Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Horseshoe Meadow

I'm a newbie. Is Horseshoe meadow a place where one can "carcamp" to get some altitude day hikes in before attempting Mt. Whitney?

There are campsites at horseshoe meadows, and they are at a higher elevation that Whitney Portal. I know they just opened the road up last week. Below is a link to the Inyo NF website with basic info on the campsites.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/campgrounds.shtml
Eric J Lee

Pick up a Cirque Peak map and get totally confused, the current trailhead Cottonwood Lakes and New Army Pass has been moved, it's on the northern most road's end. It's not hard to figure out.

Once you pass into the valley after the crest, the first campsite road on the right leads to an equestrian area and an overnight hiker’s campsite. This is also the Cottonwood trailhead. Good sites, bear boxes and restrooms. Farther down the main road it ends in a loop where there are more family type campsites and the other trailhead. We have seen hikers come out the wrong trailhead and think their car was stolen. Driving into 10,000 ft is great for acclimation and relaxation in beautiful country. Here a link to an topo/aerial of the area.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=11&Z=11&X=989&Y=10086&W=2&qs=%7cLone+Pine%7cCA%7c

I'm planning to acclimate before heading up Whitney by staying two nights (beginning next Tuesday) at one of the HM area campgrounds. However, I am not clear on what type of equipment to bring for this "car camping" prelude to the summit climb. Since I will be doing two backpacking overnights on Whitney, I will be bringing backpacking equipment. Since I haven't done much backpacking in the past three years, while at HM I plan to sleep in my backpack tent, using my thermarest and backpack sleeping bag.

I also have family-type car camping equipment.

Questions:

1. Should I bring my Coleman campstove?

2. Will there be a picnic table?

3. My May 2005 Inyo NF leaflet says there is piped water.

4. Are

PART TWO

4. Are there stationary bear boxes to store food etc.? I understand that one does not leave food etc. in the car.

5. Is there a fire ring or other place to build a fire?

6. How far does one "walk in"?

I am picturing something roughly like Grandview Campground at White Mountain, only with a 100 foot walk to the campsites. Is that anywhere near correct?

Thanks for your help. I am totally new to the Whitney area.

Herb

To get to Horseshoe Meadows campground you drive up the Whitney Portal road. Just before you leave the Alabama Hills you will see the Horseshoe Meadows road going off to the left. It is about 25 miles to the end of the road where the two campgrounds are located.

Here is a topozone map of the end of the road, showing both forks. The one to the top (north) is the Cottonwood lakes trailhead and the one straight ahead (west) is the trailhead to the Cottonwood pass trailhead. There is a walkin campground in each area.

<a href="http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=36.4532&lon=-118.165&s=50&size=s&symshow=n&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25"> Topozone map Horseshoe meadows</a>

I found this photo of the area on Webshots. It is one of the two campgrounds....although I am not sure exactly which one.

<a href="http://community.webshots.com/photo/161447605/161447605Cbaxzq"> Horseshoe Meadows area</a>

Herb, We were there 2 weekends ago. Specifically:
1. Bring your campstove for HM
2. There are some picnic tables, not every site
3. Piped water, but not immediate to sites, need to walk a bit
4. Large bear boxes, noisy at night, by campers arriving late after dark, we had someone arrive at 2 AM and be VERY NOISY.
5. Some fire rings, bring own wood, no wood gathering
6. Some sites immediate to parking
Kashkraft's descriptions are accurate too

Thanks a lot for the helpful responses.

Herb