High all weekend

SA Guide: Cottonwood Creek, Chicken Spring Lake out, Chicken Spring Lake back

A unique aspect of the Sierra Nevada is the ease with which you can reach high altitude. The west side of the range rises gradually through foothills and mid-elevations, the way one generally expects to approach high country. But on the other side, where Mt. Whitney hangs out (along with a few other "fourteeners"), several roads allow you to drive right up the precipitous east flank of the Sierra as if taking an elevator. In a matter of a few tens of minutes, an altitude seeker can travel from high desert towns at around 4,000 feet to over 10,000 feet, where a multitude of hiking and backpacking options await.

But of course that altitude also entails complications.

Researchers and practitioners of high-altitude medicine have developed a rough scale for classification of elevations and the physiological expectations thereof. This scale includes High-Altitude: over 1,500 meters (around 5,000 feet), Very High-Altitude: over 3500 meters (around 11,500 feet), and Extreme High-Altitude: over 5,500 meters (or just over 18,000 feet).

In preparing for a trip coming up in September to a spot in the Eastern Sierra that we'd once heard an authority call the most beautiful place he'd ever been (and that was enough of a recommendation for us to move Humphreys Basin right to the top of our list), we decided to try to get some high altitude experience on a shorter, dry-run trip. Since we knew we'd spend most of the September trip at 10,000' or higher, we grabbed a permit for an overnighter out of Horseshoe Meadows (just under 10,000') west of Lone Pine and planned a quick weekend trip. The idea was to get high, and stay high for three days.

On previous trips we'd spent a decent amount of time in the low to middle ranges of the High-Altitude category (5,000-11,500 feet), though not always without problems. A couple of times headaches at over 9,000 feet had brought things to an abrupt end. Others times we'd had no issues at all. That's one of the mysteries of altitude sickness, at different times it can hit you or it can give you a miss, even under exactly the same conditions.

Any source you consult on hiking (climbing, backpacking etc.) at high altitude says basically the same thing - acclimating is key. Take a day - preferably two - to allow your physiology to adjust to the lowered oxygen pressure. This is especially true for those who, like us, achieve their transition from sea level to two miles up in a few hours of driving. So, looking to acclimate, and given that we had three days to work with, we headed up to the walk-in campgrounds at the trailheads in Horseshoe Meadows, picked a spot for the night (a noisy, crowded night) and took a quick, easy walk up the Cottonwood Lakes trail to Cottonwood Creek to begin acclimatizing.

In the morning, with no aches or pains suggesting the onset of altitude sickness, we packed up our backcountry gear and headed off to Cottonwood Pass, the scaling of which would bring us within a comparatively level half-mile of Chicken Spring Lake (11,280'), where we'd spend our second night. Although this task encompassed a mere 4.5 miles and just over a thousand feet of elevation gain, the altitude made it a slog. To be honest (and to cut ourselves some slack), the fact that the thousand feet of gain happened in the course of about a mile, and 40 or so switchbacks, didn't help matters, but legs were definitely heavy and breath was short.

Nevertheless, we pushed on and made it to the lake. Then we set up the tent and took a nap.

If we hadn't been too impressed with how well we'd acclimated after one night, two really did seem to do the trick. The unexpected bit of fatigue from the previous night was gone, and we took some time to explore and enjoy the lake before eating breakfast and heading back down to the trailhead. As we returned to the pass, we felt good enough to ditch the original plan to return the way we came and take the long way around on the Pacific Crest Trail. This meant heading south, then east, then north again rather than simply going directly east back to the trailhead, but what the heck, we were feeling good.

The trail south turned out to be particularly scenic, with amazing views toward the Great Western Divide, and we enjoyed a very pretty seven mile-plus loop around to Trail Pass (on the south side of Horseshoe Meadow) and back through the meadow itself before returning to the open forest of the Cottonwood Pass trailhead. The views to the west of Mt. Langley (14,026') alone were worth the extra mileage.

That this second day's trip was enjoyable is not to say it ended up being easy. As the hike progressed, we noticed weariness setting in earlier than it should have. Hunger and thirst were a bit more demanding, and as we neared the end of the trip, the desire to finish seemed more pressing than usual. We were still above 10,000' after all.

Next time maybe we'll try for two nights of acclimation (yeah, I was just trying to get in one more conjugation).

Info:

Cottonwood Creek: Distance - 3.5 miles, Elevation gain - 213', Rating - Easy
Chicken Spring Lake out: Distance - 4.5 miles, Elevation gain - 1,391', Rating - Moderate-Difficult
Chicken Spring Lake back: Distance - 7.7 miles, Elevation gain - 1,417', Rating - Moderate-Difficult

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