Route advice Army Pass

[tyoungberg]

I know this has been discussed very in depth before, but reading recent trip reports for Cottonwood Lakes area (monsoon rains through campground!) I am trying to gauge whether to use Old Army or New Army pass to access areas west of Langley (soldier, miter etc.).

I am taking some fairly new backpackers along with me on this trip our current plan is OAP.

Thanks!

[freestone]

I was up there last year to summit Langley with my son and also fish the lakes in the Cottonwood area, camping on the South fork. We went up New Army and came back via Old Army and liked seeing and experiencing both routes.

[tyoungberg]

Thanks freestone - definitely going to get some fishing in as well. Was OAP relatively easy to navigate? Main concern is the rock slide section I’ve read about on here.

[freestone]

No problems last year but not aware of any recent rockslide activity this year so maybe some else will chime in who has been up there this year.

[ironmike]

Agree with freestone…it was very straightforward last year. Unless there has been recent slides/rockfalls this year, you should be fine.

[avizzini]

I just got back from climbing Langley yesterday. I arrived at Horseshoe Meadows Saturday afternoon, right after the worst of the rains. There was definitely evidence of heavy recent rains with dirt, rock, and debree all over the road/parking lots. Though the road up was clear of debree.

I went up via New Army Pass after camping at Long lake. The entire way up, the trail was in good shape, no rock slides or anything. Most of the people I saw were going up New Army Pass, not sure if this was indicitive of anything. I've not been on Old Army Pass but having seen the view from the top of it, I think the early morning/sunrise views were better on New Army Pass. By camping at Long Lake, I negated the benefit of the shorter climb from Old Army Pass though but, there's still the downside of the superfluous 300' of ascent/descent compared to Old Army Pass.

I returned the same way, since I camped at Long Lake, not at one of the Cottonwood Lakes, otherwise I'd have descended Old Army Pass.

[tyoungberg]

Thanks for input ironmike and avizzini heading to that zone on Sunday for a 6 day trek to Whitney. I saw photos of the parking lot after the rains - looked wild! We’ll likely fish cottonwood 5 on our way so will get a look at OAP and get to decide before going over the next day. Hoping to take OAP to cut some mileage mostly.