Trip Report

Mount Langley: Southeast Loop

Day Hiking California's Southernmost Fourteener

Mount Langley's impressive south wall, seen from Cottonwood Lakes. The author ascended the steep east-southeast ridge, traversed to Langley's 14,026' summit, and returned to the Horseshoe Meadows Trailhead via Army Pass—a fine day's work.

Horseshoe Meadows

1. Horseshoe Meadows
2. Cottonwood Lakes
3. The East-Southeast Ridge
4. Diaz Creek & Owens Valley
5. Moonscape
6. Elevation: 14,026
7. Crashing Army Pass
8. Finishing the Loop

MOUNT LANGLEY, CA — Looking for a spectacular high-altitude day hike in the Southern Sierra Nevada?

Horseshoe Meadows is a popular region in the Southern Sierra, perfect for hiking and camping getaways.

The paved Horseshoe Meadows road winds its way up the sheer east side of the Sierra from Lone Pine and Owens Valley, at times carved out through solid granite, until you reach nearly 10,000 feet in elevation.

Such a high starting point is a rare and welcome feature in a Southern Sierra climb, making this region a terrific access point to Mount Langley's south-facing hiking routes, as well as the peak's dramatic south face.

Remote, high meadows, scattered jewel-blue lakes, and cool pines are among the many fine features in this part of the Sierra. I had been here a year earlier, wanting to climb Langley via its Class 3 southeast ridge.

On that hike, I'd climbed up the Southeast ridge too soon and gotten hung up on the summit of Peak 12,819, a shark-tooth of a peak whose sheer sides made getting back on route impossible.

A year later I was back, eager to correct my mistake—and also eager to revisit Peak 12819. Was it really as steep as I remembered?

I spent the night in Lone Pine, then got a predawn start the following day. The sky was just beginning to lighten as I arrived at the Horseshoe Meadows parking lot.

The air was chilly, and thick with the rich scent of fresh pine. Despite the chill and the early hour, I was happy to be back on the trail, hiking once again toward the summit of one of California's fourteeners.

The first four miles of the Cottonwood Lakes trail cross a long, gentle bowl, following a creek past forests and meadows. I kept a brisk pace, wanting to stay warm in the early morning breeze.

In my opinion, the hike doesn't really begin until you reach Cottonwood Lakes.

Given how flat the terrain is these first few miles, they could have easily extended the road that far—especially considering how much trouble it must have been to build the road up the sheer escarpment of the Sierra's Eastern Spine in the first place!

Of course, keeping the road short keeps the people out, making the Cottonwood Lakes region quiet and remote. But when you're eager to start climbing at 6 a.m. and there are miles of flat, dusty trail ahead, it's hard not to get impatient.

next: Cottonwood Lakes »