Eastern Sierra Recommendations

[peter303]

I recommend Mt Langley as the first southern Cal 14er. It is not as hard to obtain a permit and a shorter hike than nearby Whitney. (But you miss climbing the tallest lower-48 point) It has a similar view on the summit.
The third option White Mountain on the east side of the valley is kind of boring with a jeep road up most the way.

[nyker]

Some Eastern Sierra suggestions: all great

White Mountain - easiest 14er, 15 miles/~ +3000 ft gain, cool alpine landscapes with bristlecone forest nearby. View of Boundary Peak from the summit
Mt Langley second easiest, longer than Whitney, but less gain and no loss of elevation to make up later
Mt Whitney - Main Trail or Mountaineers Route
Kearsarge Pass

Class 3 Routes:
Mt Gould
University Peak

Alabama Hills

Further up 395
Mono Lake
East entrance of Yosemite
Mt Dana (13er just inside of Yosemite east side)
Boundary Peak (Nevada highpoint), but 2+hours from Lone Pine.

[719BR]

Some Eastern Sierra suggestions: all great

White Mountain - easiest 14er, 15 miles/~ +3000 ft gain, cool alpine landscapes with bristlecone forest nearby. View of Boundary Peak from the summit
Mt Langley second easiest, longer than Whitney, but less gain and no loss of elevation to make up later
Mt Whitney - Main Trail or Mountaineers Route
Kearsarge Pass

Class 3 Routes:
Mt Gould
University Peak

langley is not longer than whitney. yes, definitely less gain overall, but, depending on the route you take - old army pass can hold snow that makes ax/crampons necessary long into the summer - you do have gain on the way back out.

it is also important to note that CA class 3 is not the same as CO class 3. most people who have done both consider CA class 3 to be the equivalent of what CO considers class 4.

also, i agree with peter303 that white mountain is boring as hell. i'll not do it again that's for sure.

[kaiman]

I recommend Mt Langley as the first southern Cal 14er. It is not as hard to obtain a permit and a shorter hike than nearby Whitney. (But you miss climbing the tallest lower-48 point) It has a similar view on the summit.
The third option White Mountain on the east side of the valley is kind of boring with a jeep road up most the way.

I like peter303’s recommendation. Langley is a good first CA 14er and is less crowded than Whitney’s standard route. White is certainly boring hike wise but does have nice views of the eastern Sierra and Owens valley. Boundary Peak makes an interesting warmup for any of the CA fourteeners, plus it is the Nevada high point and takes you through an ancient bristlecone forest on the way to the summit ridge.

[nyker]

Some Eastern Sierra suggestions: all great

White Mountain - easiest 14er, 15 miles/~ +3000 ft gain, cool alpine landscapes with bristlecone forest nearby. View of Boundary Peak from the summit
Mt Langley second easiest, longer than Whitney, but less gain and no loss of elevation to make up later
Mt Whitney - Main Trail or Mountaineers Route
Kearsarge Pass

Class 3 Routes:
Mt Gould
University Peak

langley is not longer than whitney. yes, definitely less gain overall, but, depending on the route you take - old army pass can hold snow that makes ax/crampons necessary long into the summer - you do have gain on the way back out.

it is also important to note that CA class 3 is not the same as CO class 3. most people who have done both consider CA class 3 to be the equivalent of what CO considers class 4.

also, i agree with peter303 that white mountain is boring as hell. i'll not do it again that's for sure.

Yes! It seems over the last couple of years NPS workers have worked to eliminate the social trails and improved the Langley route and I hear the new improved trail is pretty straightforward and indeed around 21 miles, so just inside Whitney's 22 miles for the Main Trail.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/ ... _Final.pdf

Also as of June 28, the route via New Army Pass is snow free and cairned to the summit

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm

When I climbed Langley, I ran into a guy towards the top from the Forest Service who had clicked the summit ~12 miles each way on his gps though that was on a route that veered more west from New Army Pass, which resulted in a a summit approach with almost a due East bearing.
If you look at the map on the below link, that route, which is longer than the present standard route, follows that red line west/Southwest just under the final summit pitch, crossing that snowfield in the map image.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/ ... 4acc-1.pdf

[triyoda]

What specific 14ers are you planning as day hikes? I have been to CA twice to climb 14ers and it is humbling compared to CO, just passing this along in case this is news. Also, which peaks you plan to do will dictate where you stay. You aren't going to dayhike Whitney if you are sleeping in Bishop.

White Mountain Peak. Actually pretty easy (but 15 miles roundtrip). This is about 50 mile drive (one way from Bishop), with the roads ascending 8000' including 16 miles of pretty rough dirt/gravel. You can camp right at the trail head, but if not, recognize this is at least a 2 hour drive (one way) from Bishop. This is actually a very pretty peak, I was surprised, I thought it would be lame, but I liked it. There are also bristlecone forest groves on the way to the trailhead. Well worth a look, these trees are amazing.

Whitney, Muir or Russell, you need permits even for day hikes. They are basically all reserved in advance. You can get cancellations at the ranger station in Lone Pine, the day before. Call the ranger station and find out the procedures for getting a permit, because without a permit you cannot do any of these. Russell and Whitney are very long day hikes; Muir is about a 45 minute side trip (round trip) from the regular trail for Whitney, but this would make a long day hike pretty epic.

Langley. This is about 1 hour drive from Lone Pine, it is about 25 miles as a day hike.

Tyndal and Williamson. These are CA Class 3 (which is CO Class 4). Either one of these as a day hike involves 8000' of gain, with a lot of tedious off-trail travel on talus and/or scrambling. I just did both of these out of camp near Shepherd Pass, even from here it was 5 hrs roundtrip on Tyndal (the far easier of the two) from 12000 at Shepherd pass. Did these with another guy from CO, we both agreed these are as hard technically as any 14er in CO and physically more demanding in terms of overall effort (and these are easy/moderate CA 14ers). In any case, if you are thinking of these two, the best option is at least one night out, doing both in one trip. I took 3 full days to get both (trailhead to trailhead) and I have hiked Longs in 7 hrs from the trailhead (not saying I am super fast, but just providing context on how long these could take). After doing them, I can say there is no way I would have been capable of doing either of these as a day hike, you may have much greater capabilities.

Split. I have not been on the access road, but all guidance says it is mandatory 4WD. So just a warning you will be unlikely to get here if you do not have the right vehicle. If you have the right vehicle, sounds like this could be a day hike (but very difficult).

Palisades. I have not done any of these, but these would not be done solo by most people (Based on what I understand about these routes would be comparable difficulty to Kieners or the Notch on Longs), they involve Class 4/5 climbing with some glacier travel and ice. I think Polenium has a class 4 route that looks like a reasonable solo for a human, this is probably the one option for a day hike for any of these five unless you are Anton Krupicka level climber (and maybe you are).

[14erFred]

The definitive guidebook for climbing the California 14ers is Purcell and Burns’ Climbing California's Fourteeners: 183 Routes to the Fifteen Highest Peaks. You should consult a copy of this valuable resource in planning your climbs of the California 14ers.

[seano]

triyoda’s advice is a mixed bag. I got my Element to Split’s trailhead recently, but it took some careful driving, so you probably can’t do it in a rental. I’ve never had trouble getting a Whitney walk-in permit on a weekday. I have no idea what route on Polemonium would be that easy; the easiest dayhike of a Palisades 14er is Middle Pal, which is CA class 3 and 6000 feet gain.