EISPIRATEN

I was lucky enough to snag permits to day hike Mt. Whitney on July 7th! I'm in the process of planning my training hikes leading up to the big day and wanted to get your suggestions for getting the most bang for my buck in the mountains of So Cal, so to speak.

I have kids every other weekend, so I can fit in six long hikes before Whitney where I have no obligations of being home at a certain time. We are planning to drive up to do White Mountain as one of those hikes in late May or June.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Stone Cyn Trail *2
this is roughly the same elevation gain and distance

skyline trail to round valley

iron mtn

san gorgonio via Vivian. crk trail

Mt San Gorgonio, Vivian Creek Trail. Mt San Jacinto.

Some good reads...

http://www.modernhiker.com/2012/04/25/m ... ing-hikes/

http://socalhiker.net/2010/04/training- ... uir-trail/

My list from a couple years ago:

Timber Mountain
Baden-Powell from Vincent Gap
Santiago Peak (lots of mileage so you get used to being on your feet all day)
Ontario Peak
Cucamonga Peak
Baldy from Village

What kind of shape are you starting with? Last year I dayhiked Whitney fairly easily without doing many long hikes before. But I was doing the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park loop every week and walked that pretty quickly.

Thank you for all of the suggestions.

JeffH wrote: ↑
What kind of shape are you starting with? Last year I dayhiked Whitney fairly easily without doing many long hikes before. But I was doing the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park loop every week and walked that pretty quickly.

I'm in decent shape and trying to burn off the holiday padding. I work out 5-6 days a week at lunch...either the elliptical or step mill at the gym or the stairwell in the 12 story building that I work in.

I hike in El Moro Canyon (Crystal Cove State Park) 6-7 miles at least once a week and do Silverado Motorway to Bedford Peak (2000' of gain in the 3 miles to the top) occasionally as well. I did Baldy (cheater route via the ski lift...don't judge, I had 5 kids in tow!!) in October, Santiago Peak in November and Baldy from Manker Flats in November. I wish that I had some better options here in Orange County for short/steep hikes for the weekends I'm short on time. I plan to do Motorway on the weekends I can't get long hikes in. I'm envious of all of you that live closer to the SG's.

ALAWH wrote: ↑ I'm in decent shape and trying to burn off the holiday padding. I work out 5-6 days a week at lunch...either the elliptical or step mill at the gym or the stairwell in the 12 story building that I work in.

Stairclimber and walking on treadmill at steep inclines (15% or up if it goes higher) are the best indoor workouts that use very similar muscles as hiking and can be an excellent base for your fitness needs.

The key about being ready for Mt. Whitney is proper acclimatization and getting used to putting in a good amount of miles and decent elevation gain. It is important to learn how to pace yourself at altitude - even if your conditioning tells you you could go faster, a steady not too fast rate will best prevent you from getting severe AMS.

Mt Whitney is like 24 miles, 6600 ft gain. The best final prep hike should be something that gets probably 2/3 the miles and gain, at a high altitude. The most obvious one is San Gorgonio from Vivian Creek (~18 miles, 5600 ft) where the peak is at ~11,500 ft, the highest in SoCal. Or you could create a longish hike up San Jacinto (~10,800 ft) from the west side.

I think the most important thing is to at least spend the day prior to your hike (if attempting to dayhike) at a high altitude. You could drive up further north and climb White Mountain, or drive up to Horseshoe Meadows (at 10,000 ft and very close to Whitney Portal) and do some light hiking at high altitude there.

Zé wrote: ↑
I think the most important thing is to at least spend the day prior to your hike (if attempting to dayhike) at a high altitude. You could drive up further north and climb White Mountain, or drive up to Horseshoe Meadows (at 10,000 ft and very close to Whitney Portal) and do some light hiking at high altitude there.

Thanks for all of the tips! Out of all of the dates that I put in for (every Sun/Mon/Wed/Thurs in July and August) I probably got the best case scenario that I could have imagined. We can leave Orange County on Wednesday July 3rd and we are hiking on Sunday the 7th. I'm not sure how our luck will pan out with finding places to stay on the holiday weekend, but that's my next task to plan out. I'm hoping to sleep as high as possible every night prior to Sunday and get some day hikes in Thursday through Saturday.

ALAWH wrote: ↑

Zé wrote: ↑
I think the most important thing is to at least spend the day prior to your hike (if attempting to dayhike) at a high altitude. You could drive up further north and climb White Mountain, or drive up to Horseshoe Meadows (at 10,000 ft and very close to Whitney Portal) and do some light hiking at high altitude there.

