Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mt. Charleston

Just did my first hike up Whitney on Tuesday - 8 hours to the summit (maybe 45-60 minutes slower than I had figured, but I didn't really care about my time once I was at the top). Saw a pretty massive rockslide on the way up, and spoke to some people on the way down who had to take cover when it looked like it was coming right for them. Had to be a little scary!

I have a chance to climb Mt. Charleston next weekend around a Vegas trip, but am about 50-50 to do it. For one thing, the South Loop is closed from last year's fire so it would be the longer north loop up and back (alas, the South Loop would allow for a shorter hike to Griffith Peak, if plans changed and we didn't feel like an all day hike). For another, I'm still recovering a bit from Whitney - physically and mentally. Whitney was the big goal this summer, so doing another mega day hike so soon isn't stirring my excitement up yet, but we'll see how I feel later in the week (Charleston doesn't require permits).

Anyway, just seeing if anyone has done the Charleston climb and how they would compare it to Whitney - it's only roughly 8200 to 11500 trailhead to summit, but it seems like more up and down and up and down instead of a steady climb, so there's surely a lot more than just 3000 feet of climbing. And if anyone has done it this summer with only the north loop open, was there still a fair amount of traffic or was the trail mostly empty.

Thanks!

I've done both Whitney and Charleston, and can say Charleston is definitely easier but, nonetheless, still to be respected. But although the hike will tire you, you have the advantage of being in the best of shape right now since you recently did Whitney. The time since doing it and arriving at Charleston will be enough to ensure no disadvantage from doing Whitney -- i.e., any physical soreness from Whitney should have dissipated.

You are correct in that the South Loop Trail is still closed. I had done my Charleston hike using that first and then returning on the North Loop Trail. Either that route, or vice versa, is preferable because variety is the spice of life. On the other hand, the disadvantage of that is a 1 1/4 mile walk to get back to the other trailhead where your car is parked.

So you'll avoid that end of hike effort. Also, bear in mind (you may already know) that the "North Loop Trail" is, technically, a route 2 miles longer than the shortest way to climb Mt. Charleston using that northern route. The trailhead for the North Loop Trail is at a completely different location than what you want -- you want the "Trail Canyon Trail" trailhead. That's the trailhead 1 1/4 miles away from the South Loop trailhead. (The Trail Canyon Trail goes 2 miles and HOOKS UP with the "North Loop Trail". You hang a left there.)

The South Loop Trail is NOT shorter (perhaps you WERE thinking of the longer distance involved for the complete North Loop Trail) given the above. Its basically the same distance (although, technically, the South Loop Trail is actually slightly longer). Doing the hike either as a loop using both trails OR only one of them is about 18 miles round trip, compared to Whitney's 22.

Also, not sure where you got your elevation facts. The summit is at 11,900 plus (15 or 18) feet, NOT 11,500. The South Loop Trailhead is at roughly 7,700 feet, likewise the Trail Canyon trailhead. Either way you've got about 4,200 feet in elevation gain, not the 3,300 using the elevation figures you had (compared to Whitney's 6,100 feet of elevation gain).

Also again, not sure where you got the idea of the northern approach being "more up and down and up and down instead of a steady climb" -- not that way at all. Sure, a little bit of it, just like any climb, but basically it's a steady climb. (Or, in my case, it was a steady descent.)

The one important thing about using the northern approach up is that the last mile is ESPECIALLY steep, with a bunch of switchbacks at the base of the face.

I did Whitney in 8 hours and 45 minutes up and 4 hours and 29 minutes down. Charleston was about 6 hours up and 3 hours and 45 minutes down.

Hope the info dump I've given you helps you in making a correct decision for you vis a vis climbing Charleston or not!

Thanks! Was going off of memory on my preliminary research, so my numbers must have been a little off, and I may have confused data from the different trailheads. I'm relatively sure we would have had that sorted before heading out (tend to pay greater attention to detail the closer the hike comes), but it's good to know there are stumbling blocks. I thought I saw a trail route with various elevations of different junctions that went down almost 1000 feet or so at one point and then went back up, but I could be wrong. My quick math/memory wasn't good on the other numbers either!

Appreciate the help - leaning towards doing it. That would at least be one day where I could avoid the 105 degree weather in Vegas.

Edit: on quick further research, a lot of the confusion comes from the two different trailheads. Most sites use the full North Loop (10.3 Miles one way) which starts at 8400 and goes down and back up. The shorter route you mentioned using Trail Canyon is a steady climb that starts lower around 7700 but is a couple miles shorter and eliminates the up and down. That would definitely be the more preferable route. This site cleared it up for me:

http://www.summitpost.org/north-loop-trail-canyon/156418

The trailhead for Trail Canyon is on Echo Road; a very nice hike. Good luck.