White Mountain Peak is the highest peak in the White Mountains of California, the highest peak in Mono County, and the third highest peak in the state after Mount Whitney and Mount Williamson. Elevation 14,252 ft Distance: 14 Miles roundtrip. Out and back. You start at an elevation of 12,000, so you're only going up around 2,000 - 3000 in elevation. It's kind of tricky for me to figure out since you're going up and down a few times on the trail. The hike is pretty easy for the first 3 -4 miles. There isn't too much of an elevation gain. This part of the hike reminded me of the opening scene from the Sound of Music. The last 2-3 miles are tough. You're basically just going UP. The terrain is similar to hiking West Mt Baldy (lots of loose gravel, tons of rocks). But not as bad. I only say this because I'd slip more hiking Baldy, and I didn't slip once hiking White Mountain Peak. You can see the summit from far away. And on a majority of the hike the summit is in your sights. This could either motivate you or de-motivate you... knowing how much further you had to go. Hiking this trail was an experience. When we were there, it was pretty windy. We didn't see too much wildlife. I only saw groundhogs. *I think*. And we saw a lot of sheep at the Research Station 2 miles from the beginning of the trailhead. Since the elevation at the top of White Mountain Peak is at 14K, you may experience elevation sickness. There is no bathrooms at the top of the mountain but there is one clean one at the start of the trail. Getting to the hike was pretty difficult as well. For 22 miles, before you get to the trailhead you're driving on extremely rocky off-roading type of roads. If you're in a small four door sedan it'll take you an hour to drive that. I would suggest taking an SUV. read more

White Mountain Peak - Photo courtesy of Wikipedia - Hiking Near Me - Lone Pine, California

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Great view. This was my 3rd 14er. There is a simple trail all the way to the top. Probably easiest 14er. People seem to do this for training for Whitney. I did just because I wanted to do this! You can camp at the trailhead, the day before the hike to acclimatize. We camped on Sat, and started hiking at 4 a.m, and came back to the trailhead around 11 a.m. It is windy on the trail and the top. I put downjackt and hood all the way. For any purpose, it's a great climb. read more

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Our hiking group decided to do White Mountain as a training hike for Mount Whitney. The other post describes the hike up pretty accurately so I'll talk about coming back from the peak (yeah you have to come back...) You're already gasping for air because of the altitude, feet burning and legs weak with exhaustion from the final push you made to the summit and you remember that you made three steep descents on the way here that are now steep ascents on your return. The first hill on the way back made me dizzy, the second made me angry and the third just made me depressed. You have no choice though, you gotta get home right? Then you finally see the science station and it's all downhill from there. Despite the pain this is one of the most unique landscapes I have ever hiked. The ancient expansive beautiful views are something you should experience at least once in your life. read more

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Liked the dry clear air, 10+ marmots, 10 Bighorn sheep , fun camping , loads of stars at night. Tarp under car to keep out marmots probably not needed this year (2018) on June 30-July 1. Looked a bit like volcano hikes In Hawai'i - nice and green. TheHikingGuy has excellent guide and Youtube video. Used GaiaGPS for map , which worked great . Sorry to say no water up there and dry air, so bring plenty of water. 15 miles took around 8 hours at 31 minute pace. Temperature say 50-70 from 6:30 start to 2:30 finish. It was about 100 degrees that day down below in Big Pine. Drove 16 mile unpaved road to and from trailhead in Prius in say 70 minutes each way without incident. Did 14-15 mile hikes 2x before as prep. Had no oxygen issues during Hike, but some difficulties sleeping at that altitude. Our group of 3 had all done Whitney before. Also did 4 mile Methuselah Trail the late afternoon before the White Mtn Hike - super scenic and interesting. Thankfully, not much traffic driving in and out from Orange County (say 300 miles each way). Nice to have co-driver to take over driving every 2 hours. Would consider glacier sunglasses next time for UV / sun protection read more

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Previous reviews are complete and fair and I don't need to add anything, it's just my personal experience, for 14er, this mountain would be a great choice and training for elevation for Mount Whitney, be aware of strong wind and have sun protection, even if it feels cold you get pretty bad burn. It was my first 14er and it's an amazing experience. We camped Saturday to aclametiz and hiked Sunday early morning. Took us around 9h with slow steady phase. good luck :) read more

