Mt. Whitney Webcam 1

Webcam 1 Legend
Mt. Whitney Webcam 2

Webcam 2 Legend
Mt. Whitney Timelapse
Owens Valley North

Owens Valley North Legend
Owens Valley South

Owens Valley South Legend
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
#7306 08/30/03 02:29 AM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 24
Member
Member

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 24
could anyone give us a time frame ( on the average) to out post camp............trail camp..we will take full packs to trail camp,camp there, if time permits and weather.try an summit the same day and sleep at trail camp.........hike out the following day to the tailhead. second option would be to camp at trail camp, sleep, rest and summit the next morning....then hike back to trail camp.....break down and hike out to the trailhead....we will be there sept 30. back east here in the white mountains the trails are rather rugged and rocky, what can we expect on whitney thanks

peter

#7307 08/30/03 03:44 AM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 288
Member
Member

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 288
Others may be more accurate but ...

Portal to Trail Camp is about 4,000 feet in 6 miles. I found the grade mellow compared with the Cascade's.

Trail Camp to summit is around 5 miles each way and 2,500 feet with a small loss at Trail CREST. Again the grade is nice. The last 2 miles are more rocky/irregular but fine.

One person with tent/stove/etc - I made it to Trail Camp in about 4.5 hours. I started around 7am

I left for summit around 6:30am and made it by around 10:30. Those last miles at elevation were slow.

And lots of folks make it down from Trail Camp to the Portal after breaking camp. I choose another night and really enjoyed the time.

The hike out seemed endless but a wonderful breakfast was available at the store.

#7308 08/30/03 09:33 AM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15
Member
Member

Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15
We were just up there on 8/21...we started from Portal at 10am, clouds came in and started raining on and off, we got to Trail Camp at 5pm. Next morning, started heading towards the summit at 8am, got to the summit at 1pm. Left the summit at 1:30pm, back to Trail Camp, broke camp and headed to Outpost, got to Outpost at 7pm and camped there. Next day, headed down to Portal. Basically, we took our time and enjoyed the hike. It was beautiful.

Outpost is much MUCH prettier. Instead of staying at Trail Camp two nights, you should hike down and stay at Outpost. Just a suggestion.

And don't worry about the terrain, it wasn't bad at all, there were some rocky parts, but nothing to worry about.

Have fun!!

#7309 08/30/03 04:51 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 548
Member
Member

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 548
In 2001, my then-12-year-old son and I did pretty much the itinerary you're talking about. From Portal to Trail Camp, with full packs, it took us about six hours, but that included lunch plus most of an hour hunkered down at Outpost Camp while a thunderstorm blew over.

The next day, we headed up to the summit. Leaving camp about 5:45, we were on top at 10:45.

If we were to do it again, we'd probably shave an hour off each of those times, but at 14, he's now a couple of inches taller than I am and can outwalk me on the flat or uphill below 12,000'. (Above 12k, I know how to pace myself better and take fewer breaks to catch my breath than he does.) I have a good calibration on that since we just did Mt. Elbert (14,433') a couple of weeks ago. With day packs, it took us just four hours flat to go from 10,000' to the summit on the five miles of the North Mt. Elbert trail.

Good rule of thumb is to figure 30 minutes per mile plus 30 minutes per 1,000' of gain. Add in time for meals, if any and you'll be pretty close. Portal to Trail Camp is 6 miles and 4,000', so about five hours. Trail Camp to the summit is another 4.5 miles and 2,500', so about four hours, but fudge that upward a bit because you're starting at 12k!

Trail Camp is alpine...no trees...rocks and sand. Outpost is down in the trees but has tons of mosquitos. Personally, I don't mind the austere landscape at Trail Camp, but that's just my view...

Photos and a trip report are under the "highpointing" section of my <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">WWW page</a>.

#7310 08/31/03 04:37 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 142
Member
Member

Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 142
Hi peterstarship,
you can see some pictures of the Mt. Whitney trail at my website:
http://homepage.mac.com/artomis/PhotoAlbum32.html

Outpost camp is much nicer setled in the forest (Bighorn Park)and has running water (creek) but the Trail Camp is on higher elevation and closer to the Trail Crest for early morrning start. Good option is to sleep first at TC than on the way back at OC or you can pitch the tent at Lone Pine Lake, a bit off the Trail but beautiful.
Have good weather and hike safely.
tomi


Moderated by  Bob R, Doug Sr 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Mt. Whitney Weather Links


White Mountain/
Barcroft Station

Elev 12,410’

Upper Tyndall Creek
Elev 11,441’

Crabtree Meadows
Elev 10,700’

Cottonwood Lakes
Elev 10,196’

Lone Pine
Elev. 3,727’

Hunter Mountain
Elev. 6,880’

Death Valley/
Furnace Creek

Elev. -193’

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0
(Release build 20240826)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.028s Queries: 23 (0.017s) Memory: 0.7112 MB (Peak: 0.7702 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2025-04-28 09:40:50 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS