Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Training Hike: San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek

BruinGary - I hiked the VCT trail on Friday (Jul 8) with my son (12 years). We did it in twelve hours. The conditions were fine. Please post your time.

10 hours. Give or take a couple of minutes. But wasn't the trail spectacular?!

IF anyone wants info on San Gorgonio Vivian Creek Trail go to www.SGWA.ORG.

For all the people out there who will be hiking Whitney for the first time this summer, San G. is a harder hike IMO than Whitney by far. This is assuming you don't have issues with altitude, but San G. is mentally challenging and physically challenging as well. I'm always more wiped out the day after San G. than any Whitney hike.

So if you can so San G. with minimal problems, have no worries about Mt. Whitney.

Hi candace
I'd love to agree with you, but I'd say most of us will have issue with altitude at Mt. Whitney(more or less).
Last year was my first time to summitted San Gorgonio via Vivian creek, to my opinion it's not as hard as Whitney, you practically just keep on walking and you'll get there sooner or later.
For Whitney it's much more than that. I summitted Whitney once in late 70s on second try, last year due to my co-hikers got sick, we had to settle for Trail camp.
But I'll try Whitney again this Aug 1st all by myself at the age of 58 just to see if I can make it in time.
I'm going up San Gorgonio alone this Sunday for Whitney prep.

Well, I did put in that caveat "assuming you don't have problems with altitude."

Actually I've known many other hikers who agree that San G. is harder than Whitney, though of course many more would agree with you. I'm not trying to sound callous to all who suffer various forms of AMS. Another two hikes in the Southern California area that I would rank much harder than Whitney would be Iron Mountain and Mt. Baldy via the village church way. Ouch to both of those brutes!

Napman, make sure you have a permit for Sunday. The rangers there have been really vigilent about checking permits this year. Lots of hikers have posted this on other boards. Happy hiking to you this Sunday!

Hi Candace
I've already got permit by mail.
So it's only less than 24 hours away. Since I'll do it alone I have to be much more careful.
I'll start out at trail head around 5.00 a.m. and hope to get to summit at around noon or so then hurry back down before dark.
Thanks for the info.and everything.