DAY 1

We’ll meet at comfy SMG quarters in sunny Bishop California the morning of day 1.  From Bishop we’ll pile into the pre-arranged shuttle vehicle and drive waaaaay up into the White Mountains.  The first day’s hike will be relatively easy (2-3 miles, mostly downhill and rolling), continuing your acclimatization and adjusting to the packs.  We’ll camp in wild and incongruous Cottonwood Basin.

DAY 2

After the first day and the shuttle ride and abrupt entry to the wilderness, day two and it’s initiation to the comfortable rhythm of high country trekking.  We will cross through the granite domes of Cottonwood Creek and up onto the plateau beneath White Mountain Peak.  Our exact camp this night will depend on location of snow patches.  Melted snow will be our water supply! Stats: about 5 miles and 2000 vertical feet.

DAY 3

Day 3’s a big one!  We’ll climb White Mountain Peak, using the now closed White Mountain road briefly and promptly leave whatever crowds there are behind.  Beyond the relative civilization of the Peak we’ll encounter some 3rd class terrain and begin the idyllic miles of ridge crest meadows.  We will ascend and descend about 4000 vertical feet over the 10 miles between camps.  Our camp will be near the headwaters of Birch Creek in spectacular mountain meadow terrain.

DAY 4

The White Mountain Range seems to be shaped a bit like an old skateboard- turned up and ragged at both ends.  Day 4 puts us in the middle on the flatter section.  Cruising through mountain meadows, high boggy tundra and among Bighorn sheep, the scenery will more than distract us from the high altitude.  As we roll over the flat and vague summits of Pellisier Flat and Mount Dubois we’ll climb about 3000 feet and descend about 1000 in about 7 miles.

DAY 5

The final day, and two more big peaks to go.  We’ll first grind up Mount Montgomery and skirt the craggy crest of its summit ridges.  From the summit of Montgomery we’ll see the cruel irony in Nevada’s high point- Boundary Peak- as we look down on it just over the border.  Don’t worry, we’ll hit that high point too.  It’s just that not many people climb down onto a “state high point.”  Speaking of down, the rest of this last day is down and down and down.  With our lighter packs and the cruiser open terrain, we’ll make good time to the end of the road and our waiting shuttle vehicle.  10 miles, 2000 feet up, endless down.