Mount Langley will always be a memorable hike for us. We first attempted this hike back in May 2016 and only made it up past Old Army Pass. There was way too much snow on the trail (we couldn’t find it once we reached the top of Old Army Pass), it was too late in the day to attempt to summit, and we didn’t really have a plan to get down since both Old Army Pass and New Army Pass were covered in snow. When we did the hike for the second time in September 2019, we were much more prepared (actually studying the paths for Old and New Army Pass) and the trail conditions were much better.
Trip Overview:
Dates: September 14 – September 15, 2019
Time: 3 hours to our campsite, 3 hours from campsite to summit
Miles: 12 miles RT to the Lake Three; approximately 22 miles RT to the summit
Trailhead Elevation: 10,066 ft
Peak Elevation: 14,026 ft
Elevation Gain: 5,200 ft
Permit: A wilderness permit for the Cottonwood Lakes Trail is required year round for overnight trips and can be reserved up to 6 months in advance at www.Recreation.gov. Day use on the trail does not require a permit.
Trailhead: Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead
Parking: Available parking at the trailhead
Dogs Allowed: Only allowed in the National Forest (up to the pass), so in order to summit, no
Getting There:
The trailhead to start this hike begins at the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead, about 45 minutes from the town of Lone Pine. Driving up north on the 395 Highway, turn left on Lubken Canyon Road out of Lone Pine and take another left on Horseshoe Meadows Road. Take this road up the switchbacks and follow the signs for the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead Parking/Horseshoe Meadow Campground. There is also another campground (Cottonwood Pass Trailhead Campground) if you want to camp out the night before your trip and get an early start.
Trip Details:
We left the Los Angeles area on Saturday morning around 5:30 am and arrived at the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead Parking around 9 am. We ate a snack, packed up our backpacks, and headed off to start on the trail.
The trail to the Cottonwood Lakes is very straightforward; it’s about 4.5 miles to arrive to the start of the Cottonwood Lakes (about 6 miles to the end of Lake #3 where we camped). We arrived at Lake #1 around 12:15 pm and scoped out the lakes to find a camping spot.
We found a great spot to camp at Lake #3, and since we didn’t summit until the next morning, we had the whole the rest of the day to relax and hangout by the lake. The mini fishing pole and container of worms that we bought in Lone Pine ended up being perfect entertainment for the afternoon, and I was able to catch a small fish (that we released back into the lake)!! The rest of the day we drank a few beers, Teddy took a quick cold plunge in the lake, and we went to bed early to start our early hike in the morning.
The next morning, we started our summit day at 5 AM. It was dark until around 6 AM, but when we turned around to look where we had come from, we could see the amazing views at Lakes Four and Five. We chose to take Old Army Pass over New Army Pass, as it’s a more direct route, just a little less maintained.
The last time we were looking for Old Army Pass, the entire trail was snowed over so we had no idea where to go. We ended up using our ice axe and crampons to hike up an extremely steep chute, which was in hindsight extremely dangerous to even start the approach up. Our assumption was that once we got to the top of the pass, we could take the less steep New Army Pass back down. However, when we got to the top we had no idea where the New Army Pass Trail was so we ended up self-arresting down the same chute we climbed up. This was very dumb and dangerous of us but after a long time of contemplating (and crying! haha) at the top, we felt this was our only way down without having to bundle up overnight at the top. D:
However, with no snow on the trail, Old Army Pass is extremely easy to follow and it’s all Class 1 Hiking.
At the top of the pass you see a sign that welcomes you to Sequoia National Park. The landscape to us reminded us of a sunrise on the moon, with rocks and a beautiful purple sky. Continue up the trail to the north and the last bit of the hike is through a loose scree field to the top. This part sucked, but if you follow the cairns, you’ll eventually get there. We arrived at the top at 8 AM and no one else was there, which was nice, because Teddy proposed! 🙂 We hung out at the top for a bit, ate some snacks, and enjoyed the view.
I don’t really remember the breakdown of times on our way down, to our site and then back to the trailhead, but Teddy somehow timed it so that we arrived back at the trailhead at 3 PM where all of our close family and friends were waiting to surprise us in the parking lot for our engagement. He kept taking breaks and saying he wanted to rest, which I wanted to do the opposite so I could get back to the parking lot and tell everyone about the proposal!
Need to Know:
- From May 1 through November 1, the permit limit is 60 people per day
- No campfires are allowed in the Cottonwood Lakes Basin, and no campfires are allowed at all locations above 10,400 feet
- Must bring a bear proof container
When to Hike Mount Langley:
Anytime from June to October would be a good time to hike Mount Langley. During our first attempt at hiking we went in late May and the Old Army Pass was completely covered in snow. Our second trip was in September and the weather was perfect! There were also not too many bugs at the lakes.
What to Pack to Hike Mount Langley:
- Hydration: We usually start with 2-3 liters of water, each, and pack a water filter and some iodine tablets. If you’re hiking where there’s snowpack, you can boil some snow to have drinkable water. Electrolyte packets are also very useful for hydration on the trail.
- Nutrition: We usually eat a bar or oatmeal and a piece of fruit before starting off on our backpacking trips. For this trip, we ate a bar in the morning and waited until we got to our campsite to eat lunch. For snacks, we bring bars, jerky, or trail mix. For dinners, we either eat dehydrated foods or even leftovers from a meal we ate on the road trip out to the hike (cold pizza makes a great dinner!).
- Stove: We love our Jetboil to boil water for drinking and to heat up our dehydrated dinners, oatmeals, coffee, etc.
- Navigation: For hikes with more difficult trails to follow, you may want to invest in a GPS tracker. For simpler hikes, we use the GPS system on our phones and a tracker such as Gaia GPS or AllTrails.
- Headlamp: We use Black Diamond, and I usually also pack our inflatable solar latern by MPOWERD and attach it to the outside of my pack.
- Sun protection: Sunscreen, sunglasses, and sun-protective clothes – always a must!
- First aid: Our first aid kit consists of band-aids, gauze, medical tape, Compede Bandages (love this more than Moleskin for blisters), antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes, ibuprofen, tweezers, pocket knife
- Shelter: We use our Marmot Tungsten 2-Person Tent (3 season, 4 lbs, 13 oz).
- Crampons and ice axe: When we did our trip in May 2016, this was a must for us. If we didn’t have these items we probably would have been stuck up at the top of Old Army Pass.
