Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead to Long Lake
| Thursday, August 12th 2021 Days on the trail: 1 | Total miles: 6.8 Miles: 6.8 | Time: 4 hours | Ascent: 1,276 ft | Descent: 239 ft |
Mammoth Taxi were fantastic yet again. Scottie was our driver this time, Simone’s husband. He had the pleasure of our company for the two and a half hour drive from Mammoth to the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead. The drive took us through Owens Valley and the small mountain towns of Big Pine, Independence and Lone Pine.
Enroute we quickly stopped at the Independence Inn to drop off our food resupply for next week. We’ll be staying here for a night on the 18th and the owner Jim was happy to store our food for us until then. It’s a very simple place but after a week on the trail I’m sure it will feel very luxurious.
Just after Lone Pine we turned right onto Horseshoe Meadow Road and had the highest peaks of the Sierra Crest in our view. It felt a little daunting to look up at the vastness of it all and to know that this is where we’re heading. The road went up and up and up starting at 3,800 ft and winding its way up to 10,000 ft. Looking out of the car window it felt like we were in a plane rather than an SUV.
The road took us through Alabama Hills, an area I had heard of but never knew exactly where it was. Alabama Hills has been the set of many Western movies going back as early as 1920 and for good reason, I fully expected to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid come riding around the corner.
We were dropped at the trailhead at 11:30 am. This is it, we’re really doing this!
The trail was dusty and dry for the first 4 miles and I was expecting it to be like this all day but when we got to the unimaginatively named Cottonwood Lakes 1, 2 and 3 the views really opened up. Cottonwood Lake 1 was really pretty, surrounded by meadows with Mount Langley towering above. Standing at 14,032 ft Langley is often confused with Mount Whitney which stands several miles away at 14,505 ft. What’s 473 ft between friends?
Cottonwood Lake 1 with Mount Langley in the background
Although we were only hiking 6 miles today the altitude slowed us down and we had to take it slow, we both had mild headaches and felt somewhat lightheaded by mid afternoon. We really need to pace ourselves for the next few days so that we are acclimated for Whitney on Sunday.
We camped at Long Lake so we are well positioned to hike over New Army Pass early tomorrow. Long Lake is popular for fishing as it has an abundance of the prized California golden trout. Apparently 13 of these trout were carried over the Divide in a coffee can in 1876 and stocked into Cottonwood Creek which at the time was fish less and now this region is so trout rich it is the broodstock for almost all propagation and distribution of California golden trout throughout California and beyond. This might explain why when we went for a swim, it smelt ‘trouty’ and then when we drank our filtered water it had a faint taint of trout. I’m not generally fussy about food and drink but I just couldn’t stop myself from gagging. Fortunately we had coffee sachets and electrolytes to hide the fishy flavor but the few glasses of water I did drink were not pleasant at all.
Long Lake to Lower Rock Creek via New Army Pass
| Friday, August 13th 2021 Days on the trail: 2 | Total miles: 17.7 Miles: 10.9 | Time: 6.5 hours | Ascent: 1,105 ft | Descent: 2,664 ft |
I had a pretty bad nights sleep. Headache (altitude?), stomach ache (trouty water?), sore hips (heavy pack?) and on top of that Mike managed to saw wood like a carpenter all night. I usually love being in the tent and sleep soundly but I was elated to crawl out of bed at 6 am.
I felt really out of shape for at least the first hour this morning. My pack was heavy, my knees were twinging, my hips were complaining and as we climbed higher my pace got slower.
Mike meanwhile was on a roll heading up the pass like a mountain goat, I guess he’d had a good nights sleep!
Thankfully once I’d warmed up I started to get my stride and we were at the top of New Army Pass by 10 am. At 12,209 ft we felt like we were on top of the world.
Distant view of Cottonwood Lakes from New Army Pass 
The first of many Passes
Once we started to head down the other side of the pass we were on the look out for the illusive bighorn sheep that are found in this area, but no luck. We did however see a madness of marmots hanging out on the rocks giving us the beady eye as we passed by.
Having gone up for the first part of the morning we were now heading down for the remainder of the day, eventually hiking through meadows and forests. It was extremely dry; rivers and creeks which should have been running, cascading and babbling were as dry as a bone, evidence of the drought. Fortunately at Rock Creek our camp for the night, the water was still flowing so we had plenty to drink.
