Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report: Onion Valley to Whitney

The trip was from Sunday, July 29 to Sunday, August 5

I’ll make this short and, by the way no pictures of the trip. My unnamed daughter (I only have one) who drove me from the Portal to Onion Valley at the start of the trip forgot to bring her digital camera (the only camera I have is a Canon Rebel, SLR (10.1 megapixels….). too heavy and bulky.

The trip route:

Day 1 – Onion Valley to Kearsarge Lakes (the trail at the top of Kearsarge Pass is being rerouted somewhat to make the decent (first hundred feet or so) to Kearsarge Lakes easier
Day 2 – Kearsarge Lakes to Center Basin, the old JMT trail that was in use prior to 1932 before Forester was built (upper canyon, lake (no name) below Junction Pass).
Day 3 – Center Basin (over Junction Pass, down to Pothole to meet Shepherd Pass Trail, over Shepherd Pass) and camped at the lake at Shepherd Pass. Once on the Junction Pass ridge, you can look down on the hikers going over Forester Pass
Day 4 – Lake at Shepherd Pass, over some pass (cross country) that is named for some guy to Wright Lakes
Day 5 – Wright Lakes to Crabtree via Wallace Creek (I tried to transition to upper Wallace Creek, but was stymied by the ridge I took….. ended up taking a lower route to Wallace Creek
Day 6 – Layover at Crabtree
Day 7 – Crabtree to the Tarns above Guitar (no water from the pond above Guitar to around Trail Camp). The Tarns is where I normally camp so it was a little different having to figure the water situation.
Day 8 – Out. I was up at 2:30am; on the trail at 3:32am; at the junction at 5:08am; on top at 6:37am; at the Portal at 1:50pm. It was cold and windy (15 to 20 mph on top with the real temperature around 32 degree….. windchill?).

Highlights: the people I met along the way; 2 days of no one while going cross country (lonely); Junction Pass is easy to find and follow out of Center Basin… just a little common sense and patience. The trail is always there, however, maybe a little hidden at times. The map becomes somewhat inaccurate on the upper reaches of Center Basin (no problem, however). The trail follows the ridge for about half a mile. You can watch and follow hikers going up Forester Pass. The backside of Junction Pass is dangerous (not for the faint of mind), very little trail (actually, maybe none), steep slope (30 degree angle?) of gravel, sand and loose rock. Footing is next to impossible…. Go very, very slow. Plant your foot firmly and hope for the best. Several hundred foot drop. Once pass the gravel portion, the rock slide area appears. The trial disappears for large sections before reappearing.

Paul

I was fairly close to you in that I headed up to Arctic Lake and over Whitney / Russell Pass on your Day 7.

I met a couple from FL at Timberline Lake who told me they were advised to stay with the crowds (didn't look too bad from up high) at Guitar Lake because all of the tarns were dried up already. Is this the case?

Glad to hear you had a good trip. I do wish you had a camera with you, especially for the Center Basin portion of the trek.

Dry it was. However, Richard, remember where we camped last year (with Bob R and you met us on that LONG, LONG day hike from Cottonwood). Well, just down the canyon toward Hitchcock Lakes, about a half mile is a small lake. The trail crew working the Guitar Lake area was camped there. Water there could be an option. Not sure which is better.

It would have been fun to run into you. Oh yes, a camera would have been nice, and Golden Bear Lake is pretty spectacular, off the beaten path with few people.

By the way, my daughter came out of this shuttling thing well. She got a new snowboard (from Value Sport out of Bishop).

Hope to run into you sometime, Richard.

Paul

Anyone know the actual mileage from Onion Valley trailhead to the portal via Kiersarge Pass, JMT, Forrester Pass, crabtree meadows and out via main Mt. Whitney trail? How many days?