Summiting Mt Whitney is one of my all-time favorite treks into the eastern Sierra wilderness. It’s difficult, it’s rewarding and sometimes it requires you to poo in a wagbag and carry out your waste. Summiting this gorgeous fourteen-hundred-foot mountain is not every hiker’s cup of tea (Or pouch of GU
if you are speaking long-distance hiker lingo). Summiting the tallest mountain in the lower forty-eight states is now
here near easy and every year we do it there are adventures to be had on the Mt Whitney Trail. Who will get altitude sickness this year? Who will get bitten while trying to take a selfie with a marmot? Who will need more than one wagbag?
If you are like us and planning to hike twenty-three miles in one day just to stand atop what feels like the top of the world to take a selfie and then run down the skee scattered trail ahead of an eastern Sierra afternoon thunderstorm, you better prep with some awesome training hikes in the weeks before your ascent. So, where did I prep for my Mt Whitney adventure in 2019?
My Whitney 2919; Let’s do it!
I started training in March, four months before our summit of Mt Whitney. This was an insanely snowy winter in Southern California, which had its ups and downs. The ups had to be the Super Bloom that came with the insane amount of rainfall. The downs had to be the fact that some of my favorite snowy mountain peaks were just inaccessible until May, as the snow above eight thousand feet was intense.
And that’s how I found myself ascending Mt Baldy on a March morning before work. This was weeks after our adventure at the Super Bloom in Lake Elsinore, which was more than a stroll up a gorgeous orange landscape with five hundred other people with big ass cameras, than an actual hike. So by March, I was good and ready for a real mountain hike. Mt Baldy did not disappoint whatsoever. The Saturday I chose to hike Mt Baldy just happened to be an epic day with trail conditions to hike straight up the Baldy Bowl. It was unbelievably gorgeous and super hard, hiking straight up a mountain in the snow. Thank God for cat trax.
Mt Whitney Training for People Who Thought They Were Already in Shape
Sometimes training for Mt Whitney in the winter months means high desert bones now hike, like the day my girl’s hiking group explored the Deep Creek Hot Springs. Here was yet another ass-busting hike (Are you sensing a trend here?) After leaving the steaming hot springs to head back to your car, that first mile has a thousand-foot altitude gain and it had us sweating even in February. My Whitney training started early!
I love to climb San Gorgonio, the highest peak in southern California in the winter and it’s a great training hike. The majestic white and snowy peaks of Galena Peak in the distance are just gorgeous in March, when I really start to buckle down with my hikes and start day hiking twelve miles or more. Trekking up a snowy mountain with my favorite pup at my side means carrying more equipment, sometimes snowshoes, sometimes just cat trax, which are like chains for your snow boots. Hiking in the snow also means hiking in clumpy, heavy snow boots as opposed to running shoes; it’s a pain in the butt but a good workout. Hiking in the snow is just altogether harder but the snowy views of San Jacinto in the far distance over Palm Desert are worth it.
On this March ascent up San Gorgonio, or Old Greyback as us locals call it, we could see high clouds over the Los Angeles basin and we could even see the high rises of Los Angeles and Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean in the distance! That is why I adore winter hiking!
As much as I love hiking in the snow, it’s a pain in the butt and as our Mt Whitney attempt was nearing and June was approaching, I began hiking in less snow and more fields of wildflowers. May hiking meant twelve-mile out-and-back treks up the wildflower-covered terrain of the Pacific Crest Trail. The Yucca was covered in delicious edible flowers and the trail was packed with serious thru-hikers headed to Canada. I shared the trail with these cheerful guys and gals, taking in the fields of wild yellow yarrow, Indian paintbrush and cactus flowers covered in red blossoms.
How I Trained for Mt Whitney in Big Bear Lake
Hot June days meant trail training up South Fork Trail amid fields of yellow and purple wildflowers. The purple Penstemon that covers every inch of mountain space and the yellow yarrow is like a magical rainbow carpet over the forest floor. It makes me forget about the long miles to the summit. Oh yeah, it’s twenty miles round trip to summit San Gorgonio this route but the miles don’t feel that long when you are trekking through a kaleidoscope of color.
