Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Acclimation Weekend 8/4-6/07, Cirque and Langley

Well, even though I lost my camera on the long walk, I did manage to get a bunch of pics from the weekend before with Mike. He kindly accompanied me and played tour guide through the Cottonwood+South Fork Lakes Basins, and we bagged both Cirque (Saturday) and Langley (Sunday) before he had to take off and head back to reality-land of work on Monday.

We camped at South Fork Lakes, right underneath the NAP trail near Long Lake. It was a weird weather weekend with wild winds (whoa!), heavy smoke below, and a few passing clouds. But overall a blast.

After all, who else would possibly consider a 13K and 14K peak as a "warm-up" to a huge trek but the CA Moose!

Many thanks to the 'Rock God':


Cool Side Note:
I have a tradition of bringing Champagne with me to the 14K peaks (Tina said I need to adjust this to ANY peak!), but this time, instead of having a sip, I left it in the ammo can for a group of friends who climbed Langley this past weekend. I left a note saying 'Please do not remove' and listing their names and the date of their supposed arrival. Well, they got the gift this past weekend after summitting. Plus, since it had been hanging out at 14K, it was well-chilled!

Other pics are here.

-L

Great work Laura...!

Nice job Laura! Looks like you and Mike had a great trip. I went up Langley on July 9th which was windy, sandy and a long trek to the top. Great pics! It just brought back great memories of my trip. Sorry to hear about your camera loss. OUCH! Looking forward to hearing about your 12 day adventure that followed.

Very nice Laura. Great pics.Too bad about the camera. Did you drop it? Maybe someone will find it and turn it in.

Nice pics, Moosie! There is not much that is more beautiful then a vivid blue sky over a Sierra peak!!! The photo of "dinner" brought back memories of dinner at TC on our great Whitney trip! Ummmmmmmm!

Looking forward to the complete TR when you get time and process the whole experience!

Cheers!
MC

Great Trip Laura! And thanks for the preview of my weekend coming up. I'll be up there this Saturday and Sunday to climb Langley for one of my experience trips for WTC. Funny how I was wondering what it looked like up there, and your great pics just show up. Good luck on your trip!
Mark

Laura, you mention in your photo captions, the cabin along South Fork Lakes Trail. It is thought to be one of "Shorty's" cabins, located throughout the SEKI area:

http://www.eshomvalley.com/lovelace.html

Thanks, everybody! It was a fun weekend, for sure, and a great way to 'shock the bod' into being out there full-time.

DRD: No such luck on 'dropping' the camera. It disappeared on a layover day at Hamilton Lake. I've filed a report with the NPS (at Roaring River, transferred down to Bearpaw), but because of the dayhiker traffic there, I think it grew legs.

Ken: Thanks for the link. Some guys at Roaring River mentioned a spot know as "Shorty's" at Cement Table Meadow in Cloud Canyon, but since I was heading all the way to Colby Lake I didn't get to see it. Yet another reason to go back. Or an idea for a trek: to find/stay at Shorty's cabins... in the winter... hmmm...

-L

Here are my pictures from our great weekend trip around the Cottonwood lakes basin.

Cirque Peak & Mt. Langley - 8.4-5.07 (I'll work on the captions tonight)

Nice work, buddie! Great shots of the chute up Cirque and the Tuttle Creek drainage. Maybe that's one we could put away for this winter?? Well, given there's snow and all...

-L

PS: Still giggling over the quote of the weekend: "Way to read a map, Laura!"

Another message board question about water...

My friends and I are headed for Cottonwood Lakes (#3 or #4)/Mt Langley next weekend. Do we need to purify water? We don't use tabs and I want to begin weaning myself of the filter as many on this message board say we can (around Whitney anyway). Are the lakes ok to drink straight from?

Do you know if the lakes are still good for fishing? (fish poop and my drinking from it. Hmmmm. Well, maybe "it" drops to the bottom).

Enjoyed both of your sets of pix! Thanks for the tour!

Forget the question about how good the fishing is. Talked to the Ranger Station today and got the scoop!

Still interested in advice about drinking the water though, untreated.