Story:
Did this as a 4 day / 3 night back packing trip.
we did roughly 8 miles each day, I have broken the story down by day.
There are some good areas to camp on top of trail pass & at the top of the pass that has no name that you do near the end of the third day but no water at these spots
The places where we camped are marked by 3 way points
Day 1:
On July 26th when we did this hike there was NO water for about 7 miles from the trail head. I'm told there is normally water in bullfrog meadow but this was not the case when we were there (at least not trail side)
Our first water source was about a mile from where we camped.
There are better campsites then the one we used if you want to continue down the trail for about another mile (our campsite was still pretty good)
Day 2:
Good amount of water sources along this section of the loop.
When you get Little Whitney Meadow, you do NOT have to cross the creek to continue along the trail. we made camp a little ways south because there were already alot of ppl camping in this area but you do not have to walk the extra 5 minutes south that we did.
Day 3:
This part of the trail is the one spot on the entire loop where the trail becomes hard to follow. In fact it disappears, we walked across the meadow and jumped the creek until we got to "Cow Camp" which is a building or two and a few fences. There are two gates at "Cow Camp" that are separated by about 30 yards. use the second one that is further west and follow that trail.
When you get to salt lick meadow there should be a creek running and alot of great places to camp. In fact I think the best campsites were at salt lick meadow and I plan to stay there when i come back to this area.
We found a few creeks once we passed Salt Lick Meadow but they ran dry with about 1 mile from the top of the pass and than there was NO water until you reach our 3rd campsite. That means there is about a 4 mile stretch without water sources (at least not on July 27) so plan accordingly.
Day 4:
Trail is easy to follow.
There was plenty of spots to get water before you begin the accent of cottonwood pass, but there is only 1 creek that you cross on the decent and that was almost to the parking lot.
Did this as a 4 day / 3 night back packing trip.
we did roughly 8 miles each day, I have broken the story down by day.
There are some good areas to camp on top of trail pass & at the top of the pass that has no name that you do near the end of the third day but no water at these spots
The places where we camped are marked by 3 way points
Day 1:
On July 26th when we did this hike there was NO water for about 7 miles from the trail head. I'm told there is normally water in bullfrog meadow but this was not the case when we were there (at least not trail side)
Our first water source was about a mile from where we camped.
There are better campsites then the one we used if you want to continue down the trail for about another mile (our campsite was still pretty good)
Day 2:
Good amount of water sources along this section of the loop.
When you get Little Whitney Meadow, you do NOT have to cross the creek to continue along the trail. we made camp a little ways south because there were already alot of ppl camping in this area but you do not have to walk the extra 5 minutes south that we did.
Day 3:
This part of the trail is the one spot on the entire loop where the trail becomes hard to follow. In fact it disappears, we walked across the meadow and jumped the creek until we got to "Cow Camp" which is a building or two and a few fences. There are two gates at "Cow Camp" that are separated by about 30 yards. use the second one that is further west and follow that trail.
When you get to salt lick meadow there should be a creek running and alot of great places to camp. In fact I think the best campsites were at salt lick meadow and I plan to stay there when i come back to this area.
We found a few creeks once we passed Salt Lick Meadow but they ran dry with about 1 mile from the top of the pass and than there was NO water until you reach our 3rd campsite. That means there is about a 4 mile stretch without water sources (at least not on July 27) so plan accordingly.
Day 4:
Trail is easy to follow.
There was plenty of spots to get water before you begin the accent of cottonwood pass, but there is only 1 creek that you cross on the decent and that was almost to the parking lot.
Tips:
Don't trust the park rangers at the visitor's center in Lone pine: You are allowed to have a campfire pretty much anywhere on this route except for the few spots it takes you above 10,000 ft. The Rangers know that 4 out of 5 forest fires are started by irresponsible use of campfires so they say lie or tell half truths to discourage and dissuade you from having a campfire. Having a campfire is one of the best parts of backpacking just be safe!
I guess you can sorta trust the rangers for water sources but sometimes if they don't know they will just tell you something that isn't accurate so they don't look uninformed.
Take normal backcountry precautions.
Don't trust the park rangers at the visitor's center in Lone pine: You are allowed to have a campfire pretty much anywhere on this route except for the few spots it takes you above 10,000 ft. The Rangers know that 4 out of 5 forest fires are started by irresponsible use of campfires so they say lie or tell half truths to discourage and dissuade you from having a campfire. Having a campfire is one of the best parts of backpacking just be safe!
I guess you can sorta trust the rangers for water sources but sometimes if they don't know they will just tell you something that isn't accurate so they don't look uninformed.
Take normal backcountry precautions.
Tags:
Inyo NF, Golden Trout Wilderness, lone pine, inyo, inyo national forest
Inyo NF, Golden Trout Wilderness, lone pine, inyo, inyo national forest
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