Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead

The USFS website has said for WEEKS that the road is opened as far as Schulman Grove. I suspected that this is something that has not been updated. So I actually talked to someone at the White Mountain Ranger District on Monday. According to that person, White Mountain Road is open ‘five miles’ beyond Schulman Grove. It is apparently not open to Patriarch Grove, let alone Barcroft Gate.

This would seem to contradict the information above, which suggests the road is open at least as far as the Crooked Creek cutoff, and possibly Patriarch Grove. But keep in mind that the person I spoke to may not have had up-to-date information. Not to mention that different people have different ideas as to what constitutes an estimate of ‘five miles’. So who knows.....

In any case, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that the road is open some distance beyond Schulman Grove, but NOT as far as Barcroft Gate. As long as you don’t have your heart set on getting to a specific destination beyond Schulman Grove (like Patriarch Grove), I would say go up there and let us know how far you got.

Also, if your goal is altitude acclimation, you will certainly be able to get to over 10000ft, and maybe even as high as 11000ft. If you can get as far as the high point between Schulman Grove and the cutoff to Crooked Creek, this will bring you to about 10800ft, which certainly isn't too shabby. You may even get far enough to be able to do a fairly easy hike up Sheep Mountain, which would get you above 12000ft.