Trip plan:

Day 0 - sleep at horseshoe meadows

Day 1 - Cottonwood Pass -> Soldier Lake (basecamp)

Day 2 - summit Langley and return to Soldier Lake

Day 3 - exit via cottonwood pass

Special Gear for the trip:

Microspikes

Bear Can

Weather:

Highs in the low 60s and lows in the mid 40s at camp.

Trail Conditions:

Trail was super easy to follow. Well worn and partially follows the PCT. Very exposed for sections with little to no tree cover. Lots of bug pressure at water sources.

TL;DR:

We bailed on day 2 due to altitude sickness.

Everything was taking longer than anticipated with more breaks, slower miles.

I ended up with minor heat exhaustion. I have a plan for my water, but didn’t anticipate the breaks and didn’t pivot the plan correctly.

Things I would change:

• If I try to summit again, I wouldn’t go all the way to Soldier Lake. There were good campsites between the turn off for Army Pass and the lake.

• Carry more water and fill up more often. I had capacity for 3L. I know I drink a lot of water. I should have carried more.

• Carry less food. I intentionally brought extra, I wouldn’t have needed it even if we did summit.

Day 0:

Left to horseshoe meadows after work. Intention was to sleep at altitude before starting the hike. Made it to the trailhead ~11:30 and slept in my car.

Day 1:

Woke up at 6am. Had breakfast. Met with friends who were also joining the trip.

We eventually set off at 8am.

The trail up Cottonwood Pass is gradual but feels never ending. Altitude already began having an impact on the group as miles began getting slower and slower. We made it to the pass ~10:30am. (Mile 4)

From there, we continued up, passing Chicken Spring Lake and eventually making it to the high point of the day.

The exposure started taking effect as it started feeling warmer during the hike. The trail turned into a series and ups and downs for the rest of the hike, with miles getting slower again. Breaks became more frequent until we eventually hid in some shade and had lunch ~ 1:30pm (mile 7).

Here, I noticed I was getting some heat exhaustion. Body was warming up and I was running a bit low on water. Appetite went away. I opted to hike to the next water source - a tiny spring with just enough flow to grab water. I filled up and we were on our way again.

The next 3 miles were more of the same, slow going, lots of breaks. We eventually crossed a creek and the path up Army Pass to get to Langley.

A bit further, we made it to Soldier Lake for camp.

There was another group there, we were initially trying to set up near them, but they pretty much said they wanted their privacy so we moved lol.

In hindsight, we should have backtracked a bit to where there was a bear locker and ample sites. Instead, we camped in a cramped, sloped area near the lake with a lot of skeeter pressure.

At camp, after laying down for a bit and getting some water, I was able to recoup and felt significantly better. However altitude sickness was a lot more recognizable in the group hitting some more than others. Headaches and loss of appetite being the biggest signs.

At this point, we made the decision not to summit, but were going to explore the area the following day. The decision eventually changed to needing to hike out early the next morning as the altitude sickness got worse.

Day 2:

Time to hike out!

We woke up as rested as you could be sliding around on sloped sites. We packed our gear and set out at 7:45am. We backtracked and filled up water at the stream, I made sure to fill up more to avoid any more heat exhaustion and we started our slow ascent back up towards cottonwood pass.

I wanted to go for a swim in chicken spring lake, the others weren’t so keen, so we opted to meet back up at cottonwood pass.

I made my way up and to the lake, it was an uneventful hike there and eventually hopped in and relaxed for ~30 min before heading to the pass.

At the pass, I waited a bit and the first two in the group got there ~15 minutes after I did. They were going to head down asap to get out of elevation. I met up with them again in Lone Pine.

The last in the group was there a bit later. He took a break at the pass as well.

In all, I was at the pass for an hour and a half.

We started making our way down and back to the trailhead, met an PCT section hiker and offered him a ride to Kennedy Meadows road, and arrived at Lone Pine at ~3pm.

From there, we said our goodbyes and took the long drive back home.