Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Post Labor Day Traffic

Well, we figured that taking a trip just after Labor Day would give us clear and quiet hiking in the backcountry above Cottonwood Pass, Soldier Lake and Army. So wrong! At Soldier Lake last Wednesday (9/6), there was at least 23 people camped including 8 right on top of us who proceeded to drink until 1am. Now 23 is too many for that area so our guess is that the 8 didn't have permits since they didn't have bear cannisters either. I think the ranger the next day agreed as she chased them up to Sky Blue where we were headed also. At Sky Blue, there were plenty of people. On the way down, we ran into a group of 16 heading over to upper Soldier and on to Mt. Langley. However, this was a great group of kids from Thatcher school in Ojai who could hike quicker with a pack than I could without one. There were Thatcher kids all over the Cottonwood basin as that's how they spend their first week of school. They are polite, environmentatlly aware and practice no trace camping. We headed up Mt. Langley and down Old Army to lots of people in the basin. My guess is that everyone is thinking the same thing. The back country should be empty but, alas, it's just not true, at least that week.

I was on the MMWT on Sunday/Monday and was impressed with what seemed to be a relatively low number of people. Based on what I've read on this board in a couple different places, I was expecting a steady stream of people up and down the trail.

There were a good number of people on the trail on Sunday, but not so much on Monday. Trail Camp was a lot quieter than I expected it to be Sunday night. I made the summit at 11:30am, and saw a number of people on the way up as I was making my way down to Trail Crest. But, only ran into a few people the rest of the way to the Portal. Took my time coming down, slowly packed up my overnight stuff from Trail Camp, and left TC at about 4:45pm. When leaving TC, there were only about a half-dozen parties camped.

All this, and the weather was absolutely SPECTACULAR all weekend in the Whitney area, so I was surprised with the low numbers of people.

Give yourself a good week (or two if the weather holds) after Labor Day, maybe you'll see fewer people next time.

I day hiked Langley the day after Labor Day. Langley was a lonely place; I saw no one all the way from New Army Pass to the summit and then back down Army Pass until I reached the Cottonwood Lakes. Breaking camp at the trailhead Walk-In camp at 5:30 in the morning before the start of the hike, I kept my headlamp off and tried to work quietly, because there was nobody up or stirring around there at that time of the day.

I did Half Dome on a mid-September Monday a few years ago and the traffic was quite moderate.

I've done many, many hikes on Mondays but virtually never on Fridays, because the earliest weekdays of the week are almost always less crowded than the latter weekdays. Most people have a "arrive early in the weekend, head back early in the weekend" and "hike early in the day, rush back early in the day" mentality, and I do the opposite to take advantage of the solitude.

Last October, we backpacked to Seville Lake in Kings Canyon NP from Rowell Meadow. We left on a Thursday figuring that we would see a lot of people since it was almost the weekend. How surprised we were to run into two large youth groups leaving Seville Lake. They had spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the lake (in different camp sites since they were technically two groups) and were on their way out. We had Seville Lake all to ourselves the next two nights, Thursday and Friday. Had we come to Seville Lake on Tuesday thinking nobody was going to be there, we would have been sorely disappointed to share it with 25 people.

I'm sure timing and coincidence played a big part in the somewhat crowded conditions that we ran into. On the Saturday when we climbed Langley, we ran into at least four other small groups. Not Whitney for sure but people were always in sight. One other note was the bathroom at the Cottonwood Pass trailhead. When we left on Tuesday (the 5th), it looked great. When we returned on Sunday (the 10th), someone had blasted it with five or six gunshots through the window and penetrating the inside wall. What a sight to return to! I'll bet they weren't in the backcountry.

Ed - I also saw the bullet holes, but on Thursday 9/7 during a Cottonwood day-hike. I also remember them clearly from last September.

I was wondering who all those clean-cut well-behaved kids were hiking in Cottonwood last Thursday. Thanks for the info.

yep the bullet holes were there last season as well - remember pondering since I didn't bring a book for morning meditation period

I guess I just missed the holes in my hurry to get out on the trail. Still, it's too bad it ever happened. It bummed me on my return when I did notice the damage. Oh well.

I would think that many people planning a trip of 5-7 days would use the 3 day Labor Day weekend as part of the trip. So I wouldn't expect the post-Labor Day dropoff to start until a week after Labor Day.