White Mountain is the easiest of the California fourteeners, and one of the two non-Sierra outliers (with Shasta). It’s a pile of volcanic gravel east of Bishop, at the end of a long and very entertaining dirt road leading all the way up to 11,600 feet (3500m). There’s a road all the way to the University of California research station at the summit, but access is blocked except to hikers, bikers, and authorized researchers. You can actually mountain bike to the summit, which would save a lot of tedium traversing the long lonely stretch from the research residence to the summit. You might have to walk the bike up the last steep bit, or stash the bike temporarily. Not much to report about the hike itself, just a long walk.
The scenery is very different than the Sierra. Lots of burnt earth tones and swathes of volcanic colors, reds and ochres and oranges and yellows. Not much green up this high. The summit itself (#4 for me) has a little stone structure, some weather instruments -
and a colossal loose stone cairn, with a view out into Nevada:
By far the best thing about this trip is the night sky at the high altitude parking spot:
A few more photos here.