The designated camp area along the creek was fairly big but people had camped very close to each other either side of the trail junction. We walked a little further along to the end of the designated camp area and had a beautiful spot alongside the creek with a view of the meadow and lots of grazing deer to keep us company but no human neighbors close by.
We hung out for a few hours and enjoyed some down time. Just as we started to cook dinner it began to rain so we put on our waterproofs and got on with it and of course it stopped raining just as we packed everything away and went to bed.
Lower Rock Creek to Upper Crabtree Meadow via Guyot Pass
| Saturday, August 14th 2021 Days on the trail: 3 | Total miles: 25.2 Miles: 7.5 | Time: 5 hours | Ascent: 1,853 ft | Descent: 866 ft |
I dreamt a spider was crawling over my face and when I woke I found a squished spider on my pillow. I wondered aloud, if it had bitten me would I become spider woman? Mike was quick to quip that I’d more likely be a spider pig than spider woman. I then spent the early part of this mornings hike singing in my head “spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does”. Simpson’s fans will understand this reference and if not you can check out the YouTube link below.
Today’s hike was easy peasy, just up and over Guyot Pass and then down to Crabtree Meadow which is a staging area for Mount Whitney, ready for a BIG day tomorrow.
I was aware that the Air Force practice military maneuvers in the Eastern Sierras but I’ve been surprised by just how much air activity there has been during the first few days of our hike. Throughout the day it goes from utter silence one minute to the roar of fighter jets and sonic booms the next. I wonder how/if it effects the wildlife?
One of the many downed but beautiful trees on the trail today
At Crabtree there were lots of empty tents where people had summited today and would then return to sleep for another night before moving on tomorrow. This was also our plan. There was a real sense of camaraderie chatting to the people getting ready to summit tomorrow and then later in the day talking to those returning and hearing of their experience. Our plan is to be on the trail by 5:30 am tomorrow so it was an early dinner and early to bed.
There are two things of note at Crabtree Meadow; an outdoor pit toilet and a seasonal Ranger. Everyone at camp was very excited about the toilet, no need to say anymore about that. We did meet and chat to the Ranger briefly. She’s been the seasonal Ranger out here for a number of years and is in residence June to October. Once she’s here, she’s here for the season, no days off or trips back out to the big wide world and she has only one food supply drop in June so no access to fresh produce for 4 months, but she does get to live in a simple log cabin and spend her days in this stunning place. It was interesting to us that every seasonal Ranger we met on the JMT was female.
OK, ok, for those of you that are interested, here’s what an outdoor pit toilet looks like in the backcountry…
Now can you understand why people, get so excited? Luxury!
Mount Whitney
| Sunday, August 15th 2021 Days on the trail: 4 | Total miles: 42.2 Miles: 17 | Time: 11.75 hours | Ascent: 4,222 ft | Descent: 4,222 ft |
We heard our neighbors leaving for Whitney at midnight so they could be at the summit for sunrise. They returned within 10 minutes for their waterproofs as it started pouring with rain. Rather them than me, I had no interest in summiting in the dark let alone in the rain.
We got up at the much more reasonable hour of 5 am. At 5:30 am there was a roar of what we thought were military jets doing antisocially early maneuvers only to realize it was a rockslide, a big rockslide which lasted about 2 minutes before the rocks came to rest. We would hear several of these today although this was the loudest and longest.
On the trail at 5:45 am with just enough light not to need our head torches. After 15 minutes Mike realized he’d forgotten his sun hat so I hung out on a log while he rushed back to camp to retrieve it and enjoyed the changing early morning light.
The initial 3 miles to Guitar Lake were gentle and shaded so it was a good opportunity to limber up for the long day ahead.
A marmot on morning patrol hoping for hiker snacks
From Guitar Lake to Trail Junction the trail was fantastic, extremely well maintained with nicely graded switchbacks – thank you Trail Maintenance crew of the National Park Service!
Looking back at Guitar Lake
We went at a nice easy pace, this is high elevation and the key is to go slow and steady to avoid altitude sickness. Two miles from the summit the trail became more challenging and definitely heart lurching. This is not the place to be if you don’t like heights, and even those with a head for heights can’t fail to get the hebegebees in an area called The Windows which are splits in the tall rock walls with peekaboo views of the sheer drop either side of the trail. I have to admit it was about this point that I had a mini meltdown but I managed to pull it together again pretty quickly for the final push to the summit.
