Thanks for the info.
One of the reasons I'm thinking of coming up from Horseshoe Meadows is to avoid driving thru the road construction. Figured hitching a ride (or Uber/Taxi) would get me down from the portal.
Kind of thinking of this itinerary:
First day: Park somewhere in Lone Pine and get a ride up to Horseshoe Meadows (or take a taxi/Uber). Camp at the trailhead camps.
Second day: Hike through the Cottonwood lakes area (probably taking a little time to see the lakes), go up new army pass. Setup camp somewhere up there and shed unneeded weight.
If able, go for the Langley summit in late afternoon.
Third day: Go to the summit if not able to the day before.
Is the path to to the Langley summit safe to do pre-dawn to see the sunrise from the summit? Or should I just see the sunrise along the ridge while climbing to the summit?
After the summit, return to camp and pack up and head down the Army Pass trail. See Solider Lakes on the way.
Camp somewhere once I get to the PCT.
Next day or two would be to get to the JMT and head towards the Whitney trail junction.
Are the Crabtree Lakes worth taking the little detour trail to see? Guess that detour would end up depending on how much progress I've made at that point.
Last water at Guitar Lake, I assume? Looks like the trail has pretty good water sources all along the way up until then.
It really depends on when I get to Guitar lake, but I'd either camp there, the bivy sites just below the junction, or even the spot near the JMT/Whitney trail junction (seen it marked with a camp spot on several maps... although don't remember a lot of space there when I went thru there last year) and head towards the summit the next morning (probably pre-dawn).
Alternately, I'd head up in the afternoon and stay overnight at the summit. Hopefully leaving as much excess weight at the JMT/WT junction as I can. I know this route requires me to take all my equipment at least to that junction.
Once I'm done with the summit, head down to the portal.
So five nights on the trail plus the night at Horseshoe meadows). Of course, I could skip Langley altogether, but I figure as long as it's right there, why not go for it.
An extra 2000 foot climb never killed anyone... well, probably has, but what the heck.
Late July is looking likely at the moment. Japan trip is looking to be late August through Labor Day.
