California trails · Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
A 7.5-mile out-and-back in California, with 3,780 ft of climbing. Reaches Mount Whitney and other arch/lake/summit destinations. Managed by the National Park Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It climbs almost continuously, with little descent to recover on.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Mount Whitney (summit)
- Timberline Lake (lake)
- Mount Muir (summit)
- Crooks Peak (summit)
- Keeler Needle (arch)
- Guitar Lake (lake)
Heads up
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 5:57 a.m., the sun rises at 6:23 a.m. and sets at 7:23 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:49 p.m. (PDT) — 12 h 59 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 15.0-mile round trip takes roughly 9 h 20 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 3:43 p.m. — 3 h 39 min before sunset.
Loop options
- Mount Whitney + Trail Crest + Mount Whitney Mountaineer's Route — 15.4 mi loop, 6,716 ft gain
Nearby trails
- New Army Pass — 10.4 mi
- Sawmill Pass — 25.9 mi