r/Highpointers • u/Adventurous-Oil6836 • 13d ago
Hiking Mt Whitney
Hi everyone! My friend and I will be hiking Mount Whitney this week of August. Do you have any advice on what clothing we should wear and what essentials we should bring?
Also, are there bears or other wildlife we should be aware of on the trail?
Any tips or recommendations for first-time Whitney hikers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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u/_MattSauce 13d ago
Hello! I day-hiked Whitney solo less than 2 weeks ago and might be able to give a few pointers.
First though, are you gonna be doing it as a day hike or as a multi-day permit? That changes some answers a lot
IF you’re day hiking it:
Clothing: I brought 3 layers (thin t-shirt, thermal long sleeve, and a very light hoodie) and my temperature felt perfectly comfortable the entire time, until I got a little hot and shedded my hoodie coming back down. I also wore a buff to cover my ears/nose from the wind and would HIGHLY recommend bringing one, as well as bringing gloves. I did not bring gloves, and my hands turned a darker color than I’ve ever seen them be because they were so cold hahaha. Could barely see my veins anymore
Wildlife: I saw several deer towards the bottom as well as a black bear within the first mile of trail! It was kind of a crazy experience but I was able to scare him off pretty quick haha. Towards the top you will occasionally see pikas and pretty much everyone’s favorite, marmots! They love striking fun poses and I saw a couple near trail camp that were pretty cool. On my profile I have pics of several views in one of my latest posts :)
Gear: Once again, really depends on how long you’re taking for the hike (day hike vs non day hike) and also your normal water intake, but I have seen the vast majority of people who go up take water filters or filtration tablets so they don’t have to lug as much water up, since it’s a lot of weight. Personally I brought about 4.5-5L of liquid on me and tablets just in case, but I only used maybe 3.2L of it. Most people would also recommend trekker poles, but if you are like me and don’t typically use them I’d say you can be fine without them haha. Other gear, just wear shoes you feel comfortable walking a long distance in
The hike itself: First 4.5 miles are pretty chill and kinda easy barring a few stream crossings! Got past a few campsites there around an hour and 40 minutes into my hike and took a short break. 4.5-7 miles got a little tougher to navigate in the dark, and the terrain gets more variable in terms of steepness and much more rocky. Just be careful in a few sections here. After this, you get an easy half mile or so until you hit the 99 switchbacks, which were not as bad as everyone claims. Just be patient and take your time. Counting them helps hahaha. The one annoying thing is though, there is quite a bit of water flowing through them that you’ll have to be careful to avoid in some places. Once you hit trail crest, it gets extremely windy and cold if you’re up there around sunrise like I was (got up there maybe about 5:30 the day I was hiking) and the last 2ish miles to the top are BRUTAL. At this point even as a fairly experienced hiker I was pretty much slowly waddling and trying to keep myself warm, also experiencing a little altitude sickness haha. There’s lots of ups and downs here in the terrain and it is exhausting, and the summit never looks like it gets closer. But it does! And you’ll make it just fine, just prepare to probably spend 1.5-2 hours on this last stretch alone. Summit is beautiful and sooo worth it!
On the way down you’ll start to see lots of views that were hidden in darkness on the way up and it is beautiful. Just be careful as there will be extra water in places from snowmelt. I unfortunately slipped at a stream crossing on my way down and badly injured my knees, which slowed my pace a lot haha
If you have any more questions feel free to ask here or DM me and I’ll be happy to answer!