June 22, 2002

My friend Scotty and I left Reno at 5:30 am or so with our wives for the long drive to the trailhead. Turned left at Big Pine headed for Westgard Pass and the Ancient Bristlecone groves. Drove past all the groves, kept going until the road turned to dirt, and then drove 17 more miles to the locked gate (which wasn't really locked). We arrived at about 10 am to a fresh blanket of snow courtesy of active T-storms the day before. Scotty and I left first, and arrived at the top just after noon, taking 2:10 to walk the 6 miles of easy road. We passed many tourists on the way up, and the top was infested with them. We hung out for a while, waiting for our wives, taking photos, and tossing the frisbee. The weather was perfect, no wind, and nice bright sunshine that soon melted all the snow. We headed down, and some guy went by going up, and jogging. We later learned that he was stationed at the Barcroft facility, and he made the 4 miles to the top in around 55 minutes. We met the wives heading up, and Scotty turned around to re-climb the last 1,000 feet with his wife. My wife was ready to head back, so we did. White Mountain Peak is by far the easiest California fourteener, and you should expect to see hordes of tourists up there on any given weekend. The total elevation gain is about 2,500 feet, and most of the climb is in the last mile, and even then it's not very steep. For Scotty's take on this peak, click here.