Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board MT. BALDY 03/21/04

Candace, AlanK & ntuit
Thanks for the great directions and trip advice, it's exactly what I was looking for! I am even more excited about this hike than I was before. Tougher than Whitney? Main Trail, Mountaineers Route or both? This should be great preparation for our upcoming Russell/Whitney trip.
-Rick

Rick:

It's just a personal opinion that it's harder than Whitney. To me, it's not very scenic and it's mentally just very fatiguing. I feel more "beat up" after Baldy via the church way than Whitney by far. I just do the Baldy church hike for conditioning, there's very little pleasure involved, whereas Whitney is usually a pleasant, nice hike.

Hope that makes sense.

Oh, I meant the main Whitney trail. I've only done the MR once and I'd say that is harder by far than Baldy church way.

While we're on the subject of Baldy,I'm taking my first trip up on the 8th.I know the church trail seems to be the hardest but how is the trail up from Manker flats?Is there any water on the way up?I know its hot and I'll have to drive up real early Saturday morning.Any info would be appreciated.Thanks

Hi!

I was just on Baldy last Saturday and I went up from Manker Flats. The trail was in good shape except for a few spots on the switchbacks up the left side of the Baldy Bowl. They are more of a problem on the descent.

This trail is much shorter and you can refill your water at the stream by the ski hut. The trail from the church has one last water spot at Bear Flats and then you are on your own.

The trail basically has a 2000 foot gain in the first 2 miles and another 2000 feet in the last 1.25 miles. Great views and without snow and ice you don't have to worry about falling anywhere.

Because of the hot weather and also due to time constraints I opted for a lightwieght approach using trail running shoes, a 100 ounce Camelback, 10 essentials and a bunch of Gel packets. Total time was 3:20 and if I really had pushed it maybe I might have made it 3 hours total. Your mileage can vary depending on your goals, etc. There are trail runners that I've met that can beat my time on a bad day!

Plenty of snow up on top and a little breezy and cool around 9:30 AM. Have a GREAT hike!

Jim

fish395 Member # 1690

posted May 04, 2004 12:13 PM
-------------------------------------------------
While we're on the subject of Baldy,I'm taking my first trip up on the 8th. I know the church trail seems to be the hardest but how is the trail up from Manker flats?Is there any water on the way up?I know its hot and I'll have to drive up real early Saturday morning.Any info would be appreciated.Thanks

Jim-
Just curious, was your 3:30 time round trip or from Manker the the summit? I went up early Sunday morning and as I was driving through the tunnels before Baldy Village encountered three guys on mountain bikes. I drove to Manker Flats and proceeded up the trail at a pretty good clip. At the summit I met a guy who had a bike helmet and bike shoes hanging from his backpack. Since I had not seen him on the ski hut trail I asked him what route he had taken. It turns out he was one of the mountain bikers I had encountered in the tunnel and they had ridden to Baldy Notch where they left their bikes and then run to the summit. His partners were a little way behind them. This guy and his partners are hardcore adventure racers and this trip was just a little weekend warmup. Their time from the tunnels to the summit was just over three hours. I thought that was a pretty good clip.