John Muir Trail: Camping Above Guitar Lake

Day 1: We arrived at the Lone Pine Visitors Center at the intersection of HWY 395 and HWY 136 just south of Lone Pine, CA. We issued ourselves our overnight permits to climb Mt. Whitney and picked up our Wag Bags. You can self issue yourself the free permit Nov. 2 through Apr 30. Climbing during this time of year allows you to avoid all the crowds and the lottery system for permits in the summe...

From the Whitney Trail - beyond trail crest - you will see a big cairn (right side). If you make it to the first "window of Mt. Whitney" you have gone too far. The cairn marks the start of an class 2 use trail up to the Mt. Muir headwall.The headwall is a fun climb with good handholds and has little exposure. About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the headwall traverse on the big slab using the edge on...

With over 6,600 feet of elevation gain and class 4 climbing, this is not for the casual hiker, but can provide an excellent challenge to a budding mountaineer.Park your car at Whitney Portal, 12 miles west of the town of Lone Pine, and start up the main Whitney Trail. After 1 mile you will encounter the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. Take the well trodden trail up and to the right through ste...

Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. It stands over 14,500ft high at its peak (elevation gain of 6100') and it sure feels like it when you are up there. Located just West of Lone Pine, CA you take Whitney Portal Road West for 13 miles all the way to its end. You will enter a small, what seems like a village, that will have last minute supplies and plenty of parking....

From the parking lot at the end of Whitney Portal Road, look for the trailhead, which is marked with a wooden "gate" that shows the map and description of the trail. Starting out at 8,350 ft in elevation, the trail begins a series of switchbacks that lead you into the Sierra Nevada. Take more breaks if you are not acclimatized to the altitude. After passing the tree covers, the view of Mount W...

Another rare but welcomed flat open space along the JMT. The night sky here will blow you away so if you're a photographer this is a great opportunity to capture the incredibel Sierra night sky. Do be careful about camping in the open space in regards to weather. A thunderstorm in this area could not only be very unpleasant but also dangerous.Find out everything you need to know about your John...