Trans-Sierra Trek to Mount Whitney
Itinerary

Day Zero
We meet in the late afternoon at our campsite at near Lodgepole on the West Side of Sequoia National Park to discuss the itinerary and do a gear check. Afterwards, we enjoy a fine camp dinner and campfire.

Day One
We hike early out of the Wolverton trailhead along the High Sierra Trail with spectacular views of the Kaweah River Canyon. We will establish a camp for the evening near Bearpaw Meadows. (11 miles)

Day Two
We leave Bearpaw Meadows and make our way towards the famed "Valhalla" cirque and Hamilton Lakes. The views are stunning as we travel along an amazing trail under Angel Wings, the largest rock wall in Sequoia NP. We will establish camp near amazing Precipice Lake in the upper part of the Valhalla Cirque. (6.5 miles)

Day Three
Today we make our way over Kaweah Gap with spectacular views of The Black Kaweah and other peaks in the Great Western Divide. We travel down the Big Arroyo to make camp near Moraine Lake. (11.5 miles, mostly downhill)

Day Four
Today is a short hiking day as we travel down into the Kern River canyon arriving at Kern Hot Springs in the early afternoon. We spend the afternoon resting and relaxing in these natural hot springs along the Kern River (6 miles, all downhill)

Day Five
We make our way up the glacier-carved Kern River canyon to establish a camp in the upper reaches near the confluence of Wallace Creek. A gentle elevation rise (8 miles).

Day Six
Climbing out of the Kern River canyon, we make our way towards Crabtree Meadows and on to Guitar Lake, under the West Face of Mount Whitney. We will establish a 2-night base camp here for our summit of Mt Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states (10.5 miles).

Day Seven
Summit day of Mount Whitney. Carrying only light day packs, we will make our way up the John Muir Trail to Trail Crest and along the Eastern escarpment of the Whitney Massif to the summit. After photos and lunch on the summit we retrace our steps back to our basecamp (11 miles roundtrip).

Day Eight
We break our Whitney basecamp and have a pleasant hike along the Pacific Crest Trail towards Rock Creek where we will make camp for the evening, our last on the trail (11 miles).

Day Nine
Our final day on the trail, we make our way through the beautiful Golden Trout Wilderness over Cottonwood Pass and onto the Horse Shoe Meadows trailhead on the Eastern Side of the Sierra Nevada, completing our trarverse. We are picked up by van and taken to a hotel in the nearby town of Lone Pine for a well-deserved shower and celebratory meal (11.8 miles).

Day Ten
We are shuttled by van back to the Wolverton Trailhead and our vehicles, arriving in the afternoon.

The itinerary is subject to change