Well my schedule is really flexible. I'm really just going to put in for any weekday in June, July, or August and take what I get. Yep, I printed out and filled out the lottery for a couple weeks ago, just waiting for Feb. 1 to roll around to mail it in. Then I'll plan Half Dome for the day before that. I would go later in the year say mid to late September, but my travels have to end this year in mid to late August, due to my wife and I expecting our first child.

If you sleep high the night before, there's a good chance it'll just bring on the altitude sickness faster. Sleep low and climb high as suggested already.

I slept (or tried to) sleep at Horseshoe Meadows before doing the hike to Whitney once - I started out feeling like crap the next morning and it only got worse. Even sleeping at Whitney Portal is too high for me when I'm coming up from 900' to 1500' where I spend most of my time. Besides, it's way too noisy to sleep at the Portal - it's a zoo there. Tuttle Creek Campground is a good place to sleep the night before.

Why are you so worried about Whitney on day 4 of your trip? I would be more worried about Boundary on day 2 coming from sea level after you had altitude problems before at 12,500 ft. If you do okay on Boundary on day 2 you should be okay on Whitney on day 4 since it only about 1000 ft higher.

I personally would have a drive/rest day between Boundary and Whitney. Your plans call for an aweful lot of driving as already pointed out before. Why not go from Boundary to Lone Pine or Bishop and just take it easy.

Half Dome in July is can be pure Hell.....

AS DMT and others pointed out..... you may have some problems with the smooth execution of the plan because of the people. You can be delayed on the cables, with 1,000 folks ahead you, drivin from Y-valley to Whitney portal can take a few hours longer than Google maps says.

My $.02 ....... change out HD for something closer to Whitney, like Langley, do Whitney, slide a little more north ..... do Mt Conness or something near Toloume Meadows...... tons less driving and you can hit the great "Rest" spots along the East side.... like hot springs, hot tubs, hot meals.

Or better yet.... get the time to hook up with Bob Bird, for a few days of the "Sierra Challenge" .....
lots of Peaks in a short time.

enjoy.... revive this thread when you get your lotto number.

welcome to California.

gk

mstender wrote:Why are you so worried about Whitney on day 4 of your trip? I would be more worried about Boundary on day 2 coming from sea level after you had altitude problems before at 12,500 ft..

Whitney on Day 4 scares me because of the distance, I will be more physically exerted and will have increased amount of exposure to the altitude.

I have done Mt. Elbert, Mt. Massive, Wheeler Peak in NM, straight from sea level before, no problem. If it's 4 to 5 miles up I can hit it in no time and be headed back down before any effects really start to set in. However 11 miles up, or in the case of Kings Peak 14 miles up, and being at that altitude for such a prolonged period of time, not to mention the extra physical energy it takes to get there, begins to wear on me.

Boundary is 6 miles round trip. I'll be headed back down before the slightest headache begins to set in.

Driving time doesn't bother me, I can do 12 - 14 hour hikes, drive 4 hours, catch 4 hours of sleep, and do another 12+ hour day to follow.

I'm hoping to start up Boundary at about 4am, be in my car before noon. Drive to within 45 minutes of Yosemite Valley, hit the bed by 8pm and hit the trail for HD around 3am. Be down by 2pm (provided there's not a clusterf*ck on the cables (plan on it being a weekday)) head down towards Lone Pine,, stay within an hour or so of Lone Pine, prob get to bed by 8pm up at 3 hit the trailhead by 4ish. I'm not really in a rush to get back down Whitney, ideally 5pm 6pm would be nice, but if I have to go slower i'm willing to stretch it out to about 10pm. Prob stay that night in a motel in Lone Pine so I can get a good shower, and then drive to Vegas the next day, fly out at 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

I might could add an extra day between Half Dome and Whitney, if so, does anyone have any suggestions of a high and short hike. Maybe something in the 8 - 12 mile range that will get me above 10 or 11k. Class 1, 2, or 3. Not bringing any rope, harness, etc. so really don't want to get on anything above class 3.

