Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Whitney via High Sierra Trail

Almost two weeks ago I completed the absolutely astonishing High Sierra Trail, which officially ends on Mt. Whitney.

Here are some pictures from this hike

Kurt

Nice looking photo album. Thanks for sharing.

Nice photo albumn and report Kurt. Your wife didn't look too thrilled at the trail head pict??

I'm conteplating doing the HST next year and did Alta Peak last July, why did you pick that trail head?

What time did you arrive at the portal?

Joe

Thanks, Fred and Joe!

Joe, I got my information mainly form the book "Mount Whitney, The Complete Trailhead-to-Summit Hiking Guide" by Paul Richins. The author mentions that this is his favorite west side trailhead, and I took his word for it. It is also the longest of the 13 trails to Mt. Whitney described in the book. The trail stays relatively low for the first 3 days. Since I had issues with AMS before, this was also a factor in the decision making.

I got to Whitney Portal on Thursday 5:40pm after a somewhat painful almost 6 hour descent from the summit. Just a month earlier it took me 3 hours 38 minutes to get down form the mountain.

Christine, my wife, was actually pretty cool with the whole thing. But she sure was glad to get that phone call Thursday morning from the top of Mt. Whitney.

I can only recommend this trail. It is awfully scenic from the very start and it includes a whole variety of sceneries and landscapes.

Take care!
Kurt

Great pics and captions...thanks for sharing. I'd love to do that route someday myself. It looks really lovely.

Kurt, thank you for those amazing pics from the summit. I was up there for the first time on Sept. 19th and the valleys on both sides were filled with smoke so that I had no idea of the astonishing views I missed! Guess I'll have to go back.

Kurt,
Excellent trip report and photos. I have the same book (Paul Richins) and am seriously planning on doing the HST next summer. Some questions for you:
1. What was your pack weight? You must have been travelling fairly light to cover that distance in 5 days. Some of the trail guides I read suggest a 6 to 8 day trip.
2. Which portion of the trail would you say is the most strenuous, i.e., steep or consistent uphill?
3. How would you compare the switchback section on the west side on the JMT to the 99 Switchbacks on the MMWT?

Congratulations on what looked like a great trip!

Thank you all for the nice comments.

quandary,

Sorry to hear that you had such bad luck with the smoke. For me the worst day regarding smoke was the 18th, even at night in the tent it was bothersome.

Joe,

To your questions.

1. My pack was 36 pounds without water. The food alone was 12 pounds and was enough for 6 days. Originally, I planned to do this in 6 days, but then I figured out if I finish in 5 days I can return to Orange County by bus and train. This turned out to be fine. I started around 8am every morning (9:25 the first day) and was always done by 4pm, except for the final day.

2. For some reason I felt the most tired the first evening. According to the elevation profile in Richins' book that makes no sense at all, but there is a lot of up and down that day which got averaged out in the chart. For most people the most strenuous part would probably be from Guitar Lake to the summit, and this has a lot to do with the altitude. The way I divided the trail I had all but one of the long continuous uphill sections in the morning. These are Hamilton Lake to Kaweah Gap, Junction Meadow to JMT at Wallace Creek and Guitar Lake to the summit. They all seemed kind of easy to me. Big Arroyo Junction to Chagoopa Plateau was in the afternoon and seemed a bit harder, even though it is the shortest of the uphill sections.

3. I only did the 98 switchbacks (I counted them twice, and for me that number is final) as part of a day trip, whereas the west side switchbacks were done basically first thing in the morning. To me they were a lot more enjoyable. There are much fewer but longer switchbacks on the west side, that also helps.

I hope this makes any sense.

Kurt

Kurt, Great photo album of your trip. I really loved it and have showed it to several people. This is now on my to do list. Possibly next year. I have only two questions for you:

1. What permits (if any) were necessary?

2. What was you favorite leg of the journey?

Wes

Wes, thanks for your comments. To your questions:

1. You need a permit issued at the Lodgepole Visitor Center in Sequoia National Park at the cost of $15. A backcounty permit can be reserved by fax no later than 3 weeks before the trip. There is a very good chance though, that permits are available on a walk-in basis at Lodgepole unless it is a holyday weekend. The morning I embarked on the hike, there were still 24 permits available. The daily quota for this trailhead is 30. Information is available at (559)565-3766. The permits are issued between 7am and 3:45pm and only at Lodgepole for this trailhead, no matter what the guys at the park entrance station say! The permits must be picked up in person during the hours mentioned above.

Here is additional permit information
Here is the permit request form

2. My favorite part was the second half of first day and first half of second day. In other words from Bearpaw Meadow, passing by Hamilton Lake and over Kaweah Gap to Big Arroyo Junction. Under regular conditions probably all the way to Moraine Lake, but I had that smoke situation, which was the worst on the second afternoon.