Thanks for all of the tips! Out of all of the dates that I put in for (every Sun/Mon/Wed/Thurs in July and August) I probably got the best case scenario that I could have imagined. We can leave Orange County on Wednesday July 3rd and we are hiking on Sunday the 7th. I'm not sure how our luck will pan out with finding places to stay on the holiday weekend, but that's my next task to plan out. I'm hoping to sleep as high as possible every night prior to Sunday and get some day hikes in Thursday through Saturday.

In the backside of Robinson Ranch is Bell Ridge, it sits directly above Trabuco Canyon, it's got easy access for you since you are in that area already (Plano Trabuco Road go east on Robinson Ranch Road, turn left on Rain Tree Lane go down one block to Mayfair Drive turn right immediately in front of you is a bend in the road and on the far side of that bend is a concrete water drainage control ditch, walk up that embankment and on the top left of that is the start of Bell Ridge).

That trail will take you up fast and cover up to 3,800 to 4,100 feet of elevation gain over 7+ miles to Los Pinos Peak if you go all the way.

It's one hell of a great training hike because it's got 12 peaklet's that you have to go up and down both ways, it's close so you can get there more often. See details in map link below.

ACME Mapper Found Here

You can also take the kids and dog on weekends you have them to the first peaklet that has a flag on the top and it has great views of Robinson Ranch/Rancho Santa Margarita and Trabuco Canyon

Bear Flat (Baldy Village Hike to summit) and Vivian Creek to Summit are also very good practice hikes. Iron in the heat is extremely hot as it faces south so be careful not to pick a hot day.

Langley is a great practice hike as well and you can use Horseshoe Meadows to acclimate a day or two before your hike of Whitney - you use the same road out of Lone Pine to get there, but you head south on Horseshoe Meadows road (it's 13 miles on that road and the camping area is at just over 10,000 feet - that's a great place to take the kids for some overnight car camping (spots are right next to the parking lot) so you can get some altitude and still be with the kids.

Enjoy all your fun, good luck, see you on the trail sometime.

Lilbitmo

What Ze said about the pace..... Got to do that or you will definitely bonk. I remind myself of that for the entire first few miles of the hike, by the time I get to Trail Camp the altitude is forcing me to walk slower anyway.

My acclimation is usually an afternoon hanging out at Horseshoe Meadows, sitting in the back of the truck reading a book for a few hours. The next day I might go up to Onion Valley and walk to Little Pothole lake or something like that, I don't want to get my legs tired. Either way I spend quite a few hours over 10K feet - that plus walking slowly works for me. YMMV of course.

I thought the adage was climb high, sleep low. You will definitely need your rest. I'm cheap so I just drive out to the Alabama Hills and camp each night. Of course the Hostel is nice after the hike, a shower really feels great.

ALAWH wrote: ↑I was lucky enough to snag permits to day hike Mt. Whitney on July 7th! I'm in the process of planning my training hikes leading up to the big day and wanted to get your suggestions for getting the most bang for my buck in the mountains of So Cal, so to speak.

I have kids every other weekend, so I can fit in six long hikes before Whitney where I have no obligations of being home at a certain time. We are planning to drive up to do White Mountain as one of those hikes in late May or June.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

The other guys are 100% correct re: Horseshoe Meadows (near Whitney).

Last year, I did

On day 1, Mulkey Pass to Trail peak to Cottonwood Pass and back.
On day 2, Cottonwood Pass to Cirque Peak and back.

I lunched at the top on both days and napped when I got back down to my car.

The ascent the 3rd day was easy. Yes, your pace must be slow and steady. It's not a race.

BTW, watch for after/noon thunderstorms.

Good luck!

Thank you for all of the tips. I was able to get out and hike Baldy via the ski hut on Saturday. This was my first time up this trail, the other couple of times I've come down this way. What a humbling hike, I have a lot of work to do before July! I have to admit, I was a little off of my game...we were supposed to start at 6:30 and ended up starting closer to 8:30 because of a dog rescue attempt (running around on the road on the way up to Manker) and a lost adventure pass that I searched a good 20 minutes (must have fallen out during Operation Save the Pit Bull Puppy...lol) before writing an amazing plea to the rangers for no ticket and a promise to replace my yearly pass this week...lol. Hoping my other training hikes start a little more smoothly.

We decided to head up four nights before our Whitney day hike and stay in Mammoth for three nights. Planning to get some day hiking in up in that area (Lake Ediza looks amazing) and then head down to Lone Pine on Saturday to pick up our permits. Still undecided on where to stay Saturday night, but I will figure it out.

Can't wait for my next training hike!