Steve:
True, and good to know for travel between YNP and SEKI, but check it out, the Visalia SEKI shuttle runs one way in the AM and the other way in the PM (Visalia C of C are no dummies!) SO you have to be in Visalia no later than 10 AM to get to SEKI same day. Not happening from YNP, much less the Portal, so add in the Holiday Inn rate and about 12 hours. Same Story the southern rout;, btw.
Kevin:
I am praising, not lamenting the Eastern Sierra transport system. Its [expletive gerund] awesome. Are you kidding me? less than 30 bucks and a few hours to get from Lone Pine to Yosemite Valley? That's so 21st century!
But more than 3 times that and over night to get YNP to Three Rivers. Its the West side, where literally millions live and millions enter the Parks every year, that is behind the times.
But enough. It is what it is; probably shouldn't have started on such a bummer, but now its out of the way, and Fresno is going to fix it, right?.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, the West approach to Whitney is a beautiful thing, for so many reasons. Let's talk about acclimatization.
HST is a typical West-side approach.
The HST starts at about 6800 ft at Giant Forest. First camps are at about 5 miles in around 7200 ft. 11 miles in at Bear Paw, elevation is 7800. At 16 miles is Hamilton Lake at about 8300, followed by a climb to Kaweah Gap at 10700 and a gentle descent into Big Arroyo at about 9600. A similar elevation profile later in the trip, and a little higher, ends with the ascent of Whitney from the West, making this, for me, a self-acclimitizing hike. Apart from the shuttle, I could drive from the Bay Area, hit the TH before noon, and camp at about 7200 feet that night. During the same time I would spend at the Portal, with a round tripper to LPL, I am 24 miles into the back country, having climbed high and slept low, looking at the next couple of days between 9500 and 11000 ft. Lots of people do the whole 70 miles in 6 days, 5 nights which is not a lot more than what I would spend doing Whitney alone my way (2 nights at Portal, two on the trail).
Last edited by saltydog; 06/10/11 08:36 AM.