Two days before our Mt Whitney summit, we were on our way to the eastern Sierras at last and off-roading for sixteen miles to reach the locked gate and begin the hike up White Mountain, the tallest peak in California. White Mountain is an otherworldly hike high above the Owens Valley floor. This hike starts at 11,680 feet and many hikers begin this hike with altitude sickness. Beginning a hike at over 10,000 feet is a great training hike for Mt Whitney. My favorite part of hiking here is the fuzzy marmots that greet you on the trail. Don’t be in a hurry to summit White Mountain, as you will want to take a lot of photos of these cute and cuddly White Mountain rascals. Yes, I say rascals. There is a slight chance marmots could chew through the wiring on your vehicle while you are hiking, leaving you stranded down a twenty-six-mile dirt road. But don’t worry about that! Enjoy the hike!
Training for Mt Whitney — The Scenic StairMaster From Hell
Our ascent up Mt Whitney is planned for July 9th and we can’t wait! Our calves have burned and our lungs are ready. Mt Whitney, here we come!
Many miles this winter and spring have been hiked in anticipation of summiting this great mountain in one crazy day. Let’s get it!
Summiting Mt Whitney is one of my all-time favorite treks into the eastern Sierra wilderness. It’s difficult, it’s rewarding and sometimes it requires you to poo in a wagbag and carry out your waste. Summiting this gorgeous fourteen-hundred-foot mountain is not every hiker’s cup of tea (Or pouch of GU
Who would like a wag bag?if you are speaking long-distance hiker lingo). Summiting the tallest mountain in the lower forty-eight states is now
here near easy and every year we do it there are adventures to be had on the Mt Whitney Trail. Who will get altitude sickness this year? Who will get bitten while trying to take a selfie with a marmot? Who will need more than one wagbag?
If you are like us and planning to hike twenty-three miles in one day just to stand atop what feels like the top of the world to take a selfie and then run down the skee scattered trail ahead of an eastern Sierra afternoon thunderstorm, you better prep with some awesome training hikes in the weeks before your ascent. So, where did I prep for my Mt Whitney adventure in 2019?
My Whitney 2919; Let’s do it!
I started training in March, four months before our summit of Mt Whitney. This was an insanely snowy winter in Southern California, which had its ups and downs. The ups had to be the Super Bloom that came with the insane amount of rainfall. The downs had to be the fact that some of my favorite snowy mountain peaks were just inaccessible until May, as the snow above eight thousand feet was intense.
And that’s how I found myself ascending Mt Baldy on a March morning before work. This was weeks after our adventure at the Super Bloom in Lake Elsinore, which was more than a stroll up a gorgeous orange landscape with five hundred other people with big ass cameras, than an actual hike. So by March, I was good and ready for a real mountain hike. Mt Baldy did not disappoint whatsoever. The Saturday I chose to hike Mt Baldy just happened to be an epic day with trail conditions to hike straight up the Baldy Bowl. It was unbelievably gorgeous and super hard, hiking straight up a mountain in the snow. Thank God for cat trax.
Mt Whitney Training for People Who Thought They Were Already in Shape
Sometimes training for Mt Whitney in the winter months means high desert bones now hike, like the day my girl’s hiking group explored the Deep Creek Hot Springs. Here was yet another ass-busting hike (Are you sensing a trend here?) After leaving the steaming hot springs to head back to your car, that first mile has a thousand-foot altitude gain and it had us sweating even in February. My Whitney training started early!
I love to climb San Gorgonio, the highest peak in southern California in the winter and it’s a great training hike. The majestic white and snowy peaks of Galena Peak in the distance are just gorgeous in March, when I really start to buckle down with my hikes and start day hiking twelve miles or more. Trekking up a snowy mountain with my favorite pup at my side means carrying more equipment, sometimes snowshoes, sometimes just cat trax, which are like chains for your snow boots. Hiking in the snow also means hiking in clumpy, heavy snow boots as opposed to running shoes; it’s a pain in the butt but a good workout. Hiking in the snow is just altogether harder but the snowy views of San Jacinto in the far distance over Palm Desert are worth it.
On this March ascent up San Gorgonio, or Old Greyback as us locals call it, we could see high clouds over the Los Angeles basin and we could even see the high rises of Los Angeles and Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean in the distance! That is why I adore winter hiking!
