Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cottonwood Lakes vs Cottonwood Pass

I am planning to start at Horseshoe Meadow and use one of these trails to connect to PCT. Can anyone recommend one over the other? What are the main differences? Thanks.

main difference is the elevation of the passes.

Cottonwood easier than Old Army Pass easier than New AP.

Done all three trips, all interesting and enjoyable.

Just went over New Army last week. Even though it's higher, I actually preferred NAP over Cottonwood Pass. Cottonwood (last year) was very sandy and dusty with large quantities of horse dung. The advantage of Cottonwood is you can camp at Chicken Spring Lake (4.5 miles or so) while on NAP you need to go approx. 6 miles or so to get to the 1st Cottonwood Lake or Long Lake. Scenery is spectacular no matter which you choose.
Enjoy your trip!
Brian

Thanks Brian. We want to get to guitar lake for our second night, where would you recommend stopping for our first night? We will be departing early in the AM on day one.

Hi, "Rookie",
It looks like you just joined the Board. Welcome! If you do a search on your topic you will find a wealth of information from those much more experienced than myself on this board. After doing the Main Trail a couple of times, I wanted something different so I did the New Army Pass loop solo last week and had a blast.
I spent one night at the Horseshoe Meadows Campground prior to starting. Spent my first night out at Long Lake, 2nd night at Guyot Creek, 3rd night the tarns just above Guitar Lake, woke up the next day and hit the summit and went home.
It sounds like you want to go quicker than I did. So if you go Cottonwood Pass you'd want to get to Rock Creek for the first night. Fill up on water at Chicken Spring Lake - there is a small water source after that, but you need to know where to look. If you did New Army Pass I would think you'd want to get at least to Rock Creek Lake for the first night. That 2nd day would be long, though. However, like I said, there is a lot of information on this Board, and you will have several options to planning your trip. Hope this helps!
Brian

I've done it both ways and both have their pluses and minuses. There is about 800' of difference between the passes...if you include the climbout from Chicken Spring Lake.

What I do like about NAP or AP is over over the pass and down the hill you get to hike in the shade along Rock Creek.

Which way I would go is how I feel on that particular day. I'm a strong enough hiker that difference in elevation between the passes is going to make a bit of difference in the decision making process.

I just finished the trip from cottonwood pass to Whitney portal on 7/10. In case you decide to go from cottonwood pass, make sure you fill up all your water bottles at chicken spring lake if you want to stay on PCT all the way to rock creek, 'cause there is virtually no water until you reach the rock creek.

Or, you could try turn right at the PCT & Siberian pass trail junction to reach rock creek first.

I hiked out on 7/8 from horseshoe meadow to rock creek, and I was out of water for the last 2 miles. Luckily it wasn't too hot that day.