Onion Valley to Whitney, 4 days backpacking

After last year High Sierra Trail, which I hiked alone I certainly want someone else to share all aspects of backpacking trip and also to shorten it from 5 to 4 days, which is quite enough for my taste. After some considerations and negotiations my wife Karina agreed to join me. Logistics was much more easier then HST, we dropped car at Lone Pine, hitch hiked to Independence first and then to Onion Valley. I asked some random people at ranger's station where we got our permit and luckily they was going to Big Pine and had room for us. I left car at Dow Villa Motel overflow parking, they don't charge you anything, just ask to fill your info and date when you plan to return. At Independence there was 5-7 PCT hikers, some was going north, 1 was going south and 2 the same way as we to Onion Valley. We got a ride from PCT helper and camped at Onion Valley first night.

Onion Valley to Whitney trail

Day 1. Onion Valley to Central Basin, 11.5 miles, 3600' up

First part of the trail over Kearsarge pass we know very well and hiked it several times, so it was very easy going. Started at 7:30. Then trail descend to Kings Canyon and slowly climbed again toward Central Basin. Most spectacular point is from Kearsarge Pass:

Kearsarge Pass

We stopped at Bullfrog Lake for some fishing, which was successful. Very delicious lunch. We was done hiking by 5:00 pm.

Trout

Day 2. Central Basin to Tyndall Creek Frog Pond, 8.5 miles, 2800' up.

Again start hiking at 7:30 and it was challenging part over Forester Pass, but luckily it was very little snow on the north side of the pass.

North of Forester Pass

Forester Pass

Tyndall Creek Frog Pond Lake

South side was complitly snow free. We made it to Tyndall Creek Frog Pond at 4:45 pm. Enough time to try climb over Tawney Point ridge, but it was steep and lose and I run out of time. Good attempt though.

Day 3. Tyndall Creek Frog Pond to Guitar Lake, 15 miles, 2200' up

Easy day, so we started late at 8:30. A lot of up and down but mostly in the forest with a good shade. Stop for lunch near Guitar Lake ranger station and then at Timberline lake for fishing. Caught 2 trouts. Arriving to Guitar Lake at 18:15. Try to fish there, but no luck.

Deer near Guitar Lake ranger station

Guitar Lake

Day 4. Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal, 15.5 miles, 3300' up

Last day and hard push to Whitney in the morning, so start early at 4:30 am. Tag Whitney at 8:00 and down at Whitney Portal by 01:45 pm. It is tedious hike down, very painful for knees.

Hitchcock Lake

On Trail Creat

On Whitney

Overall it was very good hike and distance per day was right on, allowing enough rest every day. Good weather also made significant contribution and a little bit of luck with hitch hiking top out our trip. Here is our GPS track with major waypoints: Onion Valley to Whitney KMZ

High Sierra Trail, 5 days backpacking

Map for Google Earth with waypoints: HighSierraTrail.kmz

Printable maps, based on closedcontour with highlighted trail:

High Sierra Trail Map. Part 1

High Sierra Trail Map. Part 2

Logistics was quite complicated because the start and end trailheads are 280 miles apart. My plan was to take overnight bus to trailhead and one of my friends offered to pick me up on the way back. Evgeniy pick me up at 11:30 pm and we were at Greyhound bus station at midnight. I bought tickets online, so just need to register my backpack (30 lb). Bus to Visalia was late arriving at 6:00 am, but I still had another 20 minutes to spare before next bus to Sequoia Park. It was easy to recognize this bus with park's logo. On the website they say that bus only goes to Museum, but since it was first bus and there was few park employees we drove all the way to Lodgepole, exactly where I need to get my wilderness permit. Buses inside the Park start operating at 9:00, so I had some time for breakfast. Then another 2 buses to Museum and then to Crescent Meadow and at 10:00 I was ready for adventure.

Crescent Meadow. High Sierra Trail start

Day 1. Crescent Meadow to Big Hamilton Lake, 16 miles
First miles are not very spectacular. Trail goes on the canyon's side with big mountains far, far away. It passes below Panther Gap and then Alta Peak on the right side.

High Sierra Trail beginning

There are few camp sites with bear boxes: Mehrten Creek, Nine Mile Creek but they're small and not worth stopping. Bearpaw Meadow is the first place where view improves significantly and could be considered for spending a night, but I continue.

Bearpaw Meadow

Kaweah Gap

Rain catch me at Lone Pine Creek and I first decided to camp there and set up my tent, but after an hour skies cleared up and I still have 2 hours to make it to Big Hamilton Lake, which I did. Lake was gorgeous, one of the best I ever saw in Sierra.

Big Hamilton Lake

First day after sleepless night and 10 hours on the trail was the most difficult on this trip. Hiking time 8:40, elevation gain 3700 ft.

Day 2. Big Hamilton Lake to Moraine Lake, 14 miles
I woke up at 7:00, had a quick breakfast and on the trail by 8:00. Going over Kaweah Gap was slow. Spectacular view, which become better and better was a main reason to slow down.

Coming to Kaweah Gap

Precipice Lake

After gap trail goes down into Big Arroyo canyon and then climbs up again on to Chagoopa Plateau.

Big Arroyo canyon

That's where I run into another rain and hail. I was lucky to find small cave, to hide from the rain and after 1 hour of waiting continue east.

Hiding from the rain and hail

Hail melting on the trail

Second rain catch me on the plateau and I spend another hour under the tree.

Rain in Sierra

Waiting under the tree, Chagoopa Plateau

It was pretty wet everywhere from melting hail and rain. Finally, I made it to Moraine Lake to be the only one to camp there.

Morain Lake

It was not comfortable to camp on the wet ground and all my clothes were wet as well. At least I had second set of dry clothes. Hiking time 8:30, elevation gain 3500 ft.

Day 3. Moraine Lake to Junction Meadow, 14 miles
I had a similar timing today 7:00 up and on the trail by 8:00. Weather supposed to improve today with only slight chance of thunderstorms, which never materialized and I had easy, mostly flat section going north in Kern canyon.

Kern Canyon looking south

Another pleasant feature of the day was Kern Hot Springs. Actually, they were too hot, so I have to wait for 10 minutes before I can get in. Since Hot Springs located on the river bank I made few round trips between springs and Kern River with ice cold water. It felt almost like Russian bath in the winter.

Kern Hot Springs

Gooseberry

Junction Meadow was my next camping spot. There was no one there again, except mosquitoes.

Junction Meadow

Kern River

Since there was no rain in forecast for the night I did not set rain-fly and enjoyed stars from the tent.

Hiding from mosquitoes in the tent

Hiking time 7:30, elevation gain 1500 ft.

Day 4. Junction Meadow to Guitar Lake, 12 miles
I woke up at 6:00. Despite low elevation, 8000 ft, it was cold night, hard to imagine how cold it will be at Guitar Lake at 11500 ft. Start hiking at 7:00 and was at Guitar Lake by 2:00 pm already, so I can finish the trail in 4 days if I want to.

Camping at Guitar Lake

After I set up my tent I went for evening hike to Hitchcock Lakes.

Hitchcock Lakes

There were about 6 other hikers camping at Guitar Lake, first time I was camping with someone else after Hamilton Lakes. Hiking time 7:00, elevation gain 4100 ft.

Day 5. Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal, 15 miles
I woke up at 4:00, skipped breakfast and start hiking at 4:30. I was too conservative about my estimations and was way ahead of schedule.

Hitchcock Lakes at sunrise

Just 2 hours to Trail Crest and another hour to Whitney. Surprisingly there was AT&T cell phone reception on the top, so I can check my emails for last 5 days, pretty weird place to work.

On Whitney

After endless switchbacks to Consultation Lake

Switchbacks on Whitney trail

I finished hike at Whitney Portal at 2:00 pm. Hiking time 9:00, elevation gain 3200 ft, loss 6400 ft.

Whitney Portal

Trail statistics:
Total elevation gain official: 18000 ft (according to my GPS: 16300 ft)
Total distance official: 72 miles (according to my GPS: 62 miles)
Total hiking time: 41 hours

Mt Whitney day hike

Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). Its a 22 miles (35 km) round trip with an elevation gain of over 6,100 feet (1,900 m) from Whitney Portal. You have to apply to the Mt. Whitney Lottery in February to reserve a wilderness permit for summer hike. I was lucky to win permit for Sunday July 5th.

We arrived to Lone Pine at Friday to get actual permit and some acclimatization before hike. Spent night in Horseshoe Meadow, elevation 10000 feet (3,048 m) and hiked to Cottonwood lakes at Saturday. Then moved to Whitney Portal, elevation 8,360 feet (2,550 m) to get some sleep before long day. I want to have some extra hours just in case things will go slow. So, we started our journey at 1:30 am. We catch the sunrise near Trail Camp, 12000 ft (3,657 m).
Looking back to Trail Camp and Consolation Lake from switchbacks
Acclimatization helped me and Ivan a lot. I did slow down just after Trail Camp, but in the middle of switchbacks regained my normal speed. Our third companion Igor refused from acclimatization and arrived to trailhead just before hike, which cost him a lot of time to deal with hypoxia and finally he was short of summit by few miles.
Arriving at Trail Crest
Looking to Hitchcock Lakes from Trail Crest
In the middle of Trail Crest looking back
From this point trail is quite flat and walking is easier. I noticed that following somebody I can move much faster then walking by myself. Ivan was ahead of me and arrived to summit about 15 minutes earlier, Igor was behind and did not made summit.
View from the summit toward Lone Pine
Looking south from the summit
It took me 10 hours to reach summit. I rest for awhile, sign the register, take photos and we start our way back at 12:00 pm. Going down is always easy, but still it was long long way back. At least we could enjoy by beautiful lakes and meadows, which we did not saw on the way up.
Trailside meadow
Mirror Lake
We was back at trailhead at 7:40 pm (17:10 total hike time) and back home at 1 am. In terms of equipment the most important are comfortable boots, jacket to protect from wind and cold, headlamp and water. I used 2.5 litters of water, 2 apples and 5 powerbars. This is my longest and highest hike so far.