Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mt Whitney versus White Mountain

If you have hiked Mt. Whitney and White Mountain would you be able to please compare and contrast the two hikes.

I am planning a trip to the Whitney/White Mountain area in the summer of 2017 with my 7 kids.

I am new to hiking. The experience I have hiking is that I visited Mt. Whitney 3 times in June, July, and November of 2016. My kids have never hiked. Because of our collective lack of experience I think Whitney is too advanced for our group. I'm looking for something safer and a bit easier than Whitney.

From what I read, White Mountain has no water and can be very windy? What about snow? Does White Mountain melt off its snow faster than Mt. Whitney? Animals? (Bears? marmots? other?). I know this is an odd question but Whitney required the wag bag. What would protocol be on White Mountain? Any other advice? Thank you!

The White Mountains during the Summer is quite nice, but dry, high, cold and windy. No bears or other creatures to worry about, no wag bags. No snow during the Summer.

For children with no hiking experience, there are much nicer and easier hikes all along the eastern side of the Sierra. Plenty of water and beautiful scenery. We take our five year old grand-daughter hiking with us a lot, with no worries. No wag bags except at Mt. Whitney.

There are bears, but they are not likely to be a problem for you, as long as you don't leave food out overnight around your campsite. Even at that, they are much more interested in your food than in you.

There are other animals, like marmots, squirrels, pika, birds, etc. which your kids will enjoy seeing.

Here is the local Inyo National Forest website, https://www.fs.usda.gov/inyo, which has most of the information you at likely to need. Give them a call; they are very helpful.

JMH, what is the age range of your children who will be hiking?

Coming all the way from Chicago, there are certainly a lot of places for you to see while you're out here. We can serve up quite a list of things to do, if you give us some ideas of what they can do.

White mountains give you a great view of the Sierra crest. Hiking White Mountain is about the easiest fourteener of all in California. Just 7 miles each way, starting at 12k, only a little more than 2k of gain. But with kids, some might experience altitude sickness (AMS).

There is also Yosemite... any desire to see any of it? While the most popular places there are a zoo, it is still something you might want them to see "just once".

Thanks Steve-

The kids are ages 14-35 years old.

Your correct about Yosemite we drove out to California in 08 and one of the stops was Yosemite which was amazing.

In my heart, I want to have them hike Whitney but I just think too many things can go wrong for 1st timers.

We have an open schedule the 1st week of June. In years past, when does that White Mountain road open? Im wondering if the weekend of the 4th of July might be better?

Grandsons 4 and 7 might be along. My wife plus the grandsons wont hike but you mentioned a zoo? Suggestions for fun stuff for them to do on the day we hike would be great.

Thank you
Jeff

The Whitney main trail would be a challenge for 7 people who do not hike regularly.

Does it need to be a 14er? With a group of that size and experience level, it is possible one or more could get sick at higher altitudes, meaning you will need to make decisions or sticking together or splitting up the group.

I highly recommend hiking in the Lake Tahoe area. Many summits to choose from with incredible views and reasonable mileage. Also lots of stuff to do at lake level for non hikers.

Early June could require ice axe/crampons/self-arrest skills if you want to climb the tall peaks in CA this year. The southern Sierra snow pack is currently at 197% of average!

Thanks Castillo-

Based on what you said, early August was my second choice and that sounds like a better time to go. I would not be comfortable splitting the group on Whitney but a split up on White Mountain seems more managable.

JMH, the "zoo" I was referring to is the crowds of tourists that you would encounter in Yosemite Valley. ...sorry.

White Mountain will certainly be accessible in July. First of June is not so certain. You would only encounter a few patches of snow near the summit, and they aren't steep. I even took a bicycle to it's summit years ago.

Other fun stuff: Bodie ghost town, northeast of Mono Lake. Yosemite: Hike to Cathedral Lakes (trail starts in Tuolumne Meadows).
An easier fourteener than Whitney: Mt Langley.
Acclimation hike: near the Langley trailhead in Horseshoe Meadows: Trail Peak (sw of Horseshoe Meadows.) Or hike to (or just part way to) Cottonwood Lakes.
Driving through Death Valley is scenic, too.
You're in for a good trip!

It snows far less on White Mountain, so I wouldn't be worried about snow. It's a 14 mile round trip from the locked gate, but not a lot in elevation. A big one day hike for kids without experience. You need to be acclimated, because this hike begins at 11k feet and it only goes higher from there. But it's easy compared to Whitney. You could ride mountain bike to the top, given the "trail" is a jeep road. No water anywhere up there unless you can melt some snow, so you have to pack quite a heavy load just to stay hydrated.

Whitney is more challenging in summer, but you have the added thrill of climbing the highest mountain in the lower 48, and it feels much more like a big mountain compared to the more high altitude tundra appearance of the White Mountain trail.

Permits for a larger group are much easier to get on White Mountain. Perhaps do some lesser peaks in the Sierra as warmup hikes to acclimate? First a few laps around Tuolumne Meadows, up to Clouds Rest maybe, then a visit to the top of Mammoth Mountain (on foot), or do a brief multi-day look across Koip pass and Koip Peak, and back via Donohue Pass and Lyell Canyon. I never did White Mountain without spending at least a week in the Sierra, so I don't know how tough it can get when you're not acclimated.

One thing to keep in mind about White Mountain is that if one in the group is getting in trouble with altitude sickness, there's no easy way down to lower elevation other than to get all the way back to the road gate and drive for a while to get lower. If you descend on foot cross country down the side of the mountain you are going into rough terrain and no-man's land without water.

Thank you fishmonger-

You point abount the AMS is really apreciated and something to think thru. Starting a hike at 11,600 is a lot different than starting at the whitney portal.

Because we had no experience on our 1st Whitney hike, we rigidly told ourselves that we would turn back at the 1st signs of trouble. We spent 1 night at portal and 1 night at trail camp but the next morning we did not even try to summit and just came back down.

On the 2nd visit, we budgeted more time and spent 1 night portal, 1 night at lone pine lake, 2 nights trail camp and had a successful summit. We felt a whole lot better than the first time.

For this trip, tenatively I'm thinking 1 or 2 nights at whitney portal camp ground with hikes to maybe lone pine lake or etc. and then 1 or 2 nights at the locked gate at White Mountain with a practise run up the 2 miles to that building that houses the sheep.

Your comment about no easy way down on White Mountain makes me know that at the 1st sign of trouble we need to turn back.

"that building that houses the sheep" is actually the White Mountain Research Center, Barcroft Station, run by University of California. There are researchers and students there all summer.

Hit it on an "open-gate" weekend, and it knocks off 4 miles and some elevation from the hike. In 2016, it was open July 24.



AMS takes some time to show up, so there may be an advantage to getting up there, hiking to the summit and back down, before symptoms have the time to grow.