July 10, 2023: Hiking to Lone Pine Lake and Preparing for Mt. Whitney
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Lone Pine Lake is a beautiful alpine lake located near Lone Pine, California. This lake is nestled in a very unique spot with snowy mountain peaks of the Eastern Sierra on one side and the desert of Alabama Hills on the other.
Hiking to Lone Pine Lake is about 6 miles roundtrip with 1,700 feet of elevation gain. Not too tough, right? Well, add in a starting elevation of 8,365 feet at the trailhead and then 10,000 feet at Lone Pine Lake – this adds more of a challenge than the distance and elevation gain combined. If you are not acclimated to these elevations, like we weren’t at the time, then you might struggle a bit!
We did this hike to Lone Pine Lake as an acclimatization hike to prepare for summiting Mt. Whitney. We have never been this high up at elevation before and needed to get our bodies ready for a 14,505-foot mountain! Our plan was to hike up to Lone Pine Lake which sits at 10,000 feet above sea level and spend as much time as possible there to allow our bodies to adapt to the altitude.
We started hiking from the Mt. Whitney Trailhead along the Mt. Whitney Trail. We were excited and started off strong. We always do that for some reason. We just like to bust out at full (hiking) speed at the beginning of a hike. We usually power through most of the trails we hike with little to no breaks until we reach our destination.
This time was different. This was our first time hiking at an elevation above 6,000 feet. Our bodies slowed down quick! The Mt. Whitney Trail wasted no time humbling us.
So, we ended up taking our time. We reached the second creek crossing (North Fork Lone Pine Creek). I really hated this part. It was like crossing an angry river. A lot smaller than a river, but nonetheless angry!
The water was flowing so fast and there was a small waterfall near the rocks that we had to step on. My fear was falling into the water and being taken down the waterfall further down the creek. Even though it was small, I was still scared. Also, that water was COLD!
We safely made it across without any accidental missteps.
Spoiler alert: Vikas almost got taken out by this creek crossing on our way to summit Mt. Whitney. Thankfully, he was able to recover his balance and didn’t get swept away.
We continued along the trail into the Inyo National Forest. The switchbacks along this trail were tougher than others we have encountered due to the altitude. We had to take a few breaks. We bought a few GU energy gels and figured it would be a perfect time to test them out. We have never had energy gels before until now.
They were actually really yummy, and our bodies responded positively to them. We felt more energized and ready to finish up the rest of this hike towards Lone Pine Lake!
We reached the last creek crossing where we had to walk over a log bridge. We were almost there! We had a hard time finding the trail after the log bridge. The sign for “Lone Pine Lake” was not there. Likely due to damage from the winter season. But we could see the lake, so we just made our way towards that direction.
Wow… it was breathtaking! I’ve never been to an alpine lake before. This one is special because it sits underneath huge snowy mountains (including Mt. Whitney) and above the desert landscape of the Alabama Hills. The water was so clear and so cold! There were a few small fishes in the lake. We were lucky to share this spot with just a few other people. It was peaceful.
We spent a few hours at the lake just relaxing and acclimating. Lone Pine Lake is by far one of my favorite spots ever! Maybe one day we will return and camp there.
Did this hike help us to acclimate for Mt. Whitney?
The answer is yes and no. Acclimating to a certain elevation takes at least a few days. We spent only a few hours at 10,000 feet which definitely wasn’t enough, especially since we were going to be at 14,505 feet in a few days.
But it was better than nothing! It seemed to have helped more than I thought it would. We didn’t start feeling any altitude sickness symptoms until we were above 13,000 feet. Of course, having NO altitude sickness symptoms would have been ideal. Anyway, you can read more about our experience hiking and summiting Mt. Whitney HERE.
