I usually plan one brutal dayhike a year, and Mt. Cotter (12,713’) was that hike for 2017. It’s over 25 miles and about 10,000’ of total gain. I kept putting it off and doing easier peaks because of reports of poor conditions over Glen Pass. Well, conditions finally improved, and I went for it.
Monday, I drove to Onion Valley, stopping for Mexican food at Tacos Jalisco in Independence. I snagged the only open parking spot right near the trailhead and was in bed by 7:00 PM.
I woke up at 3:00 Tuesday morning. By the time I got dressed, ate breakfast, stashed my food in the bear box, visited the restroom, and picked up my pack, it was 3:52.
The hike over Kearsarge Pass, down to the JMT, and up to Glen Pass went smoothly. There were only a few patches of snow, and they were all easy to walk across or avoid. The north side of Glen Pass was a little uglier. There was more snow, and the paths around it were sometimes on loose rubble. Not a big deal, but not as easy as getting to Glen Pass in the first place.
PCT hikers (I must have met 50!) reported a knee-deep stream crossing, but I turned off and took the trail to Sixty Lake Basin before I got to it. I was able to hop across rocks at every stream crossing and never got my feet wet.
The trail to Sixty Lake Basin was a little sketchy in places, and I wasn’t sure what route to take up Cotter. As I was considering my options, I noticed that the fair weather that NOAA predicted was turning rather unfair. The biggest and darkest clouds were right over me. They threatened all day, with more and more clouds appearing.
I saw a stream on the east side of Cotter, and more-or-less followed it up as far as it went. After that, it was just a slog to the summit… until I discovered that the true summit was another hundred yards or so to the northwest of the “summit” I had just climbed. I hurried over and signed the register. It had taken just over nine hours. I hurried down, just in case the weather deteriorated. Fortunately, there was never any thunder, lightning, or rain.
The trip back was uneventful, with the climb back over Glen Pass taking a lot out of me. At Glen Pass, I took a caffeine pill and perked up. I felt like I made pretty good time, especially from the JMT to Kearsarge Pass, but I didn’t get to the car until 9:39 PM.
I knew I was too tired to drive all the way to Reno, so I really hurried to get to the showers at the truck stop in Big Pine. I made it by five minutes. I grabbed a bite in Bishop and then found a place to sleep in my car near Mammoth. It really felt good to close my eyes after this long day!
