Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Camping at altitude

I have a permit for early September and I live at approximately 33ft. in Florida. I enter the trail on a Sunday. I will fly out on Friday, arriving late at night. I would like to start my acclimating asap, without having to drive all night.

Is there any place at all close to LA or Las Vegas where I can camp over at least 5 or 6,000 feet?

I was thinking maybe Mt. Charleston area or Angeles/San Bernardino NF or the Walker Pass campground in Sequoia NF.

Thanks for any help.

If you are going as far as Walker Pass you may as well go all the way to Lone Pine and stay at Lone Pine Campground. Lone Pine can't more than 90 minutes from the Walker Pass junction off of CA 14 and you wouldn't have to backtrack.

Bill

If you want something above 5000', not too far out of the way, between LAX and Lone Pine, the best bet is probably the San Gabriel Mountains, unless you really do drive all the way to the Sierra.

Instead of taking Rts. 14 from I-5 to I-395, detour over to La Canada and take the Angeles Crest Highway/Angeles Forest Highway as far as Palmdale, then get onto 14.

The Mt. Pacifico campground is at 7100'.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/recreation/develop-camp-single.shtml#mount_pacifico

you are really a flatlander (like me), and I think that your concerns are valid. Mt. Pacifico is a good option, although I'd think it would be bit difficult to find at nite for an inexperienced person, including driving 4 miles on a dirt road, but it is not unreasonable.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/recreation/develop-camp-single.shtml
I would then drive the next day, sat, to Horseshoe meadows, 10k, south of Whitney, and dayhike to one of the passes, 11k, and sleep there. A 40 min drive to the trail on Sunday, but you will be FAR ahead of the game.

You could request a seat in an unpressurized cargo hold on the flight over!

The good news is that you will start your acclimatization when your plane takes off, since planes are pressurized around 7000 ft. If you don't want to drive too far, there are mountains just east of LAX (~1 1/2 - 2 hours) that are 10,000'. I don't know specifics, but I'm sure that there are plenty of places to pitch a tent in those mountains.

You can camp at Mahagony Flat campground in Death Valley NP. Is located at 8133 feet of elevation and is overlooking lowest point on the continent and has great hiking option, Telescope Peak 11.049", Rogers Peak, Wildrose Peak 9064".
Drive from LAX 405 N >14 N > Exit Ridgecrest 178 >Trona > Panamint Valley >Wildrose Canyon. (No water at campground, and can be very windy). Check the NP map or web site.
It sound little bit confusing but is worth to go. You can drive direct to Lone Pine over 190 > 136 highway.
Bob R. can tell you more about, this is his backyard.
Take care.
tomi

It looks to me like you could fly into Ontario or San Bernadino airport and possibly spend a night up in the Crestline/Lake Arrowhead area. I'm not sure of the elevation, nor the cost of flying into one of those airports, but those spots are very convenient to 15, joining it just below Cajon Summit.

Do you have a particular need to fly into LA? If not, check out the prices for Bakersfield and Reno--in both cases, you'd have some good camping options between there and Whitney.

DHMeieio, I see Wrightwood on the map, is that the elevation of the city? I like the idea of a motel and not driving endlessly through dark mountain roads.

I can fly into LA, Ontario, or Las Vegas with just 1 lay over, Bakersfield and Reno require 2 or 3.

I'm with DHMeieio -- if Ontario is acceptable, use the I-15/395 route to Lone Pine.

Wrightwood is indeed at 6000' and a tame drive from ONT compared to Mt. Pacifico from just about anywhere.

http://wrightwoodlodging.com/

If you have time, you can hike up towards Mt. Baldy from Wrightwood and get as high as 10000'.

Wrightwood is just under 5,800'. There some rentals up there but it isn't the resort that Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear Lake are. It's about 25 mins. from I-15.

Bill

Don't forget the value of a good night's sleep -- at any altitude. Miss that good night's sleep on Friday and when will you make it up? In a tent Saturday? You'll probably have to get up early Sunday morning to start your hike.

If you can get around the traffic in L.A. I'd drive all the way to Lone Pine (4 hrs. depending on how much lead is in your foot) and stay in a motel. Get up the next morning and spend all of Saturday at
Whitney Portal or Kennedy Meadows.

Any more, Ontario is on fairly equal footing with LAX as to cost, and when going to Whitney, is far more convenient than LAX. If Ontario is ever more expensive than LAX, it's not by much, and the slightly higher price is well worth the vastly greater convenience when driving to Lone Pine. There are very few flights in and out of Bakersfield, and both Bakersfield and Reno are generally more expensive, as is Inyokern (another option if you don't mind the extra expense, depending on where you are coming from). From Ontario, you're out of the L.A. basin in no time -- LAX is just the opposite. Personally, if at all possible, I would make the trip from Ontario straight up to Lone Pine in one drive.

I've got it! If you fly into Ontario, it is a very short drive on good roads to the Mt. Baldy area.

If you enter "ontario, ca" into mapquest, it will bring up a map that shows where Mt Baldy Village is (shown as Mt Baldy), about 15 miles from the airport!!

Several options: Crestline Lodge 6400ft, or a campground at Manker Flats (if you are staying in any Angeles Nat'l forest campground that requires a fee (Manker does), you do NOT need an adventure pass to park in the campground. However, being a friday nite, you might have trouble getting a spot.
Also, if you are a Sierra Club member, you can stay at Harwood Lodge, right across the street from Crestline Lodge, if they are having a "open weekend" $9/nite to use their 'barracks style' sleeping room.
http://angeles.sierraclub.org/outings/Harwood.asp

You gotta be a member, but for $25, it's a bargain.

By the way, when I mentioned going to horseshoe meadows, and climbing to the pass, I meant to climb back DOWN to camp!

My vote would be to drive from LAX to the Sierra's. Worse case, you could camp off HWY 14 at one of the many campgrounds. You could easily get a carcamping spot outside of Lone Pine. Then in the morning you awake in paradise and do a day hike up at Horseshoe Meadow Saturday.
I live in LA and getting to the local mountains on a Friday is brutal with all the traffic. I bet you'd come out even driving to Lone Pine because you'd beable to maintain Hwy speed most of the way.

From Ontario it is an easy drive up the Mt. Baldy road to the parking lot. I have slept in the Mt. Baldy parking lot quite a few times, the night before hiking Mt. Baldy or Cucamonga peak.. Show up late, drive to the end of the road and sleep by the car. We usually pull up close to the water tanks in the upper lot. Seldom if ever, does anyone drive by. If you are in late and leave early, there would be no need to worry about that forest service pass. I always have one for the portion of the day I am hiking in the mountains (since my car is at the trailhead for hours), but never worry about one the night before.

It is about 20 miles on I-10 > I-15 from Ontario before you are out of the L.A. basin, whereas it is 35 miles on the infamous "always-a-traffic-jam" I-405 > I-5 from LAX (to SR 14) before you are out of the L.A. basin. The traffic on I-10/I-15 from Ontario out of L.A. has never been a problem that I can remember, whereas, most every time we head toward Palmdale on the 405, we *do* run into a traffic jam. For this reason alone, Ontario is a slam-dunk for me. I've done both a number of times.

Also, the total distance from Ontario to Whitney Portal is about 20 miles less than the total distance from LAX to Whitney Portal.