Trans-Sierra Trek to Mount Whitney
Itinerary
Day 1
We meet in the late afternoon/early evening at our campsite at near
Lodgepole on the West Side of Sequoia National Park
to discuss the itinerary and do a gear check. Afterwards,
we enjoy a fine camp dinner. Lodgepole is close to the Giant Forest of Giant Sequoia's, which you can explore the afternoon before we meet.
Day 2
We hike out of the Wolverton trailhead along the High
Sierra Trail with spectacular views of the Kaweah
River Canyon and the mystical-looking Castle Spires. The trail is mostly rolling with just a little up and down. We will establish a camp for the evening
near Bearpaw Meadows.
(11 miles)
Day 3
We leave Bearpaw Meadows
and make our way towards the famed "Valhalla"
cirque and Hamilton Lakes.The views are stunning
as we travel along an amazing trail under Angel Wings,
the largest rock wall in Sequoia NP and also beautiful Hamilton Dome. This is a slightly shorter day since it is the first we do with our overnight pack weight. We will establish
camp near the amazing Precipice Lake in the upper part of
the Valhalla Cirque. (6.5 miles, mostly uphill)
Day 4
Today we make our way up over Kaweah Gap with spectacular
views of The Black Kaweah and other peaks in the Great
Western Divide. We travel down the Big Arroyo to make
camp near Moraine Lake. (11.5 miles, mostly downhill)
Day 5
Today is a short hiking day and partial rest day as we travel down into
the Kern River canyon arriving at Kern Hot Springs
in the early afternoon. We spend the afternoon resting
and relaxing in these natural hot springs and exploring the
Kern River (6 miles, all downhill)
Day 6
We make our way up the glacier-carved Kern River canyon
to establish a camp in the upper reaches of the Kern Canyon near the
confluence of Wallace Creek or if energy permits, we may push on to a camp higher up along the Wallace Creek, which will make day six a bit easier.
(8 miles, mostly uphill).
Day 7
Climbing out of the Kern River canyon, we make our
way towards to the Crabtree Meadows area where we will establish
a 2-night base camp here for our summit of Mt Whitney,
the highest point in the lower 48 states (10.5 miles).
Day 8
Summit day of Mount Whitney. Carrying only light day
packs, we will make our way up the John Muir Trail
to Trail Crest and along the Eastern escarpment of
the Whitney Massif to the summit. The views are spectacular with some exciting exposure along the tral. After photos and
lunch on the summit we retrace our steps back to our
basecamp (11 miles roundtrip).
Day 9
We break our Whitney basecamp and have a pleasant
hike along the Pacific Crest Trail towards Rock Creek
where we will make camp for the evening, our last
on the trail. Along the way, we pass beautiful Guyot Meadows and through Fox Tail Pine forests. (11 miles, up and down).
Day 10
Our final day on the trail, we make our way through
the starkly beautiful Golden Trout Wilderness over Cottonwood
Pass and onto the Horse Shoe Meadows trailhead on
the Eastern Side of the Sierra Nevada, completing
our trarverse. Along the way, we are treated to views of the Siberian Outpost and the Big Whitney Meadows. In the late afternoon, we are picked up by van and taken to
a hotel in the nearby town of Lone Pine for a well-deserved
shower and celebratory meal (11.8 miles).
Day 11
We are shuttled by van back to the Wolverton Trailhead
and our vehicles, arriving in the afternoon.
The itinerary is subject to change
