With all the red tape involved in obtaining overnight wilderness permits and the restrictions on campgrounds and hotels, I'm setting out to prove that you can have a great adventure without having to deal with all that. To up the challenge, I'm going to take the "day hike" term to an entirely different level by attempting to do the whole thing (both the drive and the hike) in one day, during daylight hours only.
The goal is to see the sunrise and sunset at the beach while spending the middle of the day at the top of a 14er. (I suppose the motto would be "surf at sunrise, summit at midday, surf at sunset", but I can barely surf). Obviously, the more difficult ones like the Palisades or even the "easier" ones like Split Mountain wouldn't be good candidates, so that pretty much leaves White Mountain and Langley. The closest beach to those mountains is Santa Monica, so I'm going to make that as my starting point.
It seems like every minute would count. Doing this earlier in the year around the solstice would maximize daylight hours, but doing it later in the year would mean better and faster trail conditions. In a lighter snow year like this year, I think the sweet spot would be in early July. Acclimation would be done by going on some easier hikes above 10,000' the week before, but I don't know whether that's enough if you're not sleeping at altitude. Hopefully, I'd be off the mountain before the AMS hits.
As far as the driving goes, the idea would be to minimize traffic and drive as fast as possible without risking a ticket or putting other drivers in danger. Doing the drive on Sunday and setting the cruise control to 75 would probably do the trick. My car can make it up to the Langley TH and back on one tank of gas, but doing White Mountain would require a short gas stop. Another concern with White Mountain would be the condition of that dirt road going to the locked gate - I drove a 4WD Ford Explorer from Patriarch Grove to Schulman Grove in half an hour last year, but driving that fast in almost any other year would pretty much have guaranteed shredded tires and possibly a tow-away.
Anyway, here's my draft plan for Langley on July 5:
5:48 AM - Sunrise, dip toes in ocean
5:50 AM - Santa Monica parking lot
8:50 AM - Lubken Canyon Road / Hwy 395 junction (205 miles from Santa Monica)
9:20 AM - Horseshoe meadows trailhead (20 miles from the 395)
1:30 PM - Summit Langley, most likely via New Army Pass - I'd rather deal with more miles than deal with the snow.
4:35 PM - Back to TH (7 hour hike/run time, plus 15 minutes for breaks)
5:05 PM - Lubken Canyon Road / 395 junction
8:05 PM - Back at Santa Monica parking lot
8:07 PM - Sunset, dip toes in ocean. Mission accomplished!
Alternate plan for White Mountain on July 5:
5:48 AM - Sunrise, dip toes in ocean
5:50 AM - Santa Monica parking lot
10:20 AM - Schulman Grove (275 miles from Santa Monica)
11:10 AM - Locked gate
1:20 PM - Summit White Mountain
2:50 PM - Back to locked gate (3.5 hour hike/run time, plus 10 minutes for breaks)
3:35 PM - Back to Schulman Grove
8:05 PM - Back at Santa Monica parking lot
8:07 PM - Sunset, dip toes in ocean. Mission accomplished!
Do either of those schedules even seem remotely realistic, and does anyone know whether something like this has ever been done or been attempted before? The FKT for the Whitney Main Trail is around 3.5 hours, so it seems doable on paper by a fit but non-elite athlete. As a reference, I've run 1500 meters (0.932 miles) in 4:45 earlier this year, and the winning time for that distance was 3:50 in the 2016 Olympics.
