Mt. Whitney From Cottonwood Lakes

Looking back towards the meadow seen below, we could see Mt. Langley on the right and the walls of Miter Basin on the left over the small lake in the foreground. The Major General can be seen just below Mt. Langley.

A Small Lake with a Great View

Mt. Whitney Trip from Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead. June 2000.

Day 2, June 30th, 2000: 13 miles, about 2500 feet accumulated gain and loss.
After a questionable nights sleep with the additional annoyance of the occasional mosquito, we dragged out of our sacks as soon as there was enough light in the sky. After eating and drying things out, we packed and slapped mosquitoes. Of some concern was the failure of our water filter, which forced us to use iodine, or be VERY careful where we drew water. We were to find out later from a reliable source that the incident of Gieardia was extremely low on the west side of the Sierra Crest. And to add to our equipment failures, the pump to the stove was damaged but still usable.

Looking across the meadow towards the small lake seen in the picture above this one.

It was a relief to get moving again and away from the annoyance of the flying bloodsuckers, though for the first few miles we dare not stop for fear of being sucked dry. The trail from camp began levelly before passing the easy ford, then plunged down on steep switchbacks to the level meadow and a ford of Rock Creek. After the early season wet crossing of Rock Creek, the trail crossed more meadow and passed near a shallow lake where below it continued to be fairly level. We hit a group of Boy Scouts near the small lake who were trying to pack up while valiantly battling hoards of mosquitoes. The weather had been wet recently and the days were warm which were ideal conditions for the annoying bugs. However, we hit it lucky as each day was fairly cooler than the last, and every day was crystal clear. And as the weather cooled and the nights dipped into freezing temperatures, it put a huge damper on the mosquitoes to the point we hardly saw them at all towards the end of the trip.