Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Golden Trout Camp, Mt Langley

Please answer my questions:

How far to Golden Trout Camp from the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead?
and how far it's off from the trail?
Is water available at the camp? (any lake, creek,...)

Thank you for your help

TBT

A link with info and maps:

http://www.goldentroutworkshops.org/

Good to see they are still going. I haven't been by there in years. Not since they extended the road and built the new trailhead and changed the trail to the Cottonwood lakes basin. I would suspect that the old trail is not maintained anymore.

Ken is right; Cottonwood Creek runs through the Camp. The old trailhead is not marked or maintained. It is somewhat shorter to Golden Trout Camp, but I would not recommend using it.
Enjoy your stay in God's country!

What is this place exactly? The word "workshop" is throwing me off. Do they send you out with guides and teach you to fish for the golden trout?

It used to be a fishing camp, then a church run retreat. Not sure what current status is, but I'm guessing they don't teach LNT or fishing there It is private property.

I see groups of teens and families once in awhile hiking up and about half way there asking how much farther. Reminded me of my young kids that would start asking that about 100 feet from the bumper of the car.

I just read on the link that they did 2 natural history camps, and 1 B&W photography camp! I may sighn up for the B&W camp if they do it again next year!

If you are looking for a 'normal' backpacking over night area, I'm pretty sure that is not what they do.

There are opportunities to camp (if going on up the trail to Cottonwood Lakes) from about 2 1/2 miles up from the parking lot -- where the trail crosses Cottonwood Creek with a log bridge about 1/4 mile beyond Golden Trout Camp.

The normal overnight areas are nearer the lakes about 6 miles in and near 11,100'. Not a bad trail as you only gain about 1000' in altitude from the parking lot over those 6 miles. There are a few minor undulations that you will discover on the way back.

Thanks Steve,
I will drive 8+ hrs from Bay Area, pick up permit at Lone Pine, and hike in to camp. I plan to stay at the Cottonwood Lake 3, however, I am still looking for back-up plan if I do not have time to hike that far. I also do not want to stay at trailhead campground because I want to save some miles/time for Langley summit day, then next day for Mt Whitney.

Tung

That's a long drive...wow. Its about 4 hours at a moderate pace to the first lakes. You shouldn't have a significant problem getting there if you leave SF before 4AM. The trail head (not shown on some maps) is from the higher parking lot. You have a good overnight area for your fall back from the time you cross the creek for the next 1/2 mile or so. If you get caught by dark you have Hidden and Muir Lakes for an early stop as well. Both are about 20 mins from the main trail. Hidden would be a second choice...it is all cross country and best to have some light to keep from tripping. But you will be alone.

If you don't have info about OLD Army Pass trail its linked below.

http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=7987

It has been abandoned for many years but it gets sufficient traffic that you should be able to follow the trail easily.

More stuff from same link

http://www.summitpost.org/route/156296/army-pass-normal-route.html

Once you leave the lakes, its a dry trail until you return that afternoon.

If you get a little concerned about that trail (shouldn't) you can always go up from Long Lake to NEW Army Pass. Ends up same place just a bit longer and higher. You can cross from one side of the drainage to the other between lakes 1 and 2.

You might want to consider a day's rest in between Langley and Whitney. Going up Langley and gathering your kit on the way back down to the car is a good day's work. You don't want to squander the energy you will need for Whitney unless you are very sure of your level of fitness.

A comment re: the old trail. Was just on it today (Woolyback) and it's still in very good shape and well-defined. The trick is finding it from the highway. And, you can miss the turnoff on your return unless you're paying attention. The advantage of this old trail is that it avoids the last bit of elevation gain necessary to attain the "new" trailhead. I wouldn't suggest using this trail if it's your first visit to the area, but if you become a regular it may be worth checking out.

Also - if you use this old trail and leave a vehicle overnight - do take precautions to bearproof it. Last year on a day hike from this location I noticed a shiny Lexus SUV which appeared to have been parked overnight. It was covered with muddy bear pawprints ... but no damage. You could see where the bear had crossed the brook and scrambled up the bank to check it out.

Keven is talking about the original lower Cottonwood Lakes trail not Old Army Pass. The old trail is about a mile shorter as well.

The new trail is, unfortunately, uphill both ways. I met some people returning back UP the (new) trail because they had not realized the first part of that trail has a significant down hill portion to it. They thought they had missed a trail junction and were on the wrong trail. It was late, sun had set, they were VERY tired and for all intents, lost.

My friends and I also much prefer the "old trail." You shouldn't notice the uphill part (~400' in all) very much on the way in because you are fresh. But on the way back, the shorter and monotonic descent is like heaven to those tired legs.

Here's a map. Compare the green and red lines.

Sorry, I can't for the life of me figure out how to post this picture!

(There is also an even older trail that starts down by the small parking area near where the hang gliders jump off. You can see it faintly on the map; it follows Little Cottonwood Creek to Golden Trout Camp. That was the way we went in the '60s and early '70s, before the road was pushed higher.)

Golden Trout Camp is owned by the Thatcher School which is located up in Ojai, California. They do run a couple of summer outdoor camps but their focus, I believe is in September when the place is inundated with Thatcher School kids. The school has a strong environmental and outdoor orientation. All their kids spend the first week or so in the Sierra and many at Golden Trout. I have run into Thatcher kids all over the place. Two years ago they were coming down from Sky Blue Lake after crossing over from Crabtree. These were seniors. The younger kids do shorter trips and probably the youngest do day hikes from the camp. As I live near Ojai, I have run into Thatcher kids in the middle of nowhere in the Sespe. It's a very prestigious private school, one that I wish I could afford to send my middle school daughter to. Since it is private property, I wouldn't plan on camping there. Just upstream is a crossing with plenty of water and wide open spaces to camp if you don't want to go all the way to Cottonwood.

There is still the old OLD trail from down in the valley that still is mostly there - a few wash outs and stuff on the trail.

I picked up a gnarly, dirty old gent who was scrambling up to the road from the only place he could have been coming from. He was trying to figure how to get back without doing that trail down hill

He was hoping to make it to the pass before sunset. He left us in the dust. Never saw him after that.

That would be quite a challenge to Dug & Co. Langley as a day hike from D O W N there >>>>>>>

Where's this at again? I need to reread the thread. "Challenge"? Let's go! Who's in? .......................................DUG

Bob - Interestingly enough, the NG Topo! California series still shows the "old trail".

It was usually a three day hike up and two down. First night at the old sawmill area (fed the coke ovens below?) where later the dirt road used to stop...at the 'old' trail near Cottonwood Creek trail head. Second night was somewhere up in the lakes then summit and, for those that had a lot of energy ALL THE WAY down to the power station. The others would stop usually where the trail crosses the creek at the Trout Camp and continue on down from there the 4/5th day.

Speaking of sawmills, anybody remember the mill on the east side of US 395 where Kennedy Meadows road takes off? They did a good job of erasing that.

Dug, before you do this one you should warm up on the tri-fecta of Williamson/Tyndall/Shepherd Pass in daylight. Its a tad shorter.