Meysan Lakes
Whitney Portal, Lone Pine · near Lone Pine · Eastern Sierra
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 10.9 miles
- Elevation gain
- 3,680 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–October (the upper basin holds snow later)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit for a day hike — critically, this is NOT in the Mt. Whitney lottery. Overnight needs a standard Inyo NF permit. The tread fades to route-finding above Camp Lake.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Whitney Portal without the Whitney permit · Turquoise alpine lakes (Grass, Camp, Meysan) · Under Lone Pine Peak & Mt Irvine · Steep, quiet, dramatic
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- It's relentlessly uphill (3,600+ ft) starting near 8,000 ft, so it hits harder than the mileage looks. The tread disappears between Camp Lake and Meysan Lake — carry a map/GPS.
The guide
The overlooked hike right next to the Whitney circus: from Whitney Portal, the Meysan Lakes trail grinds steeply up to a cluste…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Meysan Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.5872, -118.2359