Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Shepherd Pass to Whitney and Back

Hi,

My wife and I are climbing Whitney and the only entry point we could reserve for Aug 25 was Sheperd Pass. Looking at the maps and remembering our hiking trip last year (Bishop Lake to Cottonwood Pass) we plan on a 7 day round trip from the Sheperd Pass trailhead. However, in reading the message board and searching through it with the key word "Shepherd" I found very little information on this route, most of it a few years old.

Can anyone give me current information about this route and whether 7 days round trip seems reasonable (note that we cannot start our first day until we drive in from Las Vegas and pick up our permit)? This route seems much less used than the entry for Cottonwood Lakes or Cottonwood Pass--why?

Thanks for your help.

Shepherd Pass from the Symes Creek trailhead is generally considered one of the hardest ups in the Sierra. This plus the distance (29 mi one-way to Whitney's summit) probably explains its reduced popularity as a Whitney route.

Paul Richins does list this route in his book "Mount Whitney: the complete trailhead to summit summit hiking guide". He calls it a 4-6 day trip, though that seems fast to me unless he means one-way.

Andy

Rockman, that trail starts at 6300' and the pass is 12,000. It is a long way up and over. People use it to climb Mt. Williamson and Tyndall, but otherwise, it is a huge climb. When I did it, we started in the evening, and hiked until midnight, camped, and then climbed all day to gain the pass late the next afternoon.

You might consider your alternatives: Lots of people get reservations and then either cancel in advance, or just don't show up for their permits. Check the unused permits numbers in this thread, and you can see that on practically any day, you can get a Mt Whitney Main Trail overnight permit just by walking in on the day you want to start your hike. In addition, the Horseshoe meadows trail head has a quota reserved for walk-in requests. And the Trail Crest exit permits also have a walk-in quota.

If you get to the Visitor Center in Lone Pine before 11 am, you can probably put together a more enjoyable hike on the spot.

If you want to be 100% sure of your itinerary before you arrive in Lone Pine, you might try calling the Wilderness Permit number in the week before your hike, because the nicer hikers who can't go will call in and release their reservations a few days before their hike. If you get a reservation that way, though, it will cost you the $15 per hiker, while walk-in permits are free.

NG Topo! says the Symes Creek trailhead is around 6298'.

7000' would actually be a big improvement.

Don't forget the 500' drop into Shepherd creek in the middle, making for maybe 6200' of up.

Rockman..I just got back from going up and down the Shepherds Pass trail..this was my second time on that trail. There is a nice flow of water in Symmes creek & all four crossings are easy to get across...we started at 6:45 AM and it was already pretty warm...we filled up on water at the last creek crossing # four. There was water still flowing in the stream that crosses the trail coming down off of Mt. Keith...on 7/26 & again on 7/31

I would start as early as possible..it was very very hot the day we hiked up to anvil camp..we read 90 degrees at one point on my friends thermometer. If you are camping at anvil camp..there are some very nice spots..the mosquitoes were not all that bad..by the time you go they should be all gone. We had no snow to cross over below the pass. The trail from the pass down to Tyndall Creek that merges you with the JMT is very beautiful, wide and open and a gentle hike down.
I was able to drive my Mazda 2 wheel drive to the TH...the last section I was just a bit more careful and drove slower. I think it is very beautiful hike up..very interesting entering the canyon at the bottom & all the ridges and saddles you go over to just reach anvil camp. I don't know if this helps any..but thought I would post just in case.

Four of us just completed a three-day jaunt over Shepherd Pass to the Kings-Kerns Divide and back. Took quite a few pictures in the process.

The stream off of Mt. Keith that madeintahoe talked about was still flowing, but not profusely. It may be gone by August 25. That means a long dry stretch from Symmes Creek until you get to Anvil Camp. For us, the elapsed time from Symmes Creek to that little stream was four hours; Anvil Camp was two hours farther.

Pictures are here: 2007-08-10 Mts. Ericsson and Genvra .

Hi Folks,

Thanks so much for all the information, especially Bob R's photos. The southern routes are now more appealing to me, but we are still discussing which route we will take. My wife and I are going to "play it by ear" when we arrive in Lone Pine and see what trails have availability and how energetic we feel.

Hopefully we see some of you on the trail

Don

Rockman..You & your wife have a nice trip! Bob...The pictures are great of your Genevra & Ericsson trip..I sure enjoyed them..hopefully I can return and make it to those two. Very cool you saw the Yellow Mountain Legged frog..that sure looks like one to me! There very cute