Since this was a through hike, we had to shuttle the cars, equipment and people variously to the trailhead and trail end. Before positioning people/things we decided to eat one last "civilized" meal. A 24hr greasy spoon restaurant in Lone Pine was just the ticket. We consumed enough fat in
one breakfast to sustain us even if bears, rodents, or other wildlife made off with some of our goodies. We were now ready to face the rigors of a tough, high altitude hike.
Shuttling the cars took about an hour. It was a spectacular ride up the mountainside south of Whitney Portal to the trailhead at Cottonwood. There were endless views of the desert below and mountains to the West.
At Cottonwood, we made last minute adjustments to packs, food and equipment. There were several dozen cars in the parking lot so we expected a lot of traffic on the trail... bummer. We learned later that trail repair work (blasting) on the East side of Whitney forced many would-be Whitney Portal day-hikers to other entry points, such as Cottonwood. We got onto the trail late morning in plenty of time to go the planned 2.5mi's to Golden Trout Camp.
The first hour on the trail was spent winding our way up a fairly gentle slope through pine forest. We did encounter a few hikers along the way. One informed us that we has missed Golden Trout Camp!! Not a good way to start. Anyway, we decided to push on since sundown was still hours away and the more miles we made that day, the shorter the next day's hike would be. As it turned out, this was a wise decision because New Army pass would test our stamina during day 2.
The troop finally hauled up to Long Lake at the 5.5mi mark, more than double the distance we had originally planned. Long Lake sits at the foot of New Army Pass, so we were able to get a good look at day 2's primary obstacle.
We had our choice of prime camp sites as there was only one other couple at the lake. After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset over Long Lake and contemplated things to come. All in all, a great first day.
Day 1 Trail Map
