Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Long Winded Trip Report

(Edit: I've captioned all but three of the photos.)

We were up in the Sierra from the evening of the
31st of August through the 9th of September. Here's a short list of the things we did:

8/31 - Camped near the Cottonwood Pass Trailhead. There wasn't enough space in the bear lockers either night we were up here, so we slept next to the car. (Has the Forest Service gotten it into their heads yet that this is a very popular place to camp, and it needs more than a few bear boxes?)

9/1 - Rode the Horseshoe Meadows Road (approximately 48 miles round-trip) to Lone Pine for breakfast, over to Whitney Portal Road and back up. With four stops to refill my back tire (I had a slow leak and didn't feel like getiing dirty fixing it.), my climbing split was 3:15. I don't know what I'd feel about the climb if I had been acclimatized, but in the condition I was in, I would rate this as the hardest climb I've ever done. (Never been to Mosquito Flats, but I have done Sherwin Grade and Tioga Pass.)

9/2 - Drove down to Lone Pine for breakfast and then rode the Whitney Portal Road. My climbing split was 1:52. We headed up to Onion Valley after lunch.

9/3 - It took us a leisurely four hours to do the hike up and back on the Golden Trout Lakes Trail. We were hit by snow flurries while we were up at the lakes and on the way down.

You can see pictures <a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/216334">here</a>.

9/4 - We made it up the Robinson Lake Trail in about an hour and ten minutes. There was a couple heading up with a two very young children (I'm guessing between 2 and 4.) carrying their own packs. They seemed to be having a great time.

After making it to the lake, I continued on to have a look at University Pass (I didn't have a map, and I didn't bring either of my guidebooks, so I don't know yet where I actually was.) and the back side of University Peak. I burned a little under three hours on this exploration.

It took us another hour to walk down the trail.

You can see pictures <a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/216381">here</a>.

9/5 - The Big Day with David (CaT) and Larry (Lawaneke) on the Mountaineer's Route. (I'm going to try and make David feel bad :-) ) I got up at 2:30am to make the drive from Onion Valley to Lone Pine. I stopped in at the High Sierra Cafe for something to eat. There was a large group of six having breakfast. (I usually pay attention to these things because I find it fascinating to see their reactions when I recognize them later in the day on the trail.) I burned an hour eating pancakes and drinking coffee, and then headed up to the Portal.

Larry promised to deliver a humor-filled trip report, so this is all I'm going to say about Sunday.

You can see pictures <a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/216416">here</a>.

9/6 - 9/7 - I didn't get back to Onion Valley until after 11:00pm on Sunday night (Larry bought food and drinks at the Pizza Factory. Thanks!), so we slept in on Monday morning. We packed up, headed down to Independence for lunch and then drove to the Red Lake Trailhead to start up for Split Mountain. (A more complete trip report will be at www.mt-whitney.info in the near future.) Here are some quick stats on the trip: Trailhead to Red Lake, 4 hours. Split Mountain climb, a little less than 5 hours. Trip back to the trailhead, a little over 2.5 hours.

You can see pictures <a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/216462">here</a>.

9/8 - I wasn't about to leave the area without doing the climb up Onion Valley Road. We spent the night at the Independence Creek Campground (not recommended), and Wednesday morning I rolled down to Market Street & 395, turned around and headed up the road. (No warm-up; real smart!) I had wanted to break 2:00 for the climb, but came up slightly short at 2:02.

9/9 - Once last time up Whitney Portal Road. I had my cycling legs back, albeit very sore, and wanted to try and break 1:30 for the climb. When I made the turn to the "west" after the switchbacks, a strong headwind coming down the mountain provided the excuse for me to "sit up." I finished the ride up, in the rain, in 1:44. With the tailwind, I hit 56 mph on the descent. It only took about 20 minutes to
get back to Lone Pine!

A couple of things would have made this trip a little closer to ideal: If David had adjusted to the altitude quicker and had made the summit, (He was an hour faster to LBSL on the second day. Another day probably would have made the difference.) and if I had finally been able to get in a Whitney climb with Bob R. (I hope things went well today.)

Richard, I can only imagine what you and Larry had to go through with CAT on your team.

I've been following his 338 posts before your trip, and i've only seen Vince D, (and some girl who's name I can't remember, but who got flamed right off the board for her constant gushing and Woo Hoo type posts) gush and do the "I can't wait until I'm on the mountain in a week, we'll be meeting you on our MR summmit trip, exposure shouldn't be a problem for me." He was even answering posts asking about the part above the final notch of the MR, even though he had never been close to it.

He had some sort of warmup hike planned before the Whitney MR hike. Maybe that didn't happen because he claimed in his post to Melissa that he didn't make it any farther not because AMS, but because of the altitude.?????

I've watched this guy butt in and give his 2 cents on almost every question asked by new posters on this board. 338 of them. His name should change to OHTC Ohio Trail Walker.

I bet my buddies he wouldn't make it to the top. I won my bet. Maybe certain people should stop gushing so much before "Their big day on the mountain". And the closer it gets to their big day, the more they can't help but GUSHHHHH.

Woo Hooooooooooooo.......

Sorry Richard, I probably told everybody most of what Larry wanted to tell them in his post...

Man, Richard, you DO get up and down places! It just took me a little bit to realize that the road times are on a bicycle.

Nice pictures of the various climbs.

