EISPIRATEN

Sean and I camped out at Horseshoe Meadows on Saturday evening to bag Mt. Langley and started our journey at 4am on Sunday.


We hiked up to the junction of New Army Pass Split and continued on to the Cottonwood Lakes trail towards Army Pass and seen a couple of pretty lakes along the way.

The last lake before the Army pass is Cottonwood Lake #4


My favorite part was the pass and the cool rock formations of the shelf leading up to the ridge.


From the trail below you cannot see the faint use trail until you start to climb up this really cool pass!


Approaching the final stretch to the top of the pass.


A little snow patch


After climbing up there is a never ending, long stretch of flat trail on the way towards Mt. Langley, which is very refreshing until you start to ascend another steep climb up to the peak.



There are alot of HUGE cairins along the route but trust me you cannot get lost! There are several approaches to climbing up as the faint trail seems to disappear in a few spots however there are also a few small cairins to guide you along the way


Approaching the final stretch.


Whoooohooooo Finally bagged this baby!



awww the beautiful BM too bad it doesn't say Mt. Langley


Views from the Mt. Langley


I've read that Mt. Langley was the easy 14er, however. being my first 14er I would not agree. From the start of this trail, it had its ups and downs, but overall, it was a beautiful long day!

Congrats on tagging Langley. That's a long day, but the area is so exceptional that it's easy to ignore the fatigue. 8)

Were you with the US Hiking group ?? I was there and dayhiked it on Saturday...the weather was perfect....

Seems to have been a popular weekend to be up in that neck of the woods! I was up there with my wife this past weekend. We camped at the trailhead camp on Friday Night and camped on the north shore of Muir Lake Saturday Night..

I wasn't with US Hiking Group. I was with my BF. training for the big one. Langley was a training hike for me and yes the weather was perfect!
thanks

It was a beautiful weekend and yes a very popular spot! quite a few peeps hiking up to Langley. We did pass by Muir Lake very pretty.
thanks

psykokid wrote: ↑Seems to have been a popular weekend to be up in that neck of the woods! I was up there with my wife this past weekend. We camped at the trailhead camp on Friday Night and camped on the north shore of Muir Lake Saturday Night..

Do many people camp at Muir Lake? It seems like a more secluded area of the basin.

There were two other small groups camped at Muir Lake. One on the east side, one on the west side and we were camped on the north side.

Since google axed picasa it's hard to link google photos so here's a link to a pic I took from the ridge north of Muir Lake: https://goo.gl/photos/1nuAMKBbEonpM562A

If you look to the right of Muir lake there is small unnamed lake in the center of the frame that has a nice sand bench near it where you could set up camp and probably not see anyone since there's no real trails in that area pointing to lake. Also to the east of Muir Lake is Hidden Lake which receives even less foot traffic than Muir since it is off the beaten path and you have to hike off trail to get to it. Even though it's a popular area, it's easy to get away from the crowds and get some solitude.

Great trip up there, I was hoping to do that in two weeks over the same route.
And you picked the right weekend since the trails are closed right now due to fire.

Indeed.. Timing was perfect. Weather was great while we were up there too..

And as far as the easiest CA 14'er - I'd say that has to go to White Mountain Peak, especially if you go up on one of the open gate days. 11 miles round trip, with only 3K of elevation gain total since you start off at the Barcroft Research Station which is at around 12.5K.

Great job on Langley. The views in your photos are awesome. Even if the BM doesn't say Langley, it still says 14042, which is cooler anyway.

tekewin wrote: ↑Great job on Langley. The views in your photos are awesome. Even if the BM doesn't say Langley, it still says 14042, which is cooler anyway.

Thanks! It was an awesome climb and very cool!

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑Congrats on tagging Langley. That's a long day, but the area is so exceptional that it's easy to ignore the fatigue. 8)

Thanks! Yes it was a long day but well it. My favorite part was the Army pass