Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Where does this trail lead to?

I shot this photo of a portion of the switchbacks from the summit. If you look closely at the photo one can see another trail leading off to main trail. Does anyone happen to know where this trail leads to? I didn't notice this side trail when I went up or down.

<img src="http://community.webshots.com/s/image7/6/15/46/85261546lTUeOk_ph.jpg"width=720>

http://community.webshots.com/s/image7/6/15/46/85261546lTUeOk_ph.jpg

hiiker
p.s. Please bear with me if this first attempt to imbed a photo in my post didn't work. Copy the url to your browser to view the photo instead, thanks.

Ok let me try this one more time.

Try this url

http://community.webshots.com/s/image2/7/24/81/85272481zjQgaR_ph.jpg

If this doesn't work I give up.

hiiker

Try this url.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/85260041/85272481zjQgaR

This is truely the last attempt.

hiiker

To me it looks like it goes down, but I could be wrong.

When I was at Trail Camp I noticed that trail and when I thought about it, I think it is from people that glisade down in the winter. When I was their in June my dad and I noticed tracks from glisaders that lead to the general area of that trail.

Matt

I notice this trail every time I go up Whitney. It's not just a trail of use, it's actually built up and cleared out like a real trail. I figure 1 of 2 things: either it's the climber's trail to Mt. Muir, or it's part of the original Whitney trail before it was realigned many years ago. If the latter, would an unused trail stay clear on that morainal debris for so long if it were not maintained?

When I hiked the Main trail 2 yaears ago with my Uncle it was his first time back in 30 years. He remembers the trail going straight up the chute. Anyone know for sure? Bob R do you remember?

Usage of the Whitney trail has varied over the years. While the pack station was in operation at the Portal, the giant switchback that starts the current trail was a stock trail and the human path did short switchbacks up the south side of the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek to join the stock trail by the wilderness area sign. Above Trail Camp the trail starts switchbacks up the moraine. The old stock (and perhaps once the only?) trail can still be seen as a set of unmaintained switchbacks that climb the debris slope immediately below Trail Crest where some people slide down when there is sufficient snow cover.
The current trail from about the "cables" area up to Trail Crest is not designed to a standard to allow pack strings and a stock/hiker mix. Some of the switchbacks on the first miles of the trail show wide radius turns constructed to allow pack stings to pass.
The picture looks like it may be the trail splitting off to the old stock trail to the crest.

I think Dale is right about the pack trail. The photo shows switchbacks 14-26, from about 12,300 ft. to 12,500.The trail is used to access the chute for snow ascents/descents. Bob R. gets back August 13th from his mountain adventures in Arizona and New Mexico, and can give a definitive explanation. I'm interested in hearing about his latest mountain exploits. As far as your question, Brad, I'm among those on the Board who did hike Whitney 30 years ago, and I assure you the switchbacks were the main route back then for summer hikes. Your uncle may have gone up the chute because of late snow conditions, as hikers/climbers do today, when there is a lot of snow.

My first time up The Trail was in 1952, and my memory tells me it followed the switchbacks as they are today. The original 1903 trail followed the current one up to about SW #14, then cut off left toward Whitney Pass (see the topo map).

That was a tedious way and later it was rerouted over Trail Crest. But it went up the valley (as shown in Hiiker's picture) toward the bottom of "the chute" from Trail Crest and then switchbacked up the talus.

Certainly that trail got damaged regularly due to the looseness of the slope, and I'm reasonably sure that was why it was rerouted again, to where the cables are now. When? I'm thinking someone may have told me it was the 1930s, but it could have been the 1940s. As I said above, I'm reasonably sure it was prior to 1952.

I have descended the old trail - the one that entered the bowels of "the chute" about halfway between the cables and Trail Crest, and came out in the picture. A friend and I timed it, with him staying on the current trail, and the old trail was about 10 minutes faster. But it was quite loose and not much fun.