Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cottonwood Pass to summit + fishing

Hi,

I am new to Mt Whitney. I plan to hike to the summit from Cottonwood Pass(29 miles) in July. I will be backpacking 3 night (2 nights on the way up and 1 on the way down). Anyone have tips to offer on this trip?

Also, I read from one trail report that we could fish during the hiking. I have a few questions:
1. What kind of permit I need to fish in Whitney area?
2. How far is lake away from the trail?
3. Any special fishing equipments need?

Thanks in advance!

Hi mt_hiker!

Fishing along the trail from Cottonwood Meadows to Mt. Whitney has always been fun. I've done it a couple of times and have never been skunked! Never gone via Cottonwood Pass and Chicken Spring Lake but if you go up near Lower Soldier Lake on the backside of Langley there are some fun golden browns to catch although not big ones. The trail goes right by this lake on the way to the lower Rock Creek campground. I basically use spinners although if you fly fish I think there would be some great places to catch trout. Check out my thread here:
<a href="http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001052#000003">Mt. Whitney fishing 2003</a>
Also pictures here:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/85028733QRDDyY"> Pics</a>
You could also fish at Timberline Lake (no camping though), Guitar Lake and Hitchcock Lakes. The trail goes right along side of Timberline and right by Guitar. You would have to scramble over to Hitchcock if you wanted to fish there. Have a great time and post your results here when you complete your journey. Have a great time!

PS You will need a CA fishing license to be legal although I have never been stopped by anyone up there during the couple times I've been through the area.

The mileage sounds as though you are going through the Miter Basin rather than down to the Lower Rock Creek Crossing and over Guyot Pass.

If you are more precise with your itinerary you will get the information you want.

Thanks for replies. My current itinerary is the following,

Day 1. Arrive at Whitney portal and camp there
Day 2 pick up permit and camp at trail head of Cottonwood Pass.
Day 3 start hiking from Cottonwood Pass--Pacific Crest Trail. Camp near range station. I hope I could fish around camp site or I could camp to the site which is convenent for fishing.
Day 4. Continue on Pacific Crest trail -- John Muir trail to camp near Guitar lake. I hope I could fish too.
Day 5 go for summit and go down to Trail Crest- Whitney trail and camp at Trail camp. It would be nice I could fish too. (I have permit already)
Day 6. go down to Whitney portal.

I am new to Whitney. I have done some research to come to this plan, but have no idea whether it is going to work or now. Main idae behind this plan is that I could prevent moutain sickness as much as possible since I have no idea what it is going to be in real experience.

Please comments. I am more than happy to make the adjustment on the feedback.

Thanks again!

I haven't fished in most of that area, but I hear that Hitchcock Lakes have really good fishing. Last summer some of the kids in our group fished Guitar Lake, with moderate success. The only fish I saw coming out of Guitar Lake were Volcano Creek Golden trout. The best fishing was on the south shore of the lake, on the opposite side from the trail. See this link for a picture of a Volcano Creek Golden, one of the best looking fish you will ever see:

http://www.tucalifornia.org/cgtic/CGTbasics.htm

Many high lakes in the sierra will have brook and/or rainbow, along with Little Kern Golden trout:

http://www.tucalifornia.org/cgtic/lilkern-gtic.htm

I have also heard that Consultation Lake has good fishing, and it is just a short walk from Trail Camp.

In all the fishing I have done or seen being done by others in the high sierra, I have had the best luck using gold or copper colored spinners. That is across a wide range of the southern sierra, in lakes and streams.

Dude, the fish'in is great throughout our mountains. Bring a variety of flys. You want to match the hatch or in otherwords watch what there eating.Keep changeing flys until you found the one they hit, and you'll know. Ant patterns work well up there.You have to be creative though on how you cook them see'in how most places and all places above 10,000 feet you can't have a fire.I bring a small grate and build up rocks around my stove.I have a friend who cooks them by laying them out on the rocks for a few hours, that works too.Don't forget the garlic salt & happy fish'in. AD

Last year when our group went up via the Main trail the fishing was great at Consultation Lake which is a short 10 min hike down from Trail Camp. Spinners and flies both work, those guys are hungry!
I haven't been on the West side yet, but since our group's permit application was rejected the other day, looks like I'll be on that same trail up from Horseshoe Meadow. From what I've heard, there is also great fishing at Rock Creek Lake, which you will pass right by on the trail.
Let us know how you do when you go.

Actually, if you go by the PCT, you will not really be within a couple miles of rock creek lake. However, I've fished Rock Creek itself many times, and always had good luck. I used spinners. I've not had much luck at Guitar, but others seem to. Consultation Lake has a good reputation.

So....you don't need to go out of your way to get some great fishing options. Whether the fish are biting that day, ah, who ever knows!

Ken,

Thanks for the info. I have been trying hard to search the Rock Creek lake near the trail on my map with no luck untill saw your post.

Joe,
I will post a report for my trip after I survive from the summit. Could not wait for July to come ...

If you go fishing, don't you have to kinda sorta just stand there?

I hate standing.

Hiker,
Couple of thoughts…
With your ambitious miles-per-day itinerary, I do not see how you are going to do the fishing justice; you are walking right by some of the best.
Perhaps consider adding a few fishing days…less miles/day?…just a thought.

Did a similar trip in a long week…fished them all.

South Fork – sporadic small Goldens
Cottonwoods – barbless but well received
Long Lake – spotted a few lunkers
Lower Soldier – fly and bubble at the rise worked
Sky Blue – possible large trout…lures deep
Lower / Upper Crabtree – could be worth a layover day
Guitar – very colorful fighters…small
Hitchcock – same as Guitar, only bigger
Consultation – Keep this a secret

Taut lines
Mark

Mark,

Great insight! You hit dead on the uncertain spot on my plan. I am still working on the day to day itinerary to make sure the fishing could be part of the trip.

Current thinking is that I will hike about 8 hours per day. If I could start at 5AM (no later than 6AM), the hiking should be completed before 4PM. I don't think I will have time to walk extra couple of miles for fishing, but I would love to fish in nearby area.

We have a group of people and permit dated already. I could not throw in the additional date anymore. None of us has been hike Whitney before. When no mountain sickness, the fitter people in the group could complete 10 miles running in trail with 1000 feet gain in between 1.5 to 2 hrs. Others could hike the same distance in 5 hours. We will keep the training going for next 3 months.

Please provide comments on anything else too.

Thanks again!

Hiker

> We have a group of people and permit dated already. I could not throw in the additional date anymore.

Your permit is for the entry date only. It is good for any trip length, no matter if it is for one night or ten. So lengthening the trip is more up to your group.

Steve,

I will be exiting from Trail Crest which exit date is fixed.

Thanks

Your route is about 42 miles rather than 29.

I've seen fish pulled out of Rock Creek never the ranger station, fish in Whitney Creek at Lower Crabtree Meadow and a ton of fish in Timberline Lake.

I would not stay at Trail Camp. It makes for a short day, there are a lot of fish in Lone Pine Lake and Lone Pine Lake is a better place to spend the night. ;-)

The Inyo is funny about the exit permit. They don't mind anyone changing the exit itinerary on any other trail but they do get feisty for some reason coming over Trail Crest on schedule, at least in the office if you bring it up. I have only exited once on schedule with an exit permit. Once I decided I wanted a Portal Store chicken sandwich and left a day early, the other time we decide to see if we could do it in 3 days and other we exited on time. None of the field rangers cared when checking our permits east to Trail Crest.