Mt. Whitney to Mt. Langley Traverse~ September 2016

The summit of Mt. Whitney 14,500'.

In the spirit of Alastair Humphrey's Microadventure I took off for a quick late season adventure into the High Sierra last weekend. In an effort to fit as much adventure into a 'micro' amount of time I decided to climb the two nearest 14'ers in the Southern Sierra and hike the distance between each one via a 30 mile cross country route along the way.

To make this a mini-thru hike I left a car at Horseshoe Meadows at the southern end of the route and took a shuttle to Whitney Portal in the north where I would begin. Although the route was only 30 miles the total elevation change was over 23,000 feet via mostly cross country terrain with a few class III climbs to keep things interesting.

Once the shuttle dropped me off at Whitney Portal the only way back to the car was to commit to the route. . . and I began to wonder if my plan was too adventurous for just one weekend.

Mt. Whitney & Mt. Langley Microadventure route.

Miter Basin and Mt. Langley ~ October 2014

Falls colors in Miter Basin

There is something special about fall in the High Sierra. The days are shorter and the weather is much colder but the crowds are long gone and the colors are beautiful. Over a long weekend and over 30 miles in the backcountry I saw only four other hikers.  

After spending the night at the trailhead the night before I got an early start on the Cottonwood Lakes trail. I slept in a homemade sleeping bag, but it was only rated to 40 degrees. It was below 40 that night! 

Fortunately I brought warmer gear for the hike in. 

Miter Basin - Cottonwood Lakes 08/10/2012 - 08/12/2012

Storms in the distance along the PCT. 

This was a relaxing trip with lots of scenery and some good lighting thanks to the daily storms.

I took off last Friday morning at 4:30 am and by 7:30 am I was at the permit office in Lone Pine. No problem getting a walk-in permit for the Cottonwood Pass trail.

Cottonwood Pass seemed much easier than NAP and within two hours I was chasing the incoming storms to Soldier Lake.