I've been waiting for months to hike White Mountain! But stuff kept getting in the way...so finally we piggy backed the beach vaca to the hike the peak. My hubby and I drove up to Big Pine on Saturday after spending a week off in north San Diego county. Knowing we should acclimate from 7 days at sea level, we headed up to Glacier Lodge. Took the south fork Big Pine Creek trail to Willow Lake; a bit smokey but tolerable. Sunday morning we drove out of Big Pine at 0445 and watched the sunrise from that tumbly dirt road past Ancient Bristlecones. Saw a few deer along the way Arrived at the open gate trailhead to a 38 degree good morning wake up! It was cold, blustery and quite smokey from the Rough fire so we bundled up four layers. For a desert gal, that's three more than my norm. Was glad I purchased some mittens last week at REI. The 5.5 mile trek to the summit is along a road, sometimes rockier than others. I became a bit sluggish at about 13,000 ft where I broke out my trekking poles. It is a beautifully desolate and peaceful wilderness to enjoy with just a few hikers before us. Sunny at the top, but windy about 45 temp. The views were obscured by the smoke and the register notebooks we full so we didn't record our victory. Note to self: purchase a small tablet to take on next hike for contribution. The round trip was seven hours including stops. On the descent, it was amazing to see the throngs of folks taking advantage of the 4 miles skimmed off due to the Barcroft gate open. Like an ant hill; mini Whitney-esque! This morning on the drive home the entire Owens Valley was masked with haze, I hope for rain in our beloved forests.

Glad you were able to make it up there, Gina. It's a nice hike. Sometimes you see lots of marmots up there, probably more than I've ever seen over in the Sierra.

I was fortunate to learn of the open gate the day we went up Telescope, Kevin. We didn't see any marmots, just their poop, lol.

Congrats on making it up there! I went up with a friend the last open gate day at the end of July. Weather was great, you could see the smoke from the start of a few of the fires then. We saw lots of marmots when we were up there. Even saw a lone coyote hunting for marmots right at the point where you go down the hill and lose a little elevation before you start up the switchbacks in earnest.

Thanks! We saw marmot poop and lots of it.

Our next adventure takes us to the low desert. Thinking San Jacinto perhaps since its kinda in the area of Indio.