I appreciate the suggestions, from reading everyone's posts I'm beginning to lean towards staying closer to Lone Pine.

I think you are going to spend way too much time in the car . I'd save Boundary and Half Dome for another trip and instead climb White Mountain and Whitney . You could camp at Grandview on White Mountain for a couple of nights and better acclimate . You would know a lot sooner what shape you are in and might even enjoy it. Have a great trip !

Or Langley as a day hike. You can even tend the desire to sleep high, by staying at horseshoe meadows, at almost 10k'. Last I looked, there were no permits required for a day hike to Langley. Get there during the week and you will almost be assured a camping spot.

Dingus Milktoast wrote:

Day Hiker wrote:The plan is to fly in to Vegas Day 1, hit Boundary in NV on Day 2, Half Dome Day 3, Whitney Day 4, then fly back out on Day 5.

Days 2,3 and 4 all include ALL DAY hikes/climbs. All day. The driving time from Boundary Pk to Half Dome is at least 3 hours. Don't kid yourselves, the speed limit in Yosemite is 45 mph and you have to do 60 miles on that road, TWICE. You won't average 45 mph either. More like 30.

From Half Dome to Whitney Portal is about what, 4 hours driving time if the highway gods favor you. This is AFTER doing Half Dome mind you. Now your COULD drive on up to Mosquito Flats, but you know car camping there is illegal I think, though plenty of us have bagged some sleep there over the years.

I actually see no harm in it if you want to do it. But after doing HD and Boundary I am guessing you are going to be really hammered and questioning the whole Whitney bit anyway.

I still say sleep low. You have so much driving time on top of long says in the mountains! This is a big agenda you have... question: if you had to give up one of your objectives which one would it be?

I'm guessing the high points are of interest to you?

DMT

gwave47 wrote that, not me.

Good catches by DMT and 1000peaks. Yes, the driving schedule is insane.

MoapaPk wrote:Good catches by DMT and 1000peaks. Yes, the driving schedule is insane.

That was my first thought.

I'd blow off Yosemite and stay on the eastside with those time constraints.

But if that's your plan, you might consider staying in the Tioga Pass/Saddlebag Lake area while traveling from Yosemite to Whitney. It's over 9,000', would make for a shorter drive after Half Dome, no long side trips to get up high and most of the curvy roads would be behind you. The downside would be the longer drive to Whitney Portal in the morning.

Catamount wrote:Also remember (if you plan on an overnight start) that you still have to figure in actually securing your permit from the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center, which closes at 5:00 PM I believe (and IIRC, for day permits, you had to pick it up much earlier than 5 to keep them from giving it to walk-ins). Kinda silly, I know, but if you get a spot in the lottery, they don't actually send you the permit, but instead paperwork saying that they will have a permit waiting for you ...

Good point. The website says the deadline is even more stupid -- 12:00 on the day prior for Mount Whitney Zone dayhikes: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/howto.shtml#deadline

Maybe they still let people pick up permits with the overnight drop-box, but the website isn't clear about that.

Clydascope wrote:I'd blow off Yosemite and stay on the eastside with those time constraints.

It would save a lot of driving. Yosemite is slow. And you might need to pick up the (dumbass) permit in Lone Pine the day before anyway. It's actually not too bad of a drive to go directly from Boundary to Whitney.

Here are some mileages:

I forgot if you mentioned which trailhead you are using, but it is about 280 miles from LAS to the Queen Canyon Road. I could tell you how long it takes me to drive that, but just plan on over 4 hours if you want to go the speed limit instead. In 2005, in a passenger car, it was less than 20 minutes to drive the 6.0 miles up the Queen Canyon Road to the parking area at around 9030 feet. A 4WD road takes you another mile to the saddle 750 feet higher, but I don't know if you will be renting that kind of vehicle. So figure 5 hours from LAS to the Boundary trailhead, including a stop for gas in Beatty.