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White Mountain might be labeled the easiest 14,000 foot peak to summit, but DO NOT underestimate this hike. The intense winds alone can stop you right in your tracks! Also, expect colder temperatures. It was 45 degrees at the trailhead in August, while it was 67 degrees for Mt Langley the day before. This is the highest point in the Inyo-White Range and the 3rd highest peak in California. What makes this the easiest 14K mountain to summit is that you can drive all the way up to 11,680 feet, leaving a 15 mile round trip hike with only 2,566 feet of elevation gain. The other main concern is to acclimate to the higher altitude before this hike. I hiked to the summit of Mt Langley the day before, so I was ready to go. Some hikers camp out at the trailhead or at Grandview Campground. Permits are not required for this hike. With White Mountain, your experience doesn't start with the hike but with the crazy drive to the trailhead. Make sure to gas up in Big Pine! You will spend between 4 to 5 hours of driving in such a remote area. From Big Pine on the Hwy 395, head West on Hwy 168. Drive 13 miles on the hilly Hwy 168 with deep dips in the road and turn left on White Mountain Road towards the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. http://www.yelp.com/biz/ancient-bristlecone-pine-forest-bishop In 10 miles you will reach the Schuman Grove Visitors Center. This was about an hour drive from Big Pine to here. Stay on the main road past the Visitor Center onto the 16 mile DIRT road that ends at the Barcroft Facility locked gate for vehicles and the trailhead for this hike. There is a restroom located here at the trailhead. This 16 mile dirt road is very rough, but cars can make it. It took me 90 minutes to drive this dirt road only because I hate those future rattles and squeaks. There are very good road signs to follow throughout the trip. The trail itself is a very easy to follow dirt road... all the way to the summit. The trail starts with a short steep hill then levels off. In two miles you will reach the University of California Barcroft Facility at 12,470 feet. Then in another half a mile will be the Barcroft Observatory. At 4.3 miles you will see a White Mountain Wilderness sign at 12,835 feet. In the background you get an awesome view of the peak ahead and the tiny weather lab building that sits on top. Before reaching the summit you go up the open grassy field switchbacks to the side of the mountain with a great drop off view below. Then you head downhill for a little bit before the final STEEP road switchbacks. I just loved the views heading up to and from the summit! On the way down I was lucky to see some Big Horn sheep. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/white-mountain-bishop?select=4J5tmiyWWGEIj8hTqLtbzQ&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) This is a great website for White Mountain: http://timberlinetrails.net/WhiteMountainGettingStarted.html read more

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After hiking hundreds of miles each year for the last couple of years with many treks over 8000', I thought we were ready for White Mountain. I was wrong. Three things prevented our summit. 1. The 16-mile road between the Schulman Grove visitor center and the gate to Bancroft Station took longer to drive (70 minutes or 14 mph) and we didn't want to drive back in the dark which meant returning to the car earlier than planned. The signs and the University of California say to stay under 25 mph. No duh. 2. The frequently stated 15-mile roundtrip distance is wrong and the 2600' elevation change is misleading. The distance is somewhere between 17 and 18 miles. The dips in the trail add about 1000' more to the hike. Not well planned, the meandering trail/road makes the hike harder than it should be. The dip north of the domed telescope building and at the base of the mountain were unpleasant and unexpected additions to the hike. 3. The elevation of being above 12,000' for the first time negatively affected us despite spending hours the day before over 10,000' without issue. My mind was no longer able to multi-task where simply breathing while walking became a mental chore. This was the first time I'd had problems like this due to elevation. A road sign warns of sharp rocks that cause tire punctures. Obviously, tires with thicker treads like on truck or snow tires helps avoid punctures but so does correct tire pressure. Keep in mind that a tire filled to 30 psi at sea level increases to 35 psi at 11,000 feet above sea level. It's like how a bottle of water or lotion expands when taking off in an airplane (where cabin pressure is equivalent to 8000' elevation) and conversely collapses when descending. The same inflation and contraction occur in tires. Watch for nausea, vomiting, irregular breathing, headache, and fatigue (sounds like the "fine print" on a pharmaceutical TV commercial) that occur with high altitude sickness and return to lower elevation when they happen. Granted, the roller-coaster drive on the rocky road gave me half of these symptoms. Also note that bodies react differently to high elevation. On a different trail, I saw a 25-year-old that had spent days at 9000' feet but needed retrieving by search and rescue when he hiked up to 10,000' feet. As for what you'll see, it's not the prettiest hike. As with any all-day hike, the views quickly become redundantly boring but at least the treeless environment meant continuously unobstructed views. The White Mountain is not white but a pleasingly stark combination of red and black. Piute Mountain in the beginning had a mellower color scheme of olive green and chocolate brown. When clear, sand dunes are seen to the east and hundreds of miles of the Sierra range to the west. In August after a snowy winter, White Mountain still had a patch of snow on the trail near the summit but looked crossable without extra gear. read more

