Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Hitching between Horseshoe Meadows and WP

I haven't been in the area this year. Is there still "traffic" on Horseshoe Meadow and Whitney Portal roads? I am entertaining the idea of doing a Whitney/Langley loop starting from WP (and leaving the car there). Is it realistic to hitch a ride (or multiple rides) from Horseshoe Meadow back to WP on Thursday around lunchtime ? Do people pick up hitchhikers at all ?

Thanks

You aren't talking about doing this in December, are you? Maybe in the main summer season, you could hitch down from Horseshoe Meadows, but I would expect it to take a lot more time than getting down from Whitney Portal.

This week.

I think there's a decent chance you'd find someone who would take you down from HM to Whitney Portal Road, and a decent chance you'd find someone who would take you up.

One idea is to leave a bicycle at HM....

This is a fun summer hike for sure... winter is another story.

You would have a better chance getting a ride from Whitney Portal back to HSM (which is closed) than trying to get a ride from HSM to WP. I was on Langley in mid-november and saw zero ppl on the trail and I was the only car parked at the gate when I both arrived and left.

Awesome idea !

All:

I got spooked by your comments and did a leisurely out and back over MWMT. The conditions were (and still are) unbelievable. Frozen lakes and streams and virtually no snow/people. I wish I brought ice-skates.

Anton, if you have any pictures to post, send them my way. Send to the "contact us" link, bottom of the page.

Doing the loop to HM would be great, but I'm pretty sure you'd need to hire a shuttle to come up and pick you up.

Hi Steve,

I just sent a few photos from my email account.

Best,
Anton

Anton,

How far did you get on the MT? Summit? Sounds like there's not a lot of people up there right now. I'm thinking of going up to summit this coming Tuesday. I am assuming the pond at trail camp is frozen over as well as Mirror lake. I hate bringing water - weighs me down. I've summitted many times in the past in the month of October & November (even with 18 inches of snow on the trail) - looks like it'll be cold but not too bad. Overall conditions sound good right now.

Thanks for your posts. Looking forward to viewing your pics.

I'll be sure to shoot many pics while I am up there and post them.

Hey Fit

I was on the trail last Friday. Some running water near Out Post Camp where you switchback up to Mirror Lake. Everything above Mirror Lake is frozen. The trail is mostly dry with a few sections of ice and snow. No need for crampons/ice axe. Just added weight that will slow you down. Microspikes are useful but not necessarily needed on the switchbacks. No snow on the summit and very little snow on the backside 1.9 to the summit.

Fit:

MuffenMan's description is accurate. The trail is mostly snow-free and a few short snow-covered sections can be navigated by a competent person w/o tools. There is no running water above Mirror lake, so you will either have to carry a lot from the start or melt snow. I melted at the Trail camp and on the summit and finding "clean" snow at both locations took some effort. Meeting only 10 people over two days on the mountain was a big bonus.

Thanks, Anton. I posted them in the Current Conditions thread:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbth...nt-conditions-mt-whitney-trail#Post58268