Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board whitney portal via cottonwood in late October

Hi,

Never been to whitney but I am planning to do a solo hike to Whitney via cottonwood T.H. in late October. Thinking about 5 days: day 0 sleep at the trailhead campground, day 1 make it to rock creek, 13 miles. if not, stay at chicken lake. day 2 to crabtree, day 3 to guitar lake, day 4 summit and outpost, day 5 exit.

day 2 crabtree is used as a buffer, either because I want to do fishing at chicken lake, at rock creek, or do some side trek.

I want to know how is the trail condition usually like for the time of the year? do I need snowshoes or any technical gears? hope not. but will bring my crampon for the switchback

also is anybody going there around that time and willing to give me a lift from whitney portal and drop me off at cottonwood t.h. ? I will pay for the gas.

would be great if anybody wants to join me too.

Many thanks for any information and advises.

I was looking down in to the Guitar Lake basin on Sunday and it looked like the snow from the storm would not be an issue down there.

I met a group of hikers who were heading in from Onion Valley. They reported that the trail had cleared with the sun at lower elevations and didn't complain about any danger on the switchbacks up the west side. (They didn't like the amount of mud they had to hike through though.)

We'll have a more accurate report for you after this weekend.

I've never seen neither any fish in Chicken Spring Lake nor anyone fishing there.

Chicken Spring Lake is a very short easy day but Rock Creek Crossing can be a very long one depending on the level your physical conditioning. A middle ground destination would be Lower Soldier Lake, where there are fish. Then you can continue your trip down along Rock Creek...which is a much better route than across Siberian Outpost.

If you are going to Rock Creek on day one, it makes sense to by pass Upper Crabtree Meadow and continue on to Guitar Lake or the Tarns above Guitar...it is about a 10 mile day from the lower Rock Creek crossing.

Rather than Outpost Camp, I'd opt for Lone Pine Lake. There are less people and there is a fishing opportunity there.

Good luck finding anyone to take you back to Horseshoe Meadow. Whitney Portal becomes a ghost town as you move closer to November.

Um... Moosie took most the fish of decent size out of Lone Pine Lake this past weekend... But those that remain in that particular body of water are very thankful for any bait they can steal from your hook.. they seem to make a game of it and taunt the fisherperson...

I just did this trip in mid Sept. Awesome trip. The trail is in excellent shape. Just a few tips. There are NO FISH in Chicken Spring Lake. And CSP is only about 2 hrs from the TH. Rock Creek has tons of little fish, but they weren't biting. From Upper Crabtree to Summit is only 7.5 miles so we skipped the stay at Guitar Lake. Overall a great 4 day trip. My pack weight was right at 35lbs with 4 liters of water on day one. Have a great time.

Thanks for the info.
This would be my leisure trip, not a boot camp trip. I am planning to spend 5 days just to wander around and maybe catch some fish. The Lower Soldier Lake sounds fun, maybe even the Blue Sky lake.

Really hate the 3lbs bear canister. Do you guys have any recommendation about the bear box and tall tree availability along the trail? Concern about the places above the tree line.

Hope I can get a ride from the portal to the horseshoe t.h. otherwise, I may just do a 7 day round trip hike.

my average speed is 10 miles in 5 hours with 35lb bag at around 10k altitude, maintained trail. That includes rest, lunch, etc. Now I am thinking about the route of new army pass- sky-blue lake - craptree pass mentioned in the book of Mount Whitney By Paul Richins, Jr. (route 10). But some how my TopoUSA 6 does not have the route. Weird.

http://books.google.com/books?id=xIwNj8hA7AwC&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=Lower+Soldier+Lake,+whitney&source=web&ots=3J8YEXCRXn&sig=USj5mKSZ7CNuKJUUrdxXeyf0ZkA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA159,M1

Anybody did this route before? how easy is to find the trail? any fish report at sky-blue lake? I will probably stick with PCT unless someone told me it is really worthy going the army trail via craptree pass.

Just make absolutely sure you check the long range forecast before you head out on that trip. Early storms have been known to dump heavy snow in late October, and you really don't want to be caught on the back side of Whitney in that situation.

CSL is not worth it the stay. I did you exact trip over Labor Day and had a great time. Rock Creek is gorgeous and passed up Guitar to spend the night in the hut at top. Not sure this is advisable given the possible weather changes but you can always come down to the other side and camp there too. Not sure when you were looking for a ride from the portal to Cottonwood but I am heading up to Cottonwood tomorrow and can give you a ride. Of note, we gave some folks a ride back to their cars from the portal to the TH to build up our karma bank so it is possible.

What Steve said about the long range forecast, you can get a couple of feet of snow real fast in October and it might mean a retreat back over Cottonwood Pass.

Who needs no stinking 3 pound BRC when there is 2 pound BRC. If you are out a lot, throwing $232 at Bearikade is a worthwhile investment...have an out of state relative order it for you to avoid the California ransom. Another option is going without a canister...illegal of course, and use the bear boxes at Soldier Lake, Rock Creek and either of the Crabtree Meadows...then exit on your summit day. My guess is your running into a ranger on westside of the Sierra Crest this time of the year is near nil.

I see you have Richin's book. If you go to Sky Blue Lake do not take Richins' route. Go over the first low spot at the end of the lake rather than going around to the south side for the higher climb. Once you climb out of Lower Soldier Lake, the route to Sky Blue fairly easy to figure out.

If Lower Soldier Lake is your destination, I would consider going over New Army or Army Passes to avoid beach walk along the PCT between Chicken Spring Lake and Siberian Outpost.

I did a similar trip on October of 2005, but we went through the Miter basin instead of the PCT. I would strongly recommend bringing some lightweight crampons and an ice axe just in case. The forecast for our trip called for some wind, but over the course of two days from when we started the hike, the weather system that was supposed to be light actually dropped enough snow to allow the sun and wind to create an ice layer that was difficult to deal with in my trail shoes. This time of year it just pays to have the right gear with you. The day I was supposed to cross over trail crest, I decided to turn around and go out via New Army Pass instead. Later that same day a hiker lost his life after falling from near the top of the bowl above the switchbacks.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/469191488VfuyOF