Day 1: Horseshoe Meadows to Rock Creek via New Army Pass
15.9 miles; 2,541 ft elevation gain; 3,053 ft elevation loss

After two days of camping and day hiking, we were ready to start our John Muir Trail hike. The weather forecast, however, was not favorable - it called for significant rain and thunderstorms for several days. We saw online that many people were delaying their starts or leaving the trail, but we decided to begin anyway. Later, we found out that the weather had been much worse farther north, and many hikers had to exit the trail due to extremely wet conditions and cold temperatures. While we had some light showers during the first few days, we were lucky and somehow avoided the worst of the weather.

The day before our hike we drove to Horseshoe Meadows and pitched our tent in the campground at the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead. Horseshoe Meadows is located 24 miles southwest of Lone Pine and the road there is an adventure in itself. It climbs 6,000 feet on a windy, narrow road with drop offs and rock hazards (the signs say “Rocks cleared between 8 and 4”). At the end of the road is Horseshoe Meadows, a large meadow at 10,000 feet surrounded by lodgepole pine forest.

With storms forecast to develop around midday, we got an early start and set off on the Cottonwood Lakes Trail. The lakes are located in an alpine basin at the southern end of the John Muir Wilderness, and it was about five miles to reach the first two. The Cottonwood Lakes Trail veered to the right to pass by all of the lakes and we continued on the New Army Pass Trail. The trail gradually climbed the basin, passing Long Lake and High Lake, until we reached the final switchbacks.

Clouds continued to gather over the pass as we climbed the switchbacks. When it started to sleet, we stopped to put on our rain gear and kept a brisk pace, hoping thunderstorms wouldn’t develop. We paused for a quick picture at New Army Pass, which sits at 12,400 feet and marks the border between the John Muir Wilderness and Sequoia National Park. Fortunately, the sleet was brief, and we had an uneventful descent down the other side of the pass.

It stayed overcast for the rest of the day, and I didn’t take any more pictures (I had stashed my camera in my pack when it began to sleet). We followed a series of trails to reach our campsite: the New Army Pass Trail, Upper Rock Creek Trail, Rock Creek Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). From New Army Pass to the PCT was about 6.5 miles, and from there it was another mile to our campsite. It was a fairly mellow descent. Along the way, we passed through some beautiful areas, especially the meadows where we often spotted deer.

Our campsite was tucked into the forest by Rock Creek, and we had a quiet evening before turning in for the night.

Day 2: Rock Creek to Guitar Lake via Guyout Pass
9.8 miles; 3,011 ft elevation gain; 1,059 ft elevation loss

We had a shorter day today, which was good because the weather was still iffy. It had rained off and on overnight, but we got lucky and didn’t encounter any rain while hiking during the day, even though the skies looked threatening at times.

We began with a climb to Guyout Pass, about 2.5 miles from our campsite. Guyout Pass sits at 10,900 feet and is unremarkable - there are no views, and it feels like a flat spot in the forest. From there, it was an easy descent to Guyout Flat, and we meandered along the trail to a viewpoint before descending to Crabtree Meadows.

We made a short detour to the Crabtree Ranger Station to check the latest weather and trail conditions for Mt. Whitney. A ranger the day before had told us it had snowed on Whitney and the conditions weren’t great for summiting. The ranger at Crabtree echoed that caution, warning us about potentially snowy or icy conditions and the chance of thunderstorms. We spoke to hikers along the way and heard mixed reports - some had turned back, while others had successfully summited. We decided to keep our fingers crossed for good weather and play it by ear.

From the meadows, we picked up the John Muir Trail for the remaining 2.6 miles and 1,000+ feet of elevation gain to Guitar Lake. I remembered this section being very scenic the last time we were on the trail. This time around, it was overcast, dry, brown, and missing the wildflowers from earlier in the summer. Even so, Timberline Lake and the surrounding mountain views were still beautiful, and the scenery at Guitar Lake was stunning.

We arrived in the early afternoon and had our pick of campsites since we were the first hikers there. We expected it to get busy, as this is the last campsite for people finishing the southbound JMT. Sure enough, hikers trickled in throughout the rest of the day.

We had a beautiful afternoon at camp. We watched marmots - and at times, fended them off, as several were quite interested in our backpacks and gear - and wandered around the lake to take in the views. After an early dinner, we scrapped plans to watch the sunset when it started to rain. We set our alarms for a 5 a.m. start and went to sleep, fervently hoping it wouldn’t rain overnight. *Fingers crossed* we’d be able to summit Whitney without any issues!