Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Upper Crabtree Lake to Portal in one day?

I'm in a planning stages for June. Since I didn't apply for the lottery, I was thinking about starting at Horseshoe meadow and approach from Upper Crabtree Lake via Discovery pinnacle. due to time constraint, I am wondering if it is reasonable to do that section in one day. Or should I take a chance and try to get a walk in permit?

day 1 Horseshoe meadow to high lake
day 2 high lake to Blue sky lake
day 3 blue sky lake to Upper Crabtree Lake
day 4 UCL to whitney and portal

thanks for any input.

It's all about knowing your own abilities really. You could just as easily go down to the trail and go up from Guitar Lake if your able to move fast enough and do the miles.

I once left Wallace Creek and went over Trail Crest and out in a day. I remember hurting allot! But then again I have never been a major hiker in terms of tons of miles in a single day.

So true on your abilities......

In 2012, I hiked from Lower Crabtree to Horseshoe Meadows to beat a snow storm. I left Lower Crabtree at 9am and was at my car at 7pm (middle of October) in blowing snow.

One year, hiking with BobR, Richard Piotrowski met us at the Tarns above Guitar. He left Horseshow at 7am and pulled into our camp at 7pm the same day. Extraordinary effort I would say.

So, it depends, on abilities and conditioning.

paul

thanks for the reply. I am not a fast hiker nor am I in excellent shape but hopefully have some training in. I've done Chicken Spring Lake last year and it wasn't bad but wasn't easy as 20 years ago. I will have 4 days for this trip in early June so I have decided to take a chance on walk-in permit and continue to check online reservation. Looking at the Unused Permit stat, it looks favorable.
I am still planning to hike to Upper Crabtree Lake and day hike to Sky blue lake.

day 1 portal to trail camp
day 2 trail camp to whitney and to Upper Crabtree Lake via Discovery pinnacle
day 3 rest ( day hike to sky blue lake )
day 4 UCL to portal via Discovery pinnacle

sorry for the confusion

gvblack: I am kind of confused about your plans. Your first post says "Upper Crabtree Lake via Discovery pinnacle", but the 4 days don't show that. Were you planning on going over Crabtree Pass from Sky Blue Lk? I have seen people report trips where they have done that. I have also seen where they have climbed to Discovery Pinnacle, but the slope is loose decomposed granite, so difficult.

In your post immediately above, it sounds like you would try for a walk-in overnight permit, and if you get one, hike to Trail Crest, then summit and down to Crabtree Lakes via the Discovery Pinnacle, heading due south.

If that is what you are thinking, it looks like quite a fun adventure. I hope it works out!

Just make sure you are acclimated, since camping and backpacking that high can really bring on the AMS.

Here's the Gmap4 link to a map of the area: http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=36.553593,-118.292261&z=14&t=t4

Having done variations of this hike (the #1st post) many times, I will add my 2 cents for what it's worth:

1. Exiting Whitney is easier than entering Whitney. I have never been turned down for a walk-in exit permit. No need to wait around, etc - just file your entry and they assign you the exit. Worst case scenario, you exit via Portal anyway - I've known groups that have done that due to physical issues, etc even though they had a different exit point on their permits.

2. Pay the $100 or less to shuttle your car between Portal and your start point eg Cottonwood, Horseshoe, Shepherd, Onion, etc. Trying to get a Whitney entry permit and then returning to Portal is (a) a hassle; and (b) a poor use of time backtracking rather than hiking thru.

3. Once you have your entry point figured out, try and balance your daily miles, while reserving the last 15-16 miles for the last day from Guitar-Whitney-Portal.

Going from upper Crabtree lake to Portal in one day unnecessarily backloads a lot of miles, while making the earlier days pretty short. Here are a couple of examples:

Cottonwood
D1 SBL 11.3 miles
D2 Guitar 9.5 miles
D3 Portal 15.5 miles

NAP
D1 High Lake 6 miles
D2 SBL via Mt Langley 8.4 miles (trying to drop down directly to SBL is above my pay grade - I simply backtracked to upper Soldier and then up Miter)
D3 Guitar 9.5 miles
D4 Portal 15.5 miles

If these look like the daily miles are too great, then attempting 23-24 miles the last day from upper Crabtree to Whitney & Portal sounds like a suicide mission.

Unless you're thinking of going over Discovery, which is also, in many people's minds, just another kind of suicide mission. Figure out a way to get another day, and take the long way around. If you're in a hurry, then consider the Cottonwood to SBL approach outlined above.

Is that the year of he hiked the JMT as 30-40 mile section/day hikes?

I had just finished hiking from Vidette over Forester and down to my car @ Shepherd (around 19-20 miles). I decided to grab a burger @ the WPS and he was in the kitchen talking to Doug.

I said high and remarked on his most recent foray, which was Shepherd to Onion in one day! Freakin' legend. LOL

It's been a while.....maybe 2005. Richard is something else when he gets his rhythm going.

Paul

Okay, let me put it this way.
I have 4 days to do a trip and I want to hike to Upper Crabtree Lake. What route is the easiest? I thought starting at whitney portal and back but cross country via discovery pinnacle worries me. hence the question.
I am an average hiker and have hiked into new army pass and cotton wood pass in the past. I've been reading Mount Whitney by Paul Richins and have been debating New army pass route, Meysan Lake route, Cottonwood pass route, and mt whitney route.

The easiest route is the standard Cottonwood-Rock Creek-Guitar-Whitney-Portal via the PCT/JMT:

D1 Rock Creek 12.7 miles
D2 Guitar 9.7
D3 Whitney/Portal 15.5 miles

However, this route obviously doesn't take you by UCL. To do that, you need to go x-c over Crabtree or Discovery. Crabtree has become so popular I wouldn't even really consider x-c anymore, whereas Discovery periodically has some takers who seem to regret their decision.

So, to amend the easiest route outlined above, rather than head down to Rock Creek @ the split junction .7 miles after you enter Sequoia, just proceed straight to Soldier lake, which is 1.7 miles further down the line (for a total of 9.1 miles from Cottonwood pass).

From there, it's easy x-c; in fact, so many people do it, you'll think you're on a trail. SBL is another 2.2 miles, or 11.3 for the day.

The next day, Crabtree pass is approx 1.6 miles and UCL another 2.4. Avg 2 mph, you should be able to get there in 2-2.5 hrs. Hang around a bit, then head down the trail to the meadows, ranger station and up to Guitar, which is around 5.5 miles away, or 9.5 for the day.

If the daily mileage seems to great, simply break the days up into smaller units. For instance, if it takes you most the day to get to LP & shuttle your car, then you could get a late start to Chickenspring. That would make the next day to SBL that much shorter.

The next day, you could head to UCL, hang there for most of the day, then simply mosey down the trail to the meadows for the night. The next up to Guitar would be very short, but would allow you to rest up for the final day hitting the peak and out.

Hobbes,
thank you for the suggestion. You're suggestion gave me an idea, if I can secure an entry to Whitney, I thought about trail crest to UCL via Discovery and then out through guitar lake.

day 1 Trail camp
day 2 UCL via discovery ( option to summit whitney here or day 4 )
day 3 guitar lake
day 4 out

if this doesn't work out, I'd shuttle and do cottonwood pass route.