Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion River/stream crossings

Hi there! I have a permit to hike Mt. Whitney in mid-September. I've been carefully tracking the snow conditions, and if the snow hasn't melted out by my date, I'll be releasing my permit. But I have another concern, which is stream/river crossings. My understanding is that river crossings are always part of the hike (even in normal weather years), but that they're more treacherous right now because rivers are running high and fast due to all this snowmelt. Do I have that right? In normal weather years, is there a certain time of year (e.g., early August) when the rivers tend to be more manageable? I'd appreciate anyone's insight into this issue.

I was up there in early July and the river crossing were very manageable. For one creek on the way up I took my boots off to cross because I didn't want to get them wet, but the rest of the time they were crossable with boots on.

We are getting into later summer and thunderstorms can cause rivers to rise quite a bit, but usually for only a few hours. I have heard stories of people getting stuck on the way down because they couldn't cross streams that were easy to cross on the way up.

I can only speak in generalities. I've summitted 11 times and been on hikes/attempts in the WZ close to 20.

You usually cross (1) Carillon Creek in the first mile, (2) the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek at 1.5 miles, (3) the South Fork at around 2 miles, (4) the S. Fork again at Outpost Camp, and (5) the outlet of Mirror Lake. 1 & 2 can be sketch in high water years...yet in September you can usually cross on rocks. 3 is the widest spot but there are a series of logs to make a dry crossing. 4 is wider and shallow but there have been boulders to step across. 5 is not usually as clear but the crossing is pretty narrow in most years.