RE: [pct-l] Lone Pine resupply

["Brett Tucker" <blisterfree@hotmail.com>]

>From: "Robinson, Brian A" <brian.robinson@compaq.com>

>Resupplying at Lone Pine via Whitney Portal is worth considering, 
>especially
>for those who plan to take the side-hike up Mt. Whitney.  It's "only"
>another 8 miles down to the portal.  With an empty pack and an ice axe for
>glissading, this is not that hard.
>
>What IS hard, is going back UP with a big load of food.  Instead, I
>recommend coming back over Cottonwood Pass from Horseshoe Meadows.  You'll
>redo some PCT miles getting back, but you'll avoid the 5,000+ foot climb
>over Trail Crest on the side of Mt. Whitney.


Last summer, northbound PCT, I resupplied at Lone Pine *before* climbing 
Whitney, rather than the approach outlined above, and found that this worked 
great.

To do this, I left the PCT at Trail Pass, hiking the couple of miles to the 
popular trailhead, then hitching down to Lone Pine. (Joseph's Bi-rite 
grocery in town offers fair prospects for resupplying, if for instance one's 
food parcel should somehow fail to show up at the Lone Pine PO. Of course, 
that is practically unheard of.)

I then returned to the PCT at Trail Pass, via another easy hitchhike, from 
the Portal Rd. Continued northbound with enough food to Vermilion, including 
a full day side climb to Whitney via Crabtree.

The big advantage of this approach, I thought, was that it allowed a Whitney 
climb without confronting the east face or the portal, or their associated 
elevations gains and losses, and bear canister clearance, etc.

Another advantage was that it avoided the need to repeat trail miles, for 
instance in the scenario where one descends to Whitney Portal, then decides 
to return to the PCT somewhere farther south to avoid the partial climb back 
up Whitney to Trail Crest.

I also liked the limited amount of food weight out of Kennedy Meadows. Those 
two or so days to the Lone Pine resupply were quick and easy. Also, after 
returning to Trail Pass from Lone Pine, the extra food needed for the 
forthcoming Whitney climb I only had to carry very briefly. As I recall I 
camped at Guitar Lake on the Whitney "approach" trail only about a day after 
striking out from Trail Pass. And climbing Whitney I didn't carry my pack at 
all, but rather secured it from the marmots and left it near camp. And in 
carrying zero packweight up and down Whitney from the west side exclusively, 
I did one better than had I climbed Whitney and descended for Lone Pine via 
the Portal. In other words, carrying no pack at all is a lighter option than 
carrying a pack empty of food and bound for a resupply.

Gathering my pack once again at the base of Whitney, I continued the several 
miles back to the PCT and headed north for Vermilion, carrying the same 
amount of food as if Whitney had never happened.

This overall approach minimized off-PCT hiking, eliminated having to repeat 
trail miles, made for a quick and easy return to the PCT after resupplying, 
and minimized the distance I had to carry the additional food for climbing 
Whitney. And too, it allowed me to climb Whitney without the pack.

Another approach that would allow one to climb Whitney pack-less would be to 
hike thru from Kennedy Meadows, bypassing Lone Pine, and resupplying instead 
at Independence or Bishop, or going all the way to Vermilion, etc. With any 
of these approaches, the hiker descends from Whitney via the same route 
climbed, thus allowing for a pack cache. But in terms of doing this while 
splitting up the K.M. to Vermilion stretch, I find Lone Pine superior to 
Independence or Bishop because reaching it can involve far fewer off-PCT 
miles and better hitching prospects - again, when using Trail Pass.

All of this was the subject of much debate among a bunch of us northbounders 
last summer, and I was the only one who ended up adopting this approach. To 
my knowledge, the others carried food from Kennedy Meadows to Whitney, then 
descended to Lone Pine via the Portal. To them the question was, "then 
what?" And no answer sounded good to me. :)

- Blisterfree





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