Fellas! I'm going to the Sierra region early July mainly to hike Mt. Whitney, but will also be doing a "warm-up" hike a few days prior at White Mountain. Now, this is my first hiking/camping trip in the region so any help at all is appreciated. We will be doing the Three SoCal Giants the prior few weeks as well. Here's a rough sketch of the itinerary along with some quick questions.
Day One:
Drive from Southern California to Bishop, CA (where a stop at the beef jerky store is a must) followed by a quick lunch while chugging water. From here, we'll be taking a slow drive through the Schulman Grove center to take pictures and whatnot, and slowly acclimate. Here is where my first question comes. We want to leave early dawn for the hike, and we were thinking about camping at the Barcroft gate to avoid driving the rough road in the dark, but part of me thinks we should camp at Schulman Grove if possible because of the 2000 foot less altitude. Anybody do something similar, and what worked? Also, I don't think getting camping permits at the Schulman Grove is a big challenge, right?
Day Two:
Waking up early, taking slow pace up to the top of White Mountain. Drive back down to Bishop to stay in Motel. Any recommendations?
Day Three:
From Bishop, drive down to Lone Pine to pick up permits. Thinking about hiking the Main Trail for a bit until the Permit zone to familiarize myself with the terrain I'll be hiking in the dark. I was also thinking, should we include an extra day between White Mountain and Whitney? I don't think an extra night at the Portal would hurt. Plus, the extra rest and not having to rush could make it worth it. Any ideas?
Day Four:
Whitney Day Hike. Staying in some sort of lodging in Lone Pine. Recommendations?
Thank you all! Extremely informative and fun forum here, great combination! Look forward to talking with you from here onward as well.
-Socks
