Backpacking White Mountains CA / Nevada

[James Casey]

Been looking at the White Mountains for a 4 night 5 day backpacking trip in late spring. It's high altitude, remote and from everything I've seen more than worth the effort. The rough plan is generally identified: Start near the White Mountain Research Station's Crooked Creek facility and make our way to the Northern part of the Cottonwood Basin where we would set up camp and acclimatize. Moving on we would then head to White Mountain Peak via Mcafee Meadow. Once at WM peak the plan is to hike and camp along the Pellisier Flats heading north exiting down from the Jump Off. My self inflicted problem is details; they're hard to find. Do any community members have experience in this area? 37° 37' 42.9204" N, 118° 13' 35.8464" W Thanks, Jim

[Jake J]

I was up in that neck of the woods car camping with some friends from the rover club down in the Cottonwood Basin the last weekend of July this year. We were summiting White Mtn Peak the next day. Great scenery. We came down into the Cottonwood Basin via the high clearance 4×4 track that goes down from the main road and passes the Eva Belle mine. The road didn't look that steep on the topo maps beforehand, but let me tell you the shelf road definitely had a bit of pucker factor going down. the little S bend in the middle of the photo is where we camped. 37.5517, -118.1819 What route are you planning on taking up to the cottonwood basin from the crooked creek station?

[Rex Sanders]

Used to car camp and day hike up in the Whites 20+ years ago. Biggest problem for backpacking was water – there was virtually none, including the car campgrounds. Depending on your route and timing, melted snow or caching might be options. Would not want to carry 4 nights of water, and the air is extra dry up there. Let us know if you find a good solution, it's beautiful and empty in the Whites. — Rex Did I tell you about the time I heard mysterious, muffled voices from the sky on my way to the peak? Thought I was going crazy. Glider pilot with a loud radio!

[Bruce Tolley]

Late spring means Spring 2016, yes?

This would be an awesome trip!  A few years ago my family summited both White Mountain and Wheeler Peak and I did some research on backpacking in the Whites. My main takeaways were 1) watch out for thunder/lightening on the ridges, and plan carefully with map and compass on sources of water.

There is a Sierra Club book, Hiking the Great Basin with a chapter on the whites including one or two backpacking suggestions.

There is also a book more focused on peak summiting: http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Summits-Climbing-California-Southern/dp/1893343022/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453240007&sr=1-2&keywords=Desert+Summits+book

The rangers at the USFS office in Bishop are always a great help.  I think I also found some trip reports on various climbing sites (Summit.org.  Note that there are some restoration zones where you are not allowed to camp and all the NS FS car camping campgrounds in the White Mountains do not have potable water or any water for that matter. Some of the trailheads on the Eastern side of the Whites do have streams where water is available. The TH near Wheeler Peak is very heavily used by folks are not too careful to bury human waste to take water purification for viruses. Most of the roads on the Nevada side are dirt and you need to read the maps very carefully to stay on the right road. Once again, this would be an awesome trip. Call the rangers in Bishop. Also,try posting questions on the Whitney Portal Store web site.

[Michael Ray]

It’s an easy hike up White Mtn Peak (my only 14er so far) from the Barcroft research station, but I’d expect significant snow in late spring even if it’s another low snow year out there. There were still some small snowfields when I was there July 1, 2013. That would help with the lack of water though. I’d only planned to summit after visiting the bristlecones, but my quick research on the area revealed people that are out a few days along that range tend to cache. I suppose you should also be aware of bobcats (saw one) and maybe even mountain lions.

[Author]

Posts