Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board White Mountain Campgrounds

Hi Everyone,

A friend of mine invited me to do a dayhike on the whitney main trail on the 6th (6 others on the permits). I suggested horseshoe meadows on the 4th, but he's interested in acclimating on white mountain. I'll probably check the Inyo website, but thought I'd ask here as well since I can get such good info here.

Is there any preference for a campground that would give us short trip to the top of white mountain? Don't want to expend too much energy on white mountain trying to acclimate for a day trip on whitney. Back in the 80s when I ran a number of marathons they used to say "don't run a marathon to train for a marathon".

I've been on the mountaineers route a couple of times, as well as the MT back in May. Because of the crazy weather this year, still haven't got to the top. hopefully this time I'll make it, plus it's always a blast to hang around lone pine and the hostel. Might try Mt Muir this time as well.

The closest campground, Grandview, is about 16 miles away from the trailhead...plus it is dry, so BYOW.

You can camp at the 11,635' trailhead, I have in the past. There is now an outhouse at this location.

Just have a vehicle that can handle the very good to fair dirt road to the gate...the condition of the road varies depending how long ago it was graded.

You can also wander around the very interesting Schulman Grove trailheads at asphalt's end.

Grandview is at 8,500 ft. so Horse Shoe Meadow is higher. You can go up the road beyond Grandview and find some places off of the road to camp. There are no facilities and no water so keep that in mind.
As mentioned there is a toilet in the parking area at the gate, which is the trail-head for White Mountain, and you can camp there. There are a couple of sheltered spots. The road is bumpy and slow going. When I went it took us over an hour to drive the 12 miles from the end of pavement to the gate. Maybe it is better now. The place is beautiful and very different from the Sierras.
The hike from the gate to the research facility is 2 miles and pretty easy. Another half mile puts you at the observatory. If you want to go all the way to the summit it is around 14 miles round trip.
Day hiking Schulman is a good alternative. It is just amazing walking around there and contemplating on the age of the trees.

Concur with that assessment.

HSM closer and higher. Besides, they have a spigot!

Any of the above will be fine. I really enjoyed the view of Whitney from the Grandview campground area, hiking among the ancient bristlecone pines, and the quiet solitude.

Thanks for the excellent info. I'd like to get familiar with horseshoe meadows for a future attempt at Langley.