Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Elevation of Lone Pine Lake

Hi all,

I Just want to confirm the elevation of Lone Pine Lake at 9,960 ft.

Is this correct?

Thanks,
Lance

Lance,

The elevation where the spur trail to Lone Pine Lake splits off from the main trail to go down to the lake is ~9,950'. Lone Pine Lake itself is a little bit lower than that.

For other elevations at key landmarks along the Main Trail click on "Orientation notes for first timers" on the upper left side of this page, then click "Learn the layout of the Main Trail" (second item in the first column), and then in that segment, scroll down a little bit in order to see the various elevations along the trail (third column in small chart).

CaT

The precise elevation depends on the source. According to SummitPost SummitPost page of Main Whitney Trail the elevation is 9,420 ft. On this, the WPS website, the elevation is 9,950 ft - but it's listed as the fork in the trail that leads down to Lone Pine Lake.

There are other elevations that are subject to debate - the most prominent being Trail Crest, which is listed on the sign as 13,600. The SummitPost site lists it at 13,777.

I do find it interesting that, given the vagaries of the reported elevation of LPL and Trail Crest, the plaque at the summit is precise to three decimal places.

I did have a thought. When I went up, I had considered taking my Garmin Nuvi with me. It does read elevations to the foot. I left it behind, since I didn't need the extra weight, nor did I figure on getting lost when the weather was so nice.

Both Mount Whitney Guide for Hikers and Climbers and Mount Whitney - The Complete Trailhead-to-Summit Hiking Guide list the elevation of the trail junction as 9,960 feet. Mount Whitney - Mountain Lore from the Whitney Store says 9,420. As I recall, I only put 9,950 feet in the table as an approximation from a topo map.

As for Trail Crest, books 1 and 3 state 13,777 and book 2 states 13,660. My estimate from the topo map was 13,600 (which matches the sign). There was a recent discussion on this board on the elevation being closer to 13,600 (and how older sources quoted 13,777). See Whitney Trail Specifics.

I was not assuming that first timers would be carrying GPS with them.

Thanks everyone for the info, it's appreciated.
Lance