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

I am planning a trip from Horseshoe Meadows to Whitney Portal in late July and would like to hear from others whether taking three days to get to Trail Camp is too ambitious. Most of the reports on this Board indicate that it will take four days. I will be in a group of four, who will not take this lightly and will all be in good shape. For what it is worth, I have been to the peak twice, once spending two nights at Trail Camp. Last summer I made it to the top and back in just over 11 hours. That was my first and last one day hike to the peak.

Thank you for your input.

I would suspect that you can do it without a problem. Just make sure you acclimate a day at Horseshoe or WP before heading out. I did this trip with 3 Boy Scouts (12 and 13 years old), but we squeezed one rest day on day 3, but could've easily done it without the rest day.
Day 1: Horseshoe Meadow to the heart-shaped lake (unnamed, just along Rock Creek)
Day 2: All the way to Guitar Lake
Day 3: Rested and swam at Guitar Lake
Day 4: Broke campe at 12:15 am and hit the peak just before dawn and then down to WP. We were back at the parking lot by 11:00 am. on Day 4.

Do you plan on taking the cottonwood pass trail or the cottonwood lakes trail?

Hi Some how the last few years folks are doing the dry, dirt, sand, no water on the full on horse route , no bias on my part but the New Army Pass has Lakes, Golden Trout and a view into the Miter Basin and Mount General and a side trip option to Langley, It adds about nothing to the trip time and the camp sites are near fishing. This trip is a wild card of options one day to seven LA times did a write up some years ago and if I recall they went into Miter Basin and fished Sky Blue Lake . Thanks Doug

I agree with doug, the cottonwood lakes trail is allot better.

Though the last time I went for new army pass I had to fight through the bushes and found my whole body covered in mosquitoes, literally at least 50 at a time on me

I like that. It is a pretty accurate description of what the Cottonwood Pass / PCT route is like. Then you can hook up and finish the trip on the Mule Route.

Last spring, I did the "Horse Route" into Miter Basin because the chance New Army Pass was clogged with snow. Although, it is everything that Doug says it, and in my opinion more so, but it has tremendous views along much of its distance.

My preference is for South Fork Lakes Trail then over NAP, I do not like the ups and downs and sand of the CL/NAP Trail. The SFL Trail is less less traveled and about a mile shorter than the CL/NAP. It does require some x-country through the South Fork Lakes area which isn't much of a problem.

My geezer friends and I who were in good, not great, shape did this route in 3 days to Whitney Portal. Just keep your pack as light as possible.

Day one...SFL Trail to Lower Rock Creek Crossing
Day two...LCRC to the tarns above Guitar Lake
Day three...Tarns to the Portal

You may want to camp lower than the over used Trail Camp. If you can do the other two days, mostly likely you can make to the barn for a shower, beer and burger.

Then, of course, you have this crazy section of the population who does this as a DAY HIKE ... yeah, I know this includes me...

I agree about taking some time back there. There are also some nice, easy, walk-up peaks in the area which would offer some really outstanding views: Mt. Guyot looks down into the Kern Canyon; the Joe Devel-Newcomb-Pickering group; even Hitchcock Peak is a Class 2 scramble up from the Crabtree Lakes (bonus: good fishin). If they are "not taking it lightly" why not take a little longer and explore a bit?

-L

"A word to the wise, You should definitely take some time to fish as many lakes as possible."
My words to hike by. Did this trip on a long week or so, tried hitting every lake on the route.
Stopped at:
Day 1 - South Fork Lake - no fish but an easy acclimatization first day
Day 2 - High Lake after hitting 4 of the Cottonwoods - just great Golden fishing at all.
Day 3 - Nap to Lower Soldier - spotty fishing but great camp sites with single malt at the campfire.
Day 4 - Crabtree Meadows - Lots of pan size and the luxury of the the famous outdoor crapper.
Day 5 - Side trip up to Lower Crabtree - some really big fish to be had at the evening rise.
Day 6 - Guitar and Hitchcock - too many pretty Goldens to count
Day 7 - summit and some stunted but fine tasting hybrids, no crowds at Consultation
Day 8 - the famous burger and ultimately a room in Lone pine - fabulous steak and wine dinner MerryGoRound.

Highly recommend taking this route slowly, and making it a world-class, grand fishing adventure.

at timberline lake i caught a nice size golden nearly every cast. probably 30 fish that day, but i didnt eat any...

i thought it was illegal to eat goldies until i talked to a ranger in kings canyon. he said the only fish you shouldnt eat is the rainbow trout, the only native to kings canyon. goldies are antive to sequoia and the upper south fork of the kern

guitar lake only got me a small brook/golden hybrid.

When I did this trip in 2007 the trip went as follows:

Day 1) Horseshoe Meadows over New Army Pass to Solder Lake
Day 2) Solder Lake to Crabtree Meadows
Day 3) Crabtree Meadows to Guitar Lake (a short day, plus saw Moosetracks that night)
Day 4) Guitar Lake to Whitney summit (spent the night on the summit in my tent - great sunset and sunrise)
Day 5) Whitney summit to Whitney Portal (home of the famous Moosebuger thanks to Laura)!

Good luck with your trip.
Whitney Mike

I'm an out of shape 50 year old guy and I did this trip last September as a 4 nighter and it was pretty casual.

We did Long lake, Rock Creek crossing, Crabtree (secret morning dump was heavenly), Guitar lake and out. I really liked the easy day from Crabtree to Guitar as it allowed rest which made summit day more enjoyable. My regret was not enough time to fish for the spectacular Goldens all along this route. We had a fish fry at Rock Creek that was awesome.

I'm doing the trip this year from the north (Onion Valley) and I'm going to take more time to enjoy the fishing. I'm definitely going to try and hit lower Crabtree this time. If you have time why not enjoy it. It's really beautiful.

If you don't have time to acclimate I would suggest not hitting the passes the 1st night. Just Hike into Long, or SF lakes the 1st night otherwise get out the tylenol.

I was traveling and not able to thank everyone for the valuable suggestions until now. I had not even begun to think about which route to take, but I the ayes have it for the New Army Pass route and I will make sure to bring the Deet and the netting.