White Mountain Peak

White Mountain Peak is the third highest peak in California, at 14,252 feet (4,344 metres).



Most years, the Barcroft Field Station (part of the University of California) opens their gates for one weekend and allows people to park on their premises as a starting point for the hike up White Mountain Peak. This eliminates about 1.5 miles of walking each way, which can be very welcome when you're already over 12,000 feet.

With this in mind, Jeremy made plans to take advantage of this assistance, and we were happy to join him!

I dragged my poor VW Golf up to the normal trailhead, where we camped for the night under a fantastic view of the Milky Way, Jupiter, and Venus. There were a surprising number of people waiting for the gate to open, but in hindsight, given that this is the third highest peak in California and this opportunity only occurs once a year, maybe it should not have been a surprise.

Starting up from the Barcroft Field Station.

The hike itself is actually quite easy, following an old road over mostly gentle terrain, but the wind can be relentless and the air thin. For Aki and I, now living at around 6,200 feet / 1,900 metres, the altitude wasn't too bad, but the sea-levellers had some headaches.

Photo from the summit, looking north

From the summit, there are great views of the Sierras to the west. On either side, the valley bottoms are a significant drop, making for a feeling of isolation.

That's pretty high!

This was our first road trip after moving to South Lake Tahoe, and driving home felt ... different. While Jeremy and Tommy turned left onto 395, heading towards Los Angeles, we turned right. It felt good to not be heading into that craziness.