We summited at 11:01 am and did the obligatory signing of the trail register before taking a few photos. I felt a little spaced out, was it the exertion, the altitude or just the surreal experience of being on top of a mountain at 14,505 ft? Mike found us a spot sheltered from the wind to eat lunch and rustled up a tasty cheese and tuna tortilla and I started to feel much better so we went back to the summit and took it all in a second time. By now it wasn’t as crowded and there was a quiet calm rather than a frenzy of activity. There’s no denying the views were BIG even though it was quite hazy from the wildfires burning around California and there was no doubt we were on top of the world – this is the highest I have ever been without being in an airplane.
After an hour on the summit we backtracked the way we’d come. Since most people exit via Whitney Portal we very quickly had the trail back to Crabtree to ourselves which was totally unexpected and very pleasant.
We’d been in the shade of the mountain all morning but had the full sun this afternoon which was fierce. Back at Guitar Lake, despite not having any swimmies or a towel we couldn’t resist jumping in to cool down, not a pretty sight for the campers around the lake but I’m sure they got over it.
A couple of miles before getting back to camp we saw a trail runner heading towards us…Holden, the silver surfer dude I wrote about in my South Lake > North Lake blog post. Although we barely know each other, having just met in a parking lot last month, we greeted each other like long lost friends. Such is the unique and special camaraderie of people you meet on the trail.
Holden had already run 30 miles today and was berating himself for not going far enough. He’s hoping to finish the JMT in 8 days! He had very little gear or food and planned to sleep in only a bivvy on the ground at night. We were genuinely concerned that he might get hypothermia. We exchanged phone numbers so we will be sure to check in with him when we have cell service to make sure he’s doing ok.
We arrived back in camp at 5:30 pm. Twelve hours round trip, quite the day! Needless to say we were in bed early tonight.
Crabtree Meadow to Forester Pass Approach
| Monday, August 16th 2021 Days on the trail: 5 | Total miles: 54.9 Miles: 12.7 | Time: 7.75 hours | Ascent: 2,824 ft | Descent: 1,427 ft |
I was so happy I could get out of my tent this morning after yesterday’s 12 hour stroll, I didn’t feel stiff or achy at all and was ready for another big day.
We were undecided if we were going to go 8 miles to Tyndall Creek or push on for 12 miles so we are closer to Forester Pass to get an early shot at it tomorrow and decided to just see how the day panned out.
Early in the day we passed a 12 year old girl whose pack was almost as big as her but her smile was even bigger. She looked like a street urchin from Oliver Twist and had the dirtiest clothes I’ve seen so far on the trail which is quite impressive. She’s hiking 130 miles with her family. I told her she was fantastic and should be very proud of herself and her smile got even wider.
We’d hung out with 2 other couples while at Crabtree; Johnathon and Tami from South Dakota and Amy and Steve from Fresno and we ended up leap frogging with them all day as we continued on the trail and took in our last views of Whitney.
Feeling good we pushed on past Tyndall Creek and hiked across impressive Big Horn Plateau eventually calling it a day at the lowest of the twin lakes close to the approach to Forester Pass.
Bighorn Plateau
The lake at 12,000 ft is the highest elevation we will camp at while on the JMT. It was an exposed but stunning location and unfortunately just as we were getting settled an almighty thunderstorm rolled in.
Somethings brewing
We just had time to get our tent pitched, put on our waterproofs and cover our packs. Fortunately for us it looked like the worst of the rain and lightening was over Big Horn Plateau but we got the full brunt of the thunder which ricocheted around the granite bowl we were in. It passed after about an hour and we were able to cook and enjoy the scenery before going to bed.
No sign of Holden today. With his mileage schedule he should have passed us at some point this afternoon. Hope he’s doing ok, maybe we’ll see him early tomorrow or maybe he’s already way ahead of us?
Forester Pass Approach to Kearsarge Lakes via Forester Pass
| Tuesday, August 17th 2021 Days on the trail: 6 | Total miles: 68.9 Miles: 14 | Time: 8.75 hours | Ascent: 2,431 ft | Descent: 3,579 ft |
Today was supposed to be a fairly easy day but Vidette Meadow where we’d planned to camp wasn’t very appealing to us when we got there, plus there was a bear wandering around so we decided to push on to Kearsarge Lakes so that we’d have an easier day tomorrow. I am excited for an easier day tomorrow but boy did we end up working hard today. It’s a good job the scenery was so stunning, it was able to draw me away from fixating on how tired I was.
It was chilly when we got up and we were so keen to get moving to warm up that we were away from camp by 7:30 am which was a good thing because we had Forester Pass to get over.