By the way, I wonder how many pictures get taken on that rock overlooking the lake on the Kearsarge Pass trail:
<img src='http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/5319594-S.jpg ' border='0'>

Here's mine from July:
<img src='http://stevec.smugmug.com/photos/6620680-S.jpg' border='0'>

Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen CaT and Vince D together? I smell a rat...

Can't we all just get along...

The reason that I want to make CaT feel bad is because I got up at 2:30am when I probably could have slept in 'til 4:00am, not because he didn't make the climb to the summit. A heck of a lot of people fail to make the summit.

Steve, I re-read the post, and it probably would make more sense if I edit it to say I'm riding a bike up these roads. I did see a few runners (especially out of Independence), and they were moving only slightly slower than I was :-)

I think I called the huge boulder "lunch rock" in my posts. It was a great place to stop and take in the views.

Richard - Thanks for the trip report and the pictures -- looking at them just now took me right back there! You're right -- I think another day would have made the difference between my making the summit and not. Obviously, my ideal would have been to summit also. But such is life when you only have a little over 3 days to fly out from OH, try and acclimate a bit, do your hike, and then fly back to OH again. For me, any time spent in California and the mountains is time well spent. Thanks to you and Larry for sharing the trail and your experience with me -- greatly appreciated. If Larry's trip report is as humorous as he was on the trail, then I very much look forward to reading it when it comes out. Many thanks again for your patience. I had an enjoyable (if too short) weekend in my true home state.

CaT

Richard,

Thanks for sharing the slendid photos of your trip up Split Mountain on 9/7 via Red Lake. I summited yesterday (9/9) by the same route. To get to the Red Lake Trailhead I took the dirt road that leaves the paved road to the former Glacier Lodge two miles east of Big Pine.

From your photo of your vehicle, its orientation to the fence, and the hill in the background, its appears that you might have taken the shortcut to the trailhead that comes up from Tinemaha Campground and through the mine. (I have been tempted to try this but never have.) If you indeed did take the shortcut, how did it go? Specifically, were there any gates? Did it seem ok to go though the mine? Was your high clearance essential? Were there any signs indicating that that specific shortcut was on private property (which might be the case) and that your passage might not be appreciated?

Any personal experiences on this possible shortcut from other WPS board members would also be appreciated.

Thanks, Jim F

Rusty the Wonder Dog at the same <a href="http://home.socal.rr.com/rundirt/fam.html">lunch rock </a> on the way to Kearsarge Pass near Gilbert Lake I think. Sounds like a great trip Richard!

Jim,

The picture doesn't do justice to the roughness of the terrain.

<IMG SRC="http://www.piotrowski.us/pictures/dsc02854.jpe" BORDER="0"></A>

I spoke to Bob R about the alternative roads in, and based on his description (and him telling me that his low-clearance car had a 4 quart oil pan after a few trips up this road), I decided to try the short road in off of S. Fish Springs Road anyway. I only had to back up once. And, there weren't any closed gates to go through.

Here's what Bob had told me: Heading north, turn left on S. Fish Springs Road. Follow the signs up through Tinemaha Campground. At the "Locked Gate Ahead" sign, veer right. (I went past this sign thinking that the road would be along the fence line the whole way, and had to back up.) Follow the road, real rocky in places, around the fence line to where it joins the road in from McMurray Meadows Road. I don't think the rocky section of road was much more than a quarter-mile, but it sure seemed longer. I don't think I was more than idling the whole way on this stretch.

I love driving fire roads, so on the way out, we went to McMurray Meadows Road. The drive out was almost as much fun as the climb of Split.

Sure enough, Richard Piotrowski is trying to be the gentleman he always is. CAT still hasn't got the hint that he was the "Weakest link" in his epic hike up the MR with Richard and Larry.

I hope he won't be contributing another 338 posts before his next epic attempt.

I bet he will though.

"You're right -- I think another day would have made the difference between my making the summit and not. Obviously, my ideal would have been to summit also. But such is life when you only have a little over 3 days to fly out from OH, try and acclimate a bit, do your hike, and then fly back to OH again."

O.K. CAT, new bet. I'll give you a week to "acclimate" before your next epic woo hoo hike up the MR. I'm betting you still won't make it.

There is someone else starting to gush almost as much as you, his woo hoo MR trip is early October. I'm betting he doesn't make it either.

Cut it out!

Neither one of these guys deserves what you've been dishing out lately!

Tell us who you are. I get the feeling that this is a secondary login for you. You know too much about the board to be a "newbie."

Someone asked CAT if he/she was a male or female. Now I understand why the question. Gush On CAT...

Woooo Hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Fellow mountain goats and flamers,

I had done the MR for the first time as a mini-backpack trip (two nights at UBSL) about a month before doing the day hike with Richard and CaT on 9/5. Believe me, acclimating made a HUGE difference in how I felt the first time. When I had time to acclimate at Horseshoe Meadow and at UBSL, I felt as if I were at sea level while heading up to the notch in late July. However, on 9/5 (and Richard was a very patient witness to this), I was huffin' like a freight train. Traveling alone, there's no doubt he could've been back at the cars at least two hours sooner.

Anyway, everyone made it down the mountain in one piece, and I really enjoyed the outing.

On the subject of humor, I might've been babbling something about trying a new variation from the E-Ledges, just below LBSL: You head *straight up* the fall (taking the slimiest route if it's dry), traverse to the skyline, head due east, and drop back down 2,000 feet to LBSL. I hereby christen it "Moron's Dilemma."

See y'all on the trail,
L

Another of my favorite cliches:

"The company makes the climb."