We don’t hike often because it seems to bother my knee the most. However, I made an exception for Lone Pine Lake. Both my brother and my sister have hiked the amazing Mt. Whitney here, but my knee would never allow that so Derek and I settled for a 6.5 mile hike that got us up to Lone Pine Lake and back. The hike gains 1,876′ starting at 8,319′ and going up to 10,037′!
After waiting for the day to warm up a bit, we hit the trailhead around 11 and started our hike. This hike is the same trail as those hiking to the summit of Mt. Whitney but it being slightly off season, we only saw about 10 people on the trail the whole hike. Lone Pine Lake is as far as you can go without a permit which can be hard to get. So if you want to do our hike you’re able to without a permit.
The trail climbs steadily the entire way but it’s never really that steep. There are a couple sections of rock steps and when we hiked it, a stream crossing and a tiny bit of mud. It’s high elevation so the weather conditions change and vary quickly so being prepared is a must. I had about 4 different layers I carried but never needed more than my lightweight long sleeve base and a technical tshirt. I did however, wear my winter skate ski gloves the entire hike. My hands are always cold!
I honestly was shocked that we got to the top so fast, even stopping a lot for pictures. The altitude didn’t bother either of us and we marched right up in about 1.5 hours. At the lake we found a nice rock outcropping in the sun and sat to eat our sandwiches. If you’re in to fishing you could even bring a pole, I saw fish jumping when we were there.
This being an out and back, we headed back down the trail to finish up. Snow is in the forecast for the higher elevations such as this so I’m not sure how much longer the conditions will be as good as when we hiked it.
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