Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Marked Trails

Even though I always travel with a GPS and a map and compass and don't go off trail that often, my wife asked me a question that I could not answer since we have not done a lot of over night backpacking in the Sierra's. Her question was "how clearly are the trails really marked"? ie HM to Mt. Langley and then to Whitney or portions of the JMT. Is this an easy question?

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You get to about 12,300' on Mt. Langley and one trail goes to about 30. As Ken said, there are a lot of variations but let me add there are a lot of variations to get to the Class 2 route on the southwest.

Trails can be clearly marked and folks still get discombobulated. About 7 years ago at the Jct to the seasonal RS and the PCT a guy with map in hand asked me where was the PCT. I had told him twice he was standing on it, which he did not believe, then showed him on his map exactly where he was standing.

Most of the trails are marked at the junctions. Sometimes the signs are missing because of decay.

some trails are marked by cuts on trees. like diamond shapes. the tree w/ have a big scar. if i remember correctly, some are even painted different colors.
I have also been on trails that were only marked by 'ducks', as my dad calls them. stacked rocks. a very man made formation of rocks stacked on top of each other.