People say fear Forester Pass, but with the early start came shade and a cool breeze and we found it relatively easy. I also think it’s much easier approaching it from the south rather than the north. We were up and over in no time and as soon as we were on the other side we left the southern hazy skies behind and could see only clear blue going north. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Clear skies heading north
We met a guy heading south who was down to his last few days on the trail and was low on food so we gave him some of our snacks, we have plenty and it’s good karma. Later in the day we chatted at length to a guide from Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides who was leading a large group and he shared some of his stash of gummy sweets with us. What goes around comes around.
Perfect spot for a snack and water break on the northern side of Forester Pass
We also spoke with a Dad and his 2 kids heading south, the boy was 10 and his sister was 12 and they were absolutely delightful, really engaging. The boy said he’d loved the hike so much he wants to yo-yo it (turn around and do it all again). They’re going to have some great stories to tell their friends when they go back to school. Mike and I observed that the kids we’ve seen on the trail have their parents undivided attention, no devices, no social media, no chores or work distractions. Such a precious opportunity for families to spend time together.
At Vidette Meadow Mike was scouting out a campsite and peaked over a fallen tree only to see a bear on its hind legs peering back at him. It ran off as soon as we hazed it but apparently was back in the area soon after. Even though our food is stored in bear proof canisters we didn’t want to be watching our backs all evening which is why we decided to continue on.
It’s not just bears you need to be on the look out for, rock monsters also have a habit of creeping up on you
After a long hot afternoon hiking what felt like endless switchbacks we finally arrived at Kearsarge Lakes at 4:45 pm. We were both absolutely at the end of our lollipops. A quick dip in the lake, a couple of coffees, a bar of chocolate and some ibuprofen later and we started to feel human again.
This is my favorite campsite of the trip so far. Lots of space around us, complete privacy despite there being a number of other people around the lake but best of all was the scenery, it was absolutely beautiful looking across the lake with the Kearsarge Pinnacles in the background. We even had a resident marmot that hung out with us for the evening and once the sun went down the night sky was a blanket of stars twinkling in the sky before the moon rose and lit the Pinnacles as if it was daytime.
Kearsarge Lakes to Independence via Kearsarge Pass
| Wednesday, August 18th 2021 Days on the trail: 7 | Total miles: 75.1 Miles: 6.2 | Time: 3.65 hours | Ascent: 894 ft | Descent: 2,522 ft |
Good morning world!
Resupply day! We slept for ten and a half hours straight last night, I knew we were tired! Today we are headed to the sprawling metropolis that is Independence, a one horse town without a horse. But first we have to get up and over Kearsarge Pass before being met by quirky Independence Inn owner Jim for a hair raising drive down the hairpin bend road into town.
View of Kearsarge Lakes and Pinnacles from Kearsarge Pass
We knew Independence was a small town with limited amenities so we had made sure our food resupply for the next section had everything we needed and not leave anything to chance. Good decision. The only store in town was the gas station and they had a great selection of frozen meals and Doritos but not much else. No fresh produce or nutritious food to be found anywhere.
Everyone we’d met on the trail raved about the taco truck in Independence so that is where we ended up for lunch…and dinner.
We spent the afternoon doing laundry and sorting out our food for the next section. Cramming 8 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks into 2 bear canisters is a feat only magician Mike can master.
Sleep came quickly in the comfy air conditioned room aided by a couple of cold beers and some weird wildlife documentary on the TV showing zoo keepers in panda suits in China…or maybe I dreamt that?
Hello there, glad to have met you while on your adventure.
Soph and I waited all day to be able to yell congratulations across our tarn about Guitar Lake! We’re happy you made it to the top.
If you’re ever in the San Diego area, please let me know! I’d love to treat you at my restaurant (Burger Bench in Escondido). Cheers and happy trails!
Derek and Sophia
What an epic adventure. Love the photos. I remember that view from Kearsarge pass. I’m eagerly anticipating the next installment
Mike and Toni, Fantastic! I have tried to follow your blog on a map and was drooling all the way. Your description and the accompanying photos allow an exciting vicarious experience. Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure and congratulations on summiting Mt Whitney. Jack Baker
Thanks for your comment Jack. I’m glad you enjoyed the post and love that you got a map out to trace our route!
Toni it’s so wonderful to read about these adventures and see your face!! Thank you for sharing this with us. Love it.. Miss you.
Andrea