Heading to Lone Pine, it's 20 minutes for the 6 miles down the Queen Canyon Road again, then it's 101 miles from that road to the Whitney Portal Road in Lone Pine, which should take no more than 2 hours, including 25-mph slow-downs through the cities. You will need to add additional time and a couple of miles to pick up the permit in Lone Pine. Then it's easily under 20 minutes to do the 12 miles from Lone Pine to Whitney Portal. So that's about 3 hours from the Boundary trailhead to Whitney Portal, including a stop for gas and picking up the permit.

Of course, even a 30-minute drive can become a big deal if it's dark and you're tired from hiking all day. I will risk being Mom and Dad here and say pull over and sleep before you start nodding off, regardless of how badly you want to get to your destination. It's not just your life that is at stake on those high-speed two-lane roads.

Catamount wrote:Also remember (if you plan on an overnight start) that you still have to figure in actually securing your permit from the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center, which closes at 5:00 PM I believe (and IIRC, for day permits, you had to pick it up much earlier than 5 to keep them from giving it to walk-ins).

Okay, so I knew that they wouldn't mail me the permit and I would have to pick it up.... but somewhere in all the excitement of wanting to do this, that, and the other while I'm there, I freaking forgot all about when I would actually pick it up, that definitely throws a wrench in this itinerary. So now I will either need to cut Half Dome, or add extra days. Thanks Catamount for bringing this to mind. Would suck to have Whitney be my main objective and get so caught up in a schedule that I forget to pick up the permit in time, and it already be given to someone else.

Whitney and Boundary are definites, they are my prime objective. Half Dome would be nice, but then again the misses wants to do it too, but can't right now, so I know i'll be back later for it. The misses is not interested in Whitney though, so now is the best time to go for it.

Also waiting to hear about Gannett and Granite, before I finalize. Trying to hook up with a group now to try either of them, if that happens then the whole schedule will change, it'll become a two week trip and I'll be driving from S. Car. instead of flying into Vegas.

Can a honda civic make it to the mine on Boundary?

gwave47 wrote:

Catamount wrote:Also remember (if you plan on an overnight start) that you still have to figure in actually securing your permit from the Eastern Sierra InterAgency Visitor Center, which closes at 5:00 PM I believe (and IIRC, for day permits, you had to pick it up much earlier than 5 to keep them from giving it to walk-ins).

Okay, so I knew that they wouldn't mail me the permit and I would have to pick it up.... but somewhere in all the excitement of wanting to do this, that, and the other while I'm there, I freaking forgot all about when I would actually pick it up, that definitely throws a wrench in this itinerary. So now I will either need to cut Half Dome, or add extra days. Thanks Catamount for bringing this to mind. Would suck to have Whitney be my main objective and get so caught up in a schedule that I forget to pick up the permit in time, and it already be given to someone else.

Call the Forest Service in Lone Pine to check. They used to let people pick up permits with the overnight drop-box. If they don't allow that anymore, I don't know what they expect people to do. It's ridiculous to make people spend 2 days there just to do a one-day hike.

gwave47 wrote:Can a honda civic make it to the mine on Boundary?

In June 2005, yes. I went up there in something similar, just rear-wheel drive. But of course my road information is 5 years old.

You can call the Whitney Visitor's Center and tell them you want a night drop..the permit will then be in a box out by the highway.

I was at Boundy a few months ago and the road wasn't to bad..the last mile or so to the mine area is a little steep..but you can probably make it in 2wd. Definitley not beyond that though.

gwave47 wrote:Well my schedule is really flexible. I'm really just going to put in for any weekday in June, July, or August and take what I get. Yep, I printed out and filled out the lottery for a couple weeks ago, just waiting for Feb. 1 to roll around to mail it in.

You can dayhike (/climb) Whitney any time of the year. But if you are looking to do it as a reasonably quick dayhike on a snow-free trail, you might want to avoid early June. Someone else can hopefully confirm this. It will depend on the snow season, of course.