Exploring the White Mountains

[Vaca Russ]

Sport and I decided we wanted to “bag a 14er”. Why not start by picking the low hanging fruit? White Mountain Peak is considered to be one the easiest 14ers to climb. It is still a 14.2 mile round trip hike at altitude. We needed to acclimate so we spent two nights up on the “Giants to the east of the Sierra”.

We spent the first night at 9400 feet. We found an ideal camp spot along a certain creek.

We do believe in “no trace camping” but when you are car camping you can carry a lot of tools. I felt the need to build a cabin.

…and a livestock barn.

…and why not a privy as well?

The next day we began to explore. We inspected an old mine.

…and then we drove to Shulman Grove and hiked among the ancient bristlecone pines.

Smokin' Hot Babe!

To be continued…

[Vaca Russ]

That evening we made camp at the locked Barcroft gate.

We awoke before dawn and prepared for the 14.2 mile round trip. The hike starts at a locked gate.

13Locked Gate.JPG (41.33 KiB) Viewed 508 times

Before long we reached the research center and observatory.

We also met quite a few of the local residents.

Vermin Cong

Eventually our destination came into view.

17Sport touching summit.JPG (40.83 KiB) Viewed 505 times

After a brief hike we reached the summit.

First Balzacom Shot

The views were spectacular.

Who are these people?

I was a little bored so I built another structure.

Thank you for reading our silly report,

-Russ

[Rockchucker]

looking at white mountain peak from the east



Panoramic view
wagon that wrecked near the top.

[Rockchucker]

looking east

old foxtail pine

[Wandering Daisy]

After walking up White Mountain the standard road, I began to explore the eastern side of the White Mountains and found them a great place for early season backpacking. There are even small snow-melt ponds on the top plateau early season and the seasonal creeks are flowing. I have explored most of the northern canyons and climbed most of the northern "13'ers". In the future, I need to get down to the Perry Aiken area. If you want rough wilderness and do not mind lots of elevation gains (and rattlesnakes) the east side of the Whites are a real gem. I never saw anyone else on my travels.

[Rockchucker]

After walking up White Mountain the standard road, I began to explore the eastern side of the White Mountains and found them a great place for early season backpacking. There are even small snow-melt ponds on the top plateau early season and the seasonal creeks are flowing. I have explored most of the northern canyons and climbed most of the northern "13'ers". In the future, I need to get down to the Perry Aiken area. If you want rough wilderness and do not mind lots of elevation gains (and rattlesnakes) the east side of the Whites are a real gem. I never saw anyone else on my travels.

The trail up Perry Aiken is a steep one! Lydia canyon is deep and very overgrown.

[kd6swa]

In October 1993 I was up at the locked gate, the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was cold and cut to the bone. I guess late June, July or August is best to make this hike.

73
KD6SWA

[SSSdave]

After walking up White Mountain the standard road, I began to explore the eastern side of the White Mountains and found them a great place for early season backpacking...I never saw anyone else on my travels.

Good to read of someone else that has actually backpacked there because it is so rare despite all the daytime visitors. Much like what one finds in places like Death Valley. Most people are simply afraid of places without trails that have little water. Of note, one cannot even park a car overnight within the large designated boundaries of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest that is part of Inyo National Forest, much less camp or backpack overnight. Thus one must carefully inspect the boundaries of the reserve on topos for where one can legally visit overnight outside those boundaries. Where one can go is all areas north of the locked gate and as you noted most of the lower areas of the east side. Our backpack in 2006:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/White_Mtns_ ... -2-06.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lostcoyote]

some high ones even higher than the ones in the patriarch area...

[JWreno]

We did a 3 night astronomy camping trip at Grand View campground in the Whites. On Friday we day hiked the old bristlecone groves. On Saturday we day hiked Whites Peak. It was the last weekend in September and the weather was still nice but we did need our wind gear. We saw a group of big horn sheep on the way back to the trail head. I could see Mt Montgomery next to Boundary Peak from the top. We did those peaks about 10 years before.

Camping for two nights at about 8900 feet prevented any discomfort with altitude. The astronomy viewing was great since the campsites are very spread out so neighbor light pollution isn't a problem. We brought all the water we needed for the 4 days.