Mt Whitney 2018

I was thinking of hiking Mt. Whitney for several years now. After all, it is the highest peak in the contiguous United States - 14505ft. This year, I pulled the trigger and set aside one week for backpacking in Sierra Neveda. I had two options: week 7/1-7/8 or week 8/12-8/19. I went with the latter so that to allow the snow to melt, to avoid the famous mosquitoes and also to celebrate my birthday that is on 8/18 - the same day as the 1st ascent of Mt Whitney.

On 8/12 we arrived at LonePine Back-country office at 8:00 and pick a lottery ticket: 3. That meant I was the 3rd person to ask for back country permits. We were lucky and got a permit for the whole week, entering from Horseshoe Meadows and exiting the same place a week later.

While we had a different route planned, we eventually ended up doing this instead:

• Day 1(8/12) - Horseshoe Meadows - Cottonwood lakes (camped at lake 3)
• Day 2 (8/13) - Cottonwood lakes to Mt Langley via Army Pass and back to Cottonwood lakes
• Day 3 (8/14) - Cottonwood lakes to Rock Creek basin via Army Pass, Red Saddle and notch above Soldier lake. We camped in the meadows located 30mins below Blue Sky Lake
• Day 4 (8/15) - Rock Creek basin to Upper Crabtree lake via Blue Sky Lake, Unnamed Lake and Crabtree Pass. Camped at the outer flow (west) part of the lake.
• Day 5 (8/16) - Upper Crabtree lake - Discovery Pinnacle - Whitney Trail - Mt Whitney Peak and back to camp site
• Day 6 (8/17) - Upper Crabtree lake - Middle Crabtree lake - Lower Crabtree lake and Crabtree Meadows
• Day 7 (8/18) - Crabtree Meadows - Guyot Pass - Rock Creek - Lower Soldier Lake
• Day 8 (8/19) - Lower Soldier Lake - New Army Pass - High Lake - Long Lake - Horseshoe Meadow

On some of the days (days 3-5) we went cross-country. Those were the days we enjoyed the most. We learned about these trails from the book Mount Whitney by Paul Richins, Jr - Second Edition. Thanks Paul!!!

Enjoy the pictures from the Mt Whitney hike !