White Mountain Peak
White Mountains, E of Bishop · near Bishop · Eastern Sierra
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- nontechnical
- Elevation
- 14246
- Best season
- July–October; the access road opens seasonally
What is here
- Terrain
- desert-peak
- Amenities
- Barcroft gate trailhead (high, seasonal road) · No permit required for the day hike · Ancient bristlecone pines nearby · A 14er nearly anyone fit can walk up
- Best for
- California's most attainable 14er — a walk-up
- Features
- Easiest California 14er · 3rd-highest peak in the state · Ancient bristlecone-pine country · Non-technical road walk-up
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Altitude is the whole challenge — 14,000+ ft, thin air, fast weather · Long exposed road-walk with no shade or water · Afternoon thunderstorms on the open plateau · Cold and wind even in summer at elevation
- Beginner friendly
- Yes
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- No
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- altitude · scrambling
- Style
- walk-up
- Altitude
- 5
- Route notes
- The easiest 14,000-foot peak in California and the third-highest in the state — a long but entirely non-technical walk-up an old research road, high in the stark White Mountains among the oldest trees on Earth
- Beta note
- ~14,246 ft; Class 1 walk-up (~14 mi RT) on a closed road from Barcroft gate; altitude is the crux
- Intl tip
- California's friendliest fourteener — the third-highest peak in the state, yet a completely non-technical walk-up. From the high Barcroft gate, an old closed research road climbs ~7 miles to the top: no scrambling, no exposure, no route-finding, just the altitude (you finish above 14,000 ft). It sits in the stark White Mountains among bristlecone pines, the oldest trees on Earth, and you may share the summit with only marmots. A real 14er with none of the technical fuss for a fit, acclimatized hiker — start early for storms.
- Directions note
- Access via the Barcroft gate at the end of White Mountain Rd — 17 mi of dirt past the Bristlecone Forest; directions link points at the peak
The guide
White Mountain Peak is California's friendliest fourteener: the third-highest summit in the state, yet reachable by a completel…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to White Mountain Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.6341, -118.2557