Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board CottonWood Lakes to Mt Whitney

Myself and 3 friends are interested in making the hike from Cottonwood Lakes to Mt Whitney and out through Whitney Portal. Hoping to go in August, exit permit permitting.

IS the hike do able in 3 days, w( im a new at multi day hikes)

This may be a taboo subject but...Also if I am unable to get an exit pass for the Whitney wilderness, what kind of fine can i get if i get caught without a permit?

Can anyone give me some pointers about completing this hike?

Take a look at this report....which says 4-5 days is best.

<a href="http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001140"> Horseshoe meadows to Mt. Whitney</a>

r.s. asks:

This may be a taboo subject but...Also if I am unable to get an exit pass for the Whitney wilderness, what kind of fine can i get if i get caught without a permit?

The answer is a $500 fine or 6 months in jail or both. See 16 USC 551 quoted here:

TITLE 16 > CHAPTER 3 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 551

§ 551. Protection of national forests; rules and regulations

The Secretary of Agriculture shall make provisions for the protection against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public forests and national forests which may have been set aside or which may be hereafter set aside under the provisions of section 471 [1] of this title, and which may be continued; and he may make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will insure the objects of such reservations, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction; and any violation of the provisions of this section, sections 473 to 478 and 479 to 482 of this title or such rules and regulations shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. Any person charged with the violation of such rules and regulations may be tried and sentenced by any United States magistrate judge specially designated for that purpose by the court by which he was appointed, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as provided for in section 3401 (b) to (e) of title 18.

I did that hike in 7 days, six nights, but we did not kill ourselves.

Your chances of getting checked by a ranger are pretty good. We got checked twice. In the Whitney Zone it was very mechanical and he had the ticket book in his hand.

The $500 fine is no joke. Last year I was taking a day hike from Cottonwood and walked in about 8 miles and then turned around to the parking lot. As I was just about to turn around, a ranger approached and then ticketed two men who had returned from Whitney and had no permit. The two men were pretty rude and dismissive until the ranger called for back-up and said they would be detained until they produced I.D.

I walked away and couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, but when I returned to the parking lot, there were two rangers waiting right there, presumably to give the ticket to the men hiking with no permit. They looked very serious.

Sounds like a permit is a pretty darned handy idea!

My wife and I hiked the same route last July. We averaged about 16 miles per day and made it in three days. We left at 7:00 AM the first day and made it to Lower Soldier Lake that night, with a side trip to Mt. Langley. We left the next morning at 8:00 AM and made it to Guiter Lake, with plenty of time to spare. On the third day, we left at 8:00 AM and made it to the Portal Store by 6:00 PM.

It is doable, but you need to keep moving. My advice is to start early and take a one or two hour mid-day break and finish strong. Work until 5:00 PM or later if want to make it in three days. Add another day if you want to go about 12 miles per day.

I suggest you test yourself by doing two 12-15 mile hikes with full pack back to back, simulating as much as possible the elevation gains on both days. You will then have a fairly good idea how your body will react to multiple day hikes.

While on the way down from the pass on Thursday, a ranger was on his way up, toting radio and ticket book. Have your overnight passes handy. Day hikers need not worry, though.

Have fun!

I've done this a couple of times and it's a nice hike. Day 1: Horseshoe Meadows trailhead to Cottonwood Pass, north on the PCT to Rock Creek; or, Cottonwood Lakes trailhead to New Army Pass to the Rock Creek Trail to the PCT. I think the latter is more scenic. Day 2: North on the PCT to the JMT, east to Guitar Lake. Camp at the tarns above Guitar Lake at roughly 12,000 ft. Day 3: Up and over and out.

Yeah, it's doable. If....

You are in good shape, not great shape
You have a light but not necessarily ultralight pack

A couple of pointers which are not exactly forest service legal...

Get an exit permit in the neighborhood, a day early, a day later. Who can predict how many days you are going take to do a route. ;-) IMHO, this is one of the Inyo's silliest rules.

Don't take a bear resistant canister. You will utilize the bear box at Lower Rock Creek Crossing, you would need it at Guitar and you won't be staying overnight in Inyo territory.

Affix your Whitney Zone hang tag with the date facing into the pack and strap it in place.

These are some of things I did knowing full well I could be fined.

Bear canisters are now required for entering Cottonwood Lakes and Cottonwood Pass. The lockers at Rock Creek are for through hikers only. What if one was to rely on there being room and found out that the lockers were full. Hanging in that area is illegal.