As much as I love hiking in the snow, it’s a pain in the butt and as our Mt Whitney attempt was nearing and June was approaching, I began hiking in less snow and more fields of wildflowers. May hiking meant twelve-mile out-and-back treks up the wildflower-covered terrain of the Pacific Crest Trail. The Yucca was covered in delicious edible flowers and the trail was packed with serious thru-hikers headed to Canada. I shared the trail with these cheerful guys and gals, taking in the fields of wild yellow yarrow, Indian paintbrush and cactus flowers covered in red blossoms.
How I Trained for Mt Whitney in Big Bear Lake
Hot June days meant trail training up South Fork Trail amid fields of yellow and purple wildflowers. The purple Penstemon that covers every inch of mountain space and the yellow yarrow is like a magical rainbow carpet over the forest floor. It makes me forget about the long miles to the summit. Oh yeah, it’s twenty miles round trip to summit San Gorgonio this route but the miles don’t feel that long when you are trekking through a kaleidoscope of color.
Two days before our Mt Whitney summit, we were on our way to the eastern Sierras at last and off-roading for sixteen miles to reach the locked gate and begin the hike up White Mountain, the tallest peak in California. White Mountain is an otherworldly hike high above the Owens Valley floor. This hike starts at 11,680 feet and many hikers begin this hike with altitude sickness. Beginning a hike at over 10,000 feet is a great training hike for Mt Whitney. My favorite part of hiking here is the fuzzy marmots that greet you on the trail. Don’t be in a hurry to summit White Mountain, as you will want to take a lot of photos of these cute and cuddly White Mountain rascals. Yes, I say rascals. There is a slight chance marmots could chew through the wiring on your vehicle while you are hiking, leaving you stranded down a twenty-six-mile dirt road. But don’t worry about that! Enjoy the hike!
Training for Mt Whitney — The Scenic StairMaster From Hell
Our ascent up Mt Whitney is planned for July 9th and we can’t wait! Our calves have burned and our lungs are ready. Mt Whitney, here we come!
Many miles this winter and spring have been hiked in anticipation of summiting this great mountain in one crazy day. Let’s get it!
—
Mt. Whitney Hiking & Training FAQ
How do you train to hike Mt. Whitney in one day?
Training for a single-day Mt. Whitney summit requires at least 3 to 4 months of consistent, high-mileage training hikes. Focus on long, steep trails with substantial elevation gain (at least 3,000 to 5,000 feet per hike). Excellent Southern California training peaks include Mt. Baldy via the Baldy Bowl, San Gorgonio (Old Greyback), and White Mountain to acclimate your lungs and legs to high altitudes before tackling Whitney’s 23-mile round trip.
Do you really have to carry your own poop on Mt. Whitney?
Yes. To protect the fragile alpine environment of the Eastern Sierra wilderness, the Mt. Whitney Zone strictly enforces a Pack-It-In, Pack-It-Out rule for all human waste. Every hiker is issued a heavily insulated “WAG bag” (Waste Alleviation and Gelling bag) with their permit. You must pack out your solid waste and carry it back down the trail to designated disposal bins at the trailhead.
What is the best month to hike Mt. Whitney?
The prime hiking season for Mt. Whitney runs from July through early October, when the main trail is typically free of heavy snow and ice. However, summer hikers must be prepared for sudden afternoon thunderstorms, high altitude exposure, and sneaky trail wildlife like marmots.
How hard is the White Mountain hike for altitude training?
White Mountain is an exceptional altitude acclimation hike because the trailhead begins at a staggering 11,680 feet. Hiking at this height helps your body adjust to thin air before you head to Mt. Whitney, though hikers should watch out for early symptoms of altitude sickness and aggressive marmots along the dirt access roads.
Comments
How incredible!!!! We just don’t have the opportunity to do anything like that here. Even training for a summit like that is near impossible as we don’t have any kind of mountains (or even large hills LOL).
Such beautiful views and those wildflowers and marmots! incredible!
Thanks for linking up!
Wow. That was quite an endeavor. Thanks for sharing.
Rena
http://www.finewhateverblog.com