Mt. Langley (14,042')

My third 14er!  And the most difficult hike of my life so far...

Dad and I decided to take a 3-day weekend to do the hike.  Our original plan was to carry our packs up to the Cottonwood lakes area on Friday, make the summit on Saturday, spend that night at our camp, and then hike out on Sunday.  It was not to be.  Both thunderstorms and permit troubles conspired to keep us at the Horseshoe Meadows walk-in camp on Friday night.  (Be advised that the Cottonwoods lakes trail quota is frequently filled, contrary to what the guidebooks say.)  As a result, we had to cram Friday and Saturday's hiking into one day.  Oh well, at least our tent had power windows and lights...

On Saturday morning, the engine in our tent wouldn't start, so despite getting up at 5am and making breakfast in the pre-dawn chill, we didn't actually hit the trail until somewhere around 8:30am.  We were in for a VERY long day.

Nevertheless, the hike started smoothly, with a fairly level trek through a 10,000' forest of limber pines.

We enjoyed the usual alpine delights along the way...

After a brief stop at Cottonwood Lake #3 to drop our overnight gear and eat some lunch, we were back on the trail, or the mile or two of it that was left on the map, anyway.

 Panorama view of Cottonwood Lake #3 here.

We were heading into Old Army Pass, and all the information we had referred to an under-maintained or non-existent trail.  Turning the corner into the canyon, we were greeted with something that looked more like a 1,000' cliff than a pass.  Hmm...daunting.  At least there isn't much snow this year.

Working our way around the lake, we eventually spotted some other hikers coming down the pass.  There was a trail, but it wasn't easy.  Can you spot all 4 people in this picture?

At the top of Old Army Pass (12,000'), Dad sat down to relax and let off some steam.

From here on up, there are no trails on the map.  Guidebooks describe it as a trudge, slog, or a march, and they are right!  The top 2,000' feet of this mountain is covered with sand, and a spiderweb of use trails!

The going gets steeper, higher, more moon-like, and feels more like "two steps forward, one step back" the closer you get to the top.  At a snack stop at about 13,000' we talked things over, and made the hard decision to split up.

Since it was already getting late, I would press on, hoping to get to the summit before a 5:15pm turn-around time.  The sportsman's challenge was issued, so I gave it everything I had.  The sand finally ends at a rocky headwall at about 13,500'.  Here's the view looking down toward Old and New Army Pass from the base of the Class 2 or 3 scramble, and the route I decided to take through the headwall.

After clearing the rocks, there is even more sand to trudge through, but thankfully, this didn't last long.  The summit was near!  I had the top of the mountain all to myself, which meant I had to improvise for my usual 'Merican flag summit picture...

The views were absolutely stunning, even better than Mt. Whitney, I think.

 Check out a panorama of the view from the peak here. 

Mt. Whitney, almost 500' higher than Mt. Langley, reigns over the Sierras about 2 peaks to the north.

After a precious short time enjoying the summit views and taking care of the usual register-signing, photography, and snacking duties, it was time to head back down.  Thanks to being able to choose my own route (straight down) and the soft sand, I made it back down at about 4 times the speed I went up!

I found a few improbable alpine flowers along the way.  Anyone know what they are called?





About 1-1/2 miles later, I found Dad waiting for me on a pinnacle near Old Army Pass.  (Look for the orange jacket.)

We finished the hiking back down Old Army Pass to Cottonwood #3 together...

...and were both so tired after the hike that we had trouble following the cooking directions for our dinner: add hot water, then wait.  We stumbled around camp for a little while, then went to bed.  I slept so hard, I woke up in the same position I fell asleep in...and that's saying something since this was the first night of a backpacking trip!

A tent is one of my favorite places to wake up.  We had a stunningly beautiful day to hike down the mountain.

The track on my phone was a little strange because of some issues with the GPS bouncing off the cliff faces around us.  So, I'm a little unsure on what the actual distance was for the hike.  I think it was about 20.3 miles, with about 5,000' of gain/loss.  Here's a view of our route from Google Earth, as well as an elevation profile for the trip.  (Cottonwood lakes are at 11,000', and the top of Old Army Pass is at 12,000')

You can download our GPS track here so you can view it in Google Earth yourself. (.kmz format)