Backpacking Mt. Langley

Trail: Cottonwood Lakes to Mt. Langley

Miles: 25.8

Type: Out and Back

My Time: 11 Hours

Elevation Gain: 5128 ft.

Difficulty: Difficult

Parking Permit: No

Location: Inyo National Forest/Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park

This wonderful hike starts off Horseshoe Meadows Road at the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead. Now you can either backpack and overnight this hike or you can crush it in a day, if you’re into that. I opted to do it as an overnighter, so I could enjoy the lakes and being in nature. My decision to do so paid off! It was a wonderful time to be out backpacking solo. If you choose to do this hike as an overnighter, then you will need to get a permit from Recreation.gov. This allows the trails to not be so impacted/busy all at once and so you can have a place to camp. If you are an impromptu person or don’t wanna deal with the permits, then just do it as a day hike. A permit is not required for a day hike. When getting your permit you must choose your camping destination. All I can say is you can’t go wrong with any of the lakes. Now you may want to pick a lake that is conducive to the route you are taking up Mt. Langley. For example I was planning on going up Old Army Pass, so camping closer to this route made most sense. But when I found out it was still snow covered, really sketchy and someone had recently died, I opted to take New Army Pass. By changing my route, it added a few extra miles to my trip. Now I’m sure I could have camped closer to the New Army Pass Trail and save myself some miles. But I was completely alone over by lake number three. And being completely solo with nobody around was one of the best experiences. The couple extra miles I decided to hike in order to take the safer route was well worth it!

The first 3-ish miles of this hike are fairly flat with little elevation gain noticeable. Even with my backpacking pack on, I felt like I was flying through this section. Throughout this section, there is a ton of tree coverage to protect you from the sun! But right around the 3 to 3 1/2 mile marker you start shooting up towards the lakes and that is when the elevation hits. Making my way up to 11,000 feet is a lot. Specifically because I live at sea level! So in one day I drove from sea level and then hiked up to a little over 11,000 feet for my camp. (Sidenote for those of you that are looking to acclimate before heading up to 14,000 feet this could be a great way to do so.) There is still tree coverage throughout most this climb as well. Once you can see the first lake the elevation levels out and is “flat” along the lakes for the most part. Searching for your campsite with ease! Now I know there are other places to camp up the trail further, but I can’t speak for them.

Cottonwood Lake #3 was amazing! The water was crystal clear, saw a few fish, and was able to filter water right from the lake. Truthfully the water looked nice enough to not have to filter, but I wasn’t gonna take that chance. I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the lake and just relaxing. There is no cell service, so it was perfect to not have any distractions. Just myself and nature! It did get fairly windy that night, blowing my tent harshly. So needless to say I didn’t sleep very well and I was up at 4 AM. At this point I figured I might as well just start getting ready to go summit Mt. Langley. By 5 AM I was on the trail, headed my journey up. I didn’t see anybody else on the trail until I started the switchbacks of New Army Pass. There was a couple not too far ahead of me, which was great because I could use them as a reference to where the trail was headed. New Army Pass switchbacks had the elevation spread out pretty evenly in my opinion so I didn’t feel like it was extremely difficult. (The exact purpose of switchbacks.) Now the only downfall of New Army Pass is once you reach the top of the pass, you then have to go down roughly a couple hundred feet of elevation. Then you start ascending again towards summit. We can all agree, nothing is worse than losing elevation you just gained. Also you officially enter Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park from the Pass to the summit.

At the bottom of this descend you reach the top of Old Army Pass and then start the final ascent to Mt. Langley. The final couple miles are straight up! Thankfully there are giant cairns to help you follow the trail. I had read it was difficult to follow but I had no problem following along. There was only one section I got confused, because it looks like the trail just ends into the side of a boulder field, but you have to climb up it and you can see the other cairns directing you this way. I’ll have to admit, the final mile was brutal! I’m not sure if it has to do with living a sea level, or gaining about 1000 feet of elevation in ~1 mile. But this mile I definitely took a handful of breaks because I was not giving up until I made it to the top. So I would turn around and take in the views as I caught my breath. It also didn’t help that there was a lot of loose dirt, almost sand like conditions. The couple ahead of me was now out of sight because it was so steep and they kