Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet. Mount lies on the boundary of Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest.
It is the most frequently climbed mountain peak in the Sierra Nevada so when hikers entering the Mt. Whitney zone, including day-hikers, are required to obtain a permit. For permit you need to apply for Mt. Whitney Lottery between February 1 and March 15 to hike between May and October the same year. You apply at www.recreation.gov. Good Luck! 🙂
We did hike in one day in July. We started from Whitney Portal – the shortest and most popular route to climb Mt. Whitney.
Trail Information:
- Length: 10.7 mile in one way
- Elevation gain: 6145 feet
- Difficulty: Hard
| Elevation | Miles | |
| Whitney Portal | 8,360 Ft | 0.0 |
| Lone Pine Lake | 9,900 Ft | 2.8 |
| Outpost Camp | 10,400 Ft | 3.8 |
| Mirror Lake | 10,640 Ft | 4.0 |
| Trailside Meadow | 11,400 Ft | 5.0 |
| Trail Camp | 12,000 Ft | 6.0 |
| Trail Crest | 13,700 Ft | 8.2 |
| Muir Trail Jct | 13,480 Ft | 8.7 |
| Summit | 14,505 Ft | 10.7 |
Make sure that you are prepared and do before other hikes like 15-20 miles with good elevation gain. We recommend to come earlier near Whitney Portal and hike Lone Pine Lake (6 miles). This is the same trail which is for Mt. Whitney. Why you should come earlier? Mt. Whitney is more than 10 000 feet and you need to acclimate for altitude. You will need also medicine for altitude sickness. Ask your doctor for prescription.
The best time to start hike is round 1-3 am. If you didn’t train a lot before, you can start from 10-11 pm as we did. We started at 10 pm and reached summit at 9 am. Make sure to reach summit before 12 pm because afternoon thunderstorms are a part of hiking in the Sierra in the summer. If you see lightning while hiking above Trail Camp, you should think to turn back.
Food and water
Also important is to have enough water and food. On the way you have lot of water/ streams so you can filter but always check in reports till water is available. Below our list of food what we had and worked great:
- water – minimum 3L
- sandwiches (at least 2 per person)
- energy gels (link)
- energy chews (link)
- nuun – electrolytes (link)
- salty nuts
- bars (link)
What to take
- Water filter
- First aid kit
- Toilet paper
- WAG bag
- Oral rehydration salts
- Head lamp
- Trekking poles
- Additional Socks
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Gloves
- Jacket / Rain Shell
- Long-sleeve shirt
- Bug repellent
During night is really cold and you will need gloves and jacket. Layer, layer, layer so later when is hot you can remove it.
Photos
When you will be on the top try to find board with Mt. Whitney and take a photo.
Alabama Hills
This place is between Lone Pine and Whitney Portal. If you have time after Mount Whitney, go for short hike or just drive around Movie Road where many movies took place e.g. Gladiator, Django Unchained or Iron Man.
Formation of those hills is amazing and so different from rest of the area. From here you can have nice look at Mt. Whitney. We did short hike 0.5mile to Mobius Arch.
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