Day 1: Horseshoe Meadows to High Lake
7.1 miles, 1450 feet elevation gain

After two travel days we were finally ready to embark on our backpacking adventure. We did our final packing, had a big breakfast at Alabama Hills Cafe, and set off for Horseshoe Meadows, located 24 miles southwest of Lone Pine. Heading up Whitney Portal Road we saw a hiker looking for a ride and when we slowed down we saw it was Joe, who we had met the day before when we gave him and his daughter a ride from South Lake (Bishop Pass) to Lone Pine. He didn’t want us to go out of our way to take him to Whitney Portal, but we couldn’t leave him on the side of the road, so happily made the short detour to take him to his car. We backtracked from Whitney Portal and made the turn onto Horseshoe Meadows Road. The road to Horseshoe Meadows is an adventure in itself; it climbs 6,000 feet on a windy, narrow road with drop offs and rock hazards (signs say “Rocks cleared between 8 and 4”, outside of that time - driver beware!). We finally made it and were ready to hit the trail. Let’s do this!

The Horseshoe Meadows trailhead is around 10,000 feet elevation; because we were jumping right into altitude we planned an easier first day to help us acclimate. We knew from our trip in Peru last year that overexertion would cause headaches, so we took a nice and steady pace when we set out. Luckily, our elevation gain for the day was gradual and it helped ease us into the hike. Our hike started out as an easy walk on a great trail through the forest, alongside streams, and gradually a gentle ascent to our first lake - Cottonwood Lake 1. We stopped here for lunch before continuing past Cottonwood Lake 2 and Long Lake. It looked like there were some nice campsites at Long Lake, but we still had a little further to go. After a final switchbacked ascent and some mild headaches, we arrived at High Lake and found a prime campsite. Even though it was an easy hiking day, with heavy packs and the altitude we were certainly feeling it. I’m glad we kept the mileage low and allowed ourselves downtime at camp to rest and recharge for the next day. We had a quiet afternoon chatting with some fellow hikers and reading before going bed just after sunset.

Day 2: High Lake to Guyot Creek (via New Army Pass)
9.3 miles, 1340 ft elevation gain, 2490 ft elevation loss

Steve and I had headaches during the night and after some Advil and twelve hours of sleep, felt okay in the morning. We were on the trail around 8 am (which was our natural start time most days of our trip). We jumped right in with a climb up New Army Pass (which sits on the border of John Muir Wilderness and Sequoia National Park); roughly one mile and 800 feet elevation gain up the switchbacks. We were greeted at the summit by a marmot (we would continue to see marmots until we reached treeline on the other side) and took a break to enjoy the views. It started to cloud over and the wind picked up, so we didn’t stay too long before descending down the other side. We had six miles and 2500 feet elevation loss to Rock Creek. It was a mellow hike down; 2.3 miles to treeline and a nice four mile walk along Rock Creek to the ranger station and campsite. Along the way we stopped to view the partial eclipse and admire the views when we passed through a pretty meadow near the junction to Soldier Lakes.

Rock Creek is the standard campground in this area, but it was only 2:30 when we arrived and we decided to go further to Guyot Creek to knock a few miles off our hike the next day to Guitar Lake. We estimated it was around two miles and 540 feet elevation gain to climb to Guyot Creek. It was interesting terrain in this area; after an initial climb from Rock Creek the trail flattened out with bigger rocky areas and widely spaced trees. There were easily several campsites to choose from around Guyot Creek. It was a pleasant campsite near the creek, but no views. We figured our campsite the next day would more than make up for it. We had more miles today than the previous one, but the elevation gain was still very modest and it was another easier day that helped us acclimate. We were still feeling good - two days to Mt. Whitney!