White Mountain Peak 14,252′
Archival Series (statistic approximate)- Climbed 9/2/2012
Distance: 11.0 miles
Elevation Gain: 2900′
Crux: Class 1
Trailhead: Barcroft Research Station, no services
Of the 14,000′ peaks in California, only two sit outside the Sierra Nevada. One is Mount Shasta in the northern part of the state, and is the second highest mountain in the Cascades sitting at the lower end of the range. The second is White Mountain Peak, sitting across Owens Valley opposite the eastern Sierra Nevada roughly above the town of Bishop. In fact, with White Mountain Peak to the east and the Palisades to the West, Owens Valley is one of the deepest in the United States, dropping from over 14,000′ on both sides to 4,000′ on the valley floor. And since White Mountain Peak sits east of the Sierra Nevada Rain Shadow, it is an alpine desert summit with considerably less vegetation, precipitation or overall alpine feel compared to the other 14ers in the state. It is also by far the easiest, with a dirt road leading to the summit featuring a small altitude research station run by Stanford. The road is closed to vehicles, but allows for a fairly easy hike, about 14 miles round trip. That is of course, unless you time it for an “open gate day,” where you are allowed to drive even closer, shaving off another 2 miles in each direction making for a mellow 10 mile hike. Although we did not intentionally plan to hike it on an open gate day and in fact did not even know about it beforehand, we were more than happy for the timing. It was Labor Day weekend, and we camped in the Grandview Point Campground a few miles south of our trailhead and the famous Methuselah Grove of Bristlecone Pines, home to the oldest living trees in the world. To this day it remains one of my favorite campground, nestled among pinyon pine and juniper with incredible stars overhead. The following morning we broke camp and drove the rough road to the trail head, paved to the Methuselah Grove but in pretty rough shape beyond. The road is a bit notorious for eating tires, but we made it to the Barcroft Research station at the closer trailhead without incident, parking near a pen of sheep that they use to conduct their research.
The summit of White Mountain Peak lie directly north and with the trailhead lying over 12,000′, only with about 2,000′ of elevation gain. After a short bit of uphill from the Barcroft Research station we reached a broad alpine plateau, the road gently ascending the far side and switchbacking up the southwest ridge to the summit.
There were plenty of hikers dotted along the road on the ‘open gate day,’ particularly on the warm holiday weekend. This was Holly’s first 14,000′ peak since climbing Mount Whitney the year before and mine since the spring, so both of us were slow moving up the switchbacks.
It took us a few hours to reach the summit from the trailhead, and sat down on the west side of the small building to enjoy the views across Owens Valley to the Sierras. There were a pair of white gliders lazily circling at nearly eye level, making broad turns above Owens Valley. We ate our lunch and enjoyed the views, with the muffled sounds of sheep bleating in the small building behind us.
After some final photos, we started back down the road, making short work of the switchbacks back down to the plateau. Back at the trailhead, we hopped in the car and headed out to visit Methuselah Grove, taking the short stroll through the ancient trees and visiting the brand new visitor center, having opened just that weekend.