I'll start by saying that I never even made it to the trailhead. Because of this, I won't give a 5 star but what I did experience looked awesome. Mostly I want to post this as a warning about White Mountain road. Maybe it was just my car but what appeared to be a basic gravel road ended in two punctures. The first puncture didn't come until 8 miles after the visitor center. I put on the spare and slowly limped back down the hill. Nevertheless, I ended up with a second puncture. I was out of spares so it was fortunate that I had an onboard compressor and was able to refill the leaky tire every 15 min. It took 2 hours to get back to an area with reliable cell coverage. I was driving an SUV @15-25 mph until the first puncture and 10-15 mph after that. I DID see a Honda Insight and a Toyota Camry in the trail so I guess it might be good/bad luck. However, bringing one or two full size spares might be a wise idea. Up until it all hit the fan the terrain was amazing. I never knew we had an environment like this in California. I'll be back someday. read more

Lifetime experience, more special than Whitney. Did this yesterday on a whim when I saw the Ancient Britlecone Pine Forest kiosk for the 29th time while driving up the 395. Was going to do Mt Abbot (13,700ft) from Rock Creek/ Mosquito Flats near Tom's Place. Thought of all the current wildfires in Yosemite, Idyllwilde, Redding, and thought if I don't do this know, there's no telling those trees will exist in future years, and the opportunity to check out the World's oldest living organism (tree) would be gone. It is a SERIOUS drive to get there, and I wouldn't bother without 4wd or AWD (Subarus are meant for this). Make sure your spare has air, and bring a can of that nasty pressurized slime. You'd only use the nasty slime if you already had to install your spare, and then you have another puncture. Allow 2 hours to drive to the gated trailhead from 395. I started at 12:45pm, 7/26/2018 . Made the summit in 3 hrs with good 70F weather, mostly sunny, calm winds. As soon as I turned around a small cloud cell chilled the air down to 45 or 50F immediately, and the wind kicked up along with light rain. Cold and scary. Used the socks I was wearing as gloves and jogged it all the way back in 2:15 hrs in great misery, but very happy once my fingers thawed out and feeling returned to my fingertips after an hour of the car's warmth. I'd say gloves are more important than jackets, but you should have both. I didn't think to bring because it was 106F at Big Pines when I decided to do this. It was a 5:15 round trip experience for me. My main advice is to pay attention to other poster's remarks about the return trip. Physically, its easier than going to the summit obviously, but psychologically, the return trip will seem to be unfinishable. Half the people I passed were suffering from fatigue-headache on their way back. I won't call it altitude sickness because it never strikes very fit people. But over-exertion always causes headache, dizziness and nausea regardless of the altitude. So, it is more a fitness issue, not an altitude issue which strikes random individuals. Know any marathon winners who get sick whenever walking around at altitude? Based on seeing half the people on the trail returning feeling sick, and my own assessment, I recommend this hike only for very fit hikers or medium level trail runners. If you know ahead of time that the return will be much tougher than the outbound route, you can develop the mental discipline to finish out strong and feeling in control. Oh, the entire trail is really a 4x4 jeep road. So, it really sucks to walk on a dirt road 100% of the route. However, for those of you who are into high altitude mountain biking, this is the only 14,000 elevation trail appropriate for bicycles. In fact, its more appropriate for biking than for hiking. read more

As the highest peak in California with a "road" to the top, White Mountain is a bucket list destination for mountain bikers also. I took it one step further and started from Bishop on Silver Canyon Road, a heinously steep 4x4 route. 8.5 hours later, I reached the peak, and 3.5 hours after that I was back at the car. Memorable for sure, and I'm glad I did it, but I'll never do it again! you can read my full report here: http://most-excellent-adventures.com/white-mountain-the-biggest-climb-in-the-usa/ read more

Beautiful hike! Summitted the weekend after a snowstorm in October. Definitely a challenging climb, especially in the snow, but well worth it. The views at the top are amazing, you can see all of The Sierra peaks! I might even say that doing it in the snow makes for even more beautiful views.Bring extra water, sunscreen, and like I said in my tip... A new logbook for the top! read more

This was a great hike! It takes quite a long time to get to the base of the mountain switchbacks from the parking area. (You'll notice just how long on the way back.) My friends and I went in spring time so it was just beautiful. Two out of six got altitude sickness even though we camped a night nearby to get acclimated. We also brought loads of water and PB&J sandwiches for the climb- which really proved necessary. read more