This was a trip I had reserved permits for the prior week, so we arrived at the Eastern Sierra Interagency Center at 7am knowing it was a holiday weekend with probably a lot of people lining up to snag Whitney permits. But I was perpared - left LA at 330 am, had my reservation and wanted to get on the trail as early as possible as this is a south facing trail with a lot of sun exposure.
Sure enough, there were a ton of people there already, but we had arrived early enough to line up with only a handful of people before us.
The ranger comes out at 8am, gets an idea of the needs of the visitors (walk -in or reservation? etc) and gives us the scoop about how they will manage the crowd - reservation or not, we would have to pick numbers out of a bin and go by that order of service.
WHAT??? Only 3 of us raised hands for having a prior reservation, and she made us pick numbers with all the walk ins! 35 group leaders were singled out, and we picked numbers out of a hat...and I got 26.
So, so frustrating. The WHOLE point of going online and getting a permit is to avoid this circus of walk-ins (I do walk in permits when I have a long weekend or time to spare). I asked the ranger why she could not give the three of us reservations our permits first - seeing as they were paid for and reserved - then service the walk-ins, and she said 'Ma'am, you didn't pay for order of service, you paid for a reservation'. I was shocked. the permit is $5 dollars and the reservation is $10, and we can't even get serviced?!?!?!
Anyway, we didn't get our turn until 915am.
Picked up the permit quickly and drove up to Whitney Portal Campground.We started at 9:45 and pleasantly winded up the first part of the trail in solitude, enjoying the beautiful views and celebrating the gentle trail. Then the trail got steeper and more rocky, but the views were pacifying us for the moment. At 3 miles, we got to a steep rocky slope where we lost the trail a bit until we got back into the woods, which steeply winded up...and up.
Out of the woods we got to another slope, this one covered by loose sand and rock. The faint trail petered out, and we found ourselves searching a bit by going down and following a grassy couloir back up, which deposited us back at the trail, just a few feet from where we lost it. This part was tough - the dirt and loose rock felt like a one step forward, two steps back sort of deal and there was no shade. Long, gradual switchbacks got us to a steep and rocky forest bit, depositing us high by Grass Lake.
At this point, we were tired! it was 4.0 miles, but it was a becoming a steep and strenuous hike. We heard Grass Lake is a lovely cross country navigation affair, but we decided to do it on the way back down and go for Meysan Lake straight away to have some fishing time. We continued to the right and started to steeply climb some more. The we descended slightly into a dry meadow, going back up and finally getting to Camp Lake! There was a group camping there, and they told us up into Meysan Lake was a boulder traverse at the outlet of the lake.
So...we climbed. It was about 500ft of tough climbing with our packs, but manageable. We finally reached our destination at about 4:30pm and it was SO worth it. The basin that Meysan Lake is located is surrounded by harsh, stark peaks. I felt like I had been transported to Patagonia. The timing was perfect, as the lake sparkled green and turquoise blue. We picked a campsite that looked pre-established and being the only ones on the lake, stripped out of our sweaty clothes and basked in the beautiful weather. Then we heard water rippling and looked out - the lake was absolutely TEEMING with fish. My friend hadn't been fishing in years - she quickly put some bait on the line to test her rod ‘to see how it would cast’ and BAM! She caught a fish! She released and cast her line back out. She caught another! We must have caught about 5 after we realized this was not going to be a relaxing endeavor – we could feed a village if we continued.
In the evening, we were afforded the pleasure of listening in on the climbing pairs coming down the chutes from their Lone Pine Peak, Mallory, Irvine, and Le Conte climbs. Lots of sketchy happenings up there with the limited snow and two separate teams took tumbles. Luckily in the morning we encountered them, bruised and shaken, but alive.
We set out early to explore the lakes below and the weather was just gorgeous. The traverse down the outlet of Meysan lake had me anxious, but it ended up being easily conquered. Mosquitoes were minimal. Camp Lake and Grass Lake were still and emerald hued.
Hike back took 3.5 hours with a bit of a cross country scramble to find Grass Lake but we hiked in a cool breeze and more lovely views on the way down!
Link to Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EKd69tc95T8QFnVN7
