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Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead
#55470 06/19/19 02:28 PM
Joined: Jul 2018
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Does anyone know if this trailhead is open? If not, can you get as far as Schulman Grove? I tried to call the Forest Service, I'll spare you the story, lol. We want to see the trees, and would like to use White Mtn as an acclimatization tool for a one-day on Whitney. Thanks for any information, it's a long drive!

Re: Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead
Kascadia #55472 06/19/19 02:50 PM
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I called and got through on June 13. She said the road was passable at least to Sheep Mountain. That’s past the Patriarch Grove and way past Schulman Grove.

Re: Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead
Kascadia #55474 06/19/19 03:42 PM
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Here's the WMRS (White Mountain Research Station's) WMRC Barcroft user-controlled webcam. You can actually see marmots playing in the parking lot!
    http://162.252.89.115/viewer/live/index.html?lang=en
(To take control, click the blue dot, lower right corner. Then move the left/right/zoom buttons.

In that picture I can see lots of dry ground, some snow patches in the distance, and recent snow cat tracks in the mud/gravel.

Their WMRC Crooked Creek site webcam shows lots of vehicles parked and all dry ground. Elev~10,400'

So getting excited, I looked up the station's Bishop location phone number and talked with two people. Word is that the operations manager is currently "up there plowing snow!" And he's a long way from the Barcroft station. Lots of snow drifted and piled along Sheep Pass, 12,000', just west of the Patriarch Grove, and about 2 miles before the locked gate. Google Map link

Re: Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead
Steve C #55488 06/20/19 01:16 AM
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The USFS website has said for WEEKS that the road is opened as far as Schulman Grove. I suspected that this is something that has not been updated. So I actually talked to someone at the White Mountain Ranger District on Monday. According to that person, White Mountain Road is open ‘five miles’ beyond Schulman Grove. It is apparently not open to Patriarch Grove, let alone Barcroft Gate.

This would seem to contradict the information above, which suggests the road is open at least as far as the Crooked Creek cutoff, and possibly Patriarch Grove. But keep in mind that the person I spoke to may not have had up-to-date information. Not to mention that different people have different ideas as to what constitutes an estimate of ‘five miles’. So who knows.....

In any case, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that the road is open some distance beyond Schulman Grove, but NOT as far as Barcroft Gate. As long as you don’t have your heart set on getting to a specific destination beyond Schulman Grove (like Patriarch Grove), I would say go up there and let us know how far you got.

Also, if your goal is altitude acclimation, you will certainly be able to get to over 10000ft, and maybe even as high as 11000ft. If you can get as far as the high point between Schulman Grove and the cutoff to Crooked Creek, this will bring you to about 10800ft, which certainly isn't too shabby. You may even get far enough to be able to do a fairly easy hike up Sheep Mountain, which would get you above 12000ft.

Last edited by StorminMatt; 06/20/19 01:30 AM.
Re: Current Conditions White Mtn Trailhead
StorminMatt #55522 06/22/19 01:51 PM
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Thanks everyone for info! We'll just take what we can get. It would be good to get up to 12,000, and spending time at 10,000 is useful too. I was up to 10K just recently on Rainier (4640 ft gain in 4 miles to Camp Muir), so that's a good start. Thirty years ago I wouldn't be too concerned. That was when we went CTC on Shasta in 7 hours, lol. Those were the good young days. . . And we may stop there on the way down. Just decided at this late date I needed to do Whitney. Would prefer the MR, but I don't trust myself at altitude anymore, particularly having to come at it from sea level. The internal altimeter adjustment doesn't just click through like it once did. We do know how to slog, though.

Last edited by Kascadia; 06/22/19 01:52 PM.

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