane off the coast we'll be all set.
Thanks,
Mongoose

:-) Buttercup is all woman and long trail savy. I hit the soul mate lottery when I found her. We average 1.5 - 2 mph in high country terrain. We're lowlanders, but we'll have 5 days approach to Whitney to acculmate and should be in fair shape by Whitney summit, at least that's the plan.

Having just done the trail, absolutely spent from the ascent up Mountaineer's, it took us 5 hours to return (30 minute lunch break in between).
I think you are looking at 4-5 hours depending. I hope the weather is still as good as it was for us, very warm!

Although we haven't actually done Whitney yet, from past experience my anticipation would be that we could make the return from Trail Camp in the average time of 3-3.5 hours, but even maxing out at 5 hours would still give us the time we need to return to vegas for our flight as long as we got our normal morning start of 7-8am on the trail. Since we'll be hiking from Lodgepole to Whitney we should have gotten past all our usual aches and pains of a new hike by day 2 or 3 barring any injury on the way. I needed to make sure that I didn't need to anticipate a 4am start.

I think the 3-3.5 hour time is about right. When we finished the HST last month we came down from Trail Crest to the trailhead in about 3 hours so from Trail Camp your estimate might even give you a little cushion. We hiked steady with no breaks and our packs were light (15 lbs). A few basic <a href="http://members16.clubphoto.com/scott761540/2527126/guest.phtml"> High Sierra Trail </a> pictures here.

As noted earlier, the trick is the first two miles from Trail Camp to Mirror Lake that is rocky and uneven. After that you can trot down if you have to. From my experience, 3-3.5 hours sounds right for a good paced walk (that you both are capable of doing). I have done it in less time by trotting down from Mirror Lake.

Fred

I guess I'm all set except for the doing. I appreciate all the sage advice and helpful hints from those that have been there and done it. This message board has been a valuable resource. Yesterday I potentially saved a lot of time and inconvenience when I was alerted to the detour created by the flash flood in Death Valley on another thread. I'm looking forward to posting the results of our hike as a Whitney veteran in a couple of weeks.
Keep on hiking,
Mongoose