Take care
Kurt

Kurt, Thanks for the info. I will definitely look into this trip. Perhaps this will be my Whitney trip next year rather than the MMWT. Oh and judging by the pictures, that stretch you mentioned seemed to be a very scenic and enjoyable portion of the trail as well. Glad you cinfirmed that and now I cannot wait to see for myself. Thanks again. Wes

Kurt,
Congratulations on a successful trip. We were the folks who visited with you at Hamilton. We also finished in fine form, though on a considerably more leisurely pace, exactly twice as many days. This has to be one of the great hikes anywhere, especially late season when there is NOBODY there between Bearpaw and Trail Junction.
Thanks for sharing your photos as well.
Mtwasi

I was amazed to see some of those pics, they brought back some great memories. On page 2, pic #28 was where me and two fellow hikers had lunch one day in 2003. Saw a hummingbird.
I have some snapshots from 2003 at clubphoto, the air was less smokey, but I made it only to the hot springs. If interested, go to clubphoto.com and type in jlaz

Great pictures Kurt, thanks!
Bearpaw Meadow/Hamilton Lakes was my first backpack, 32 years ago. You inspire me to go back and visit the area again!

Kurt,

Great job on the HST. That is on my "life list" to complete. This is the first time I've seen a pictures of the whole route done in succession. It makes me want to head out right now!

I was also looking at your other pictures, specifically from Switzerland. My wife and I are heading there in April. I was wondering if you'd recommend any specific region for hiking. We're going to be spending some time around Interlaken because I'm DEFINITELY going to up to the face of the Eiger. Other than that, our schedule is pretty open. We'll be there for about 12 days. Any suggestions?

Oh, is your Switzerland map upside down? All the maps I have show Grindelwald south of Interlaken.

Gusto

Thank you all for your nice comments. The neat thing about the HST is that it can be through-hiked by folks with regular working schedules. A week is enough to complete the thing.

Mtwasi,

Thanks so much for checking in here. Congratulations to you and your group for the successful completion of that adventure. I was thinking of you guys a lot, wondering how you finished. Did the horse supported re-supply work out fine? How much were you bothered by the smoke? If you decide to post your pictures somewhere, please, let us here know. I agree, this was a very beautiful hike at a very nice time of the year, where you have the whole backcountry virtually just for yourself.

Jonathan,

Believe it or not picture #28 on day two is where I had lunch, too. Gee man, your foot looked scary. When I saw that picture, I decided to stop whining about my blisters.

hoser23,

You sure picked a pretty place for your debut in backpacking.

Gusto,

The Interlaken area is my favorite for hiking in Switzerland. This my have somewhat to do with the fact that I grew up in this region. If you want to do some serious hiking, do yourself a favor and don't go in April. The skiing season will most likely be over and for hiking it is way too early. Many of the trails above 1500m (5000 feet) will be impassable due to snow and danger of avalanches. On top of all, April weather is very unpredictable in Switzerland. In recent years I was over there twice end of May and beginning of June. Even that was too early, I was struggling a lot with snow above the 6000 feet level.

If you consider ski-touring April might work, though. Those pictures were taken in April at around 7000 to 10,000 feet elevation.

If you cannot shift your dates, consider visiting also the Locarno and Lugano area in Southern Switzerland. The conditions there will be better and the weather is generally more stable in spring time. Of course the north face of the Eiger can be visited year around. The train will get you there, no matter what.

Yes, my map of the "Berner Oberland" is upside down, I bought it in Australia - just kidding. Since this region is on the north slope of the Alps it is easier to make these types of maps as if looking to the south. The topographic features come out better.

Please feel free to email me for more information on Switzerland. The address can be found by clicking on the little square on the left side above this post, but I am sure you know that.

Kurt

Thanks for rekindling ancient memories. Hmm, was there a tunnel back in 1972? I really don't remember but maybe (g)

So Hoser23, I have you beat by two years.

It was a great trip - I saw a dotted line on one of those free gas station maps back them, drove into the Park, inquired and planned an out and back. So I left my wallet and money in the car!!!! It took longer than expected and only did it one way. I hitched back, a tedious process. Connections between sides are still not very good from what I read.

Hi Kurt,

Could I ask - what camera did you use?

Hi len,

The camera I used was a D-580 Zoom(U) from Olympus, 4 megapixels, 6oz. As you can see, nothing fancy. It is already a few years old and pretty banged up.

Hi Fred98055,

I like your trip planning approach!

Kurt

Kurt,
We have a large number of photos; and when our tech skills advance, we will post some. We did not have the smoke/haze issues as much as you did, especially up on the plateau.
The horse resupply worked very well. The packer met us at Big Arroyo Junction right on schedule. We probably would not have convinced all our group to undertake the trip if we had been carrying the full complement of food/fuel from the beginning.
We also loved your Swiss photos. We have hiked a lot in the Murren area, and it is special. You are right about hiking in April; but it is prime time for Rando touring hut to hut.
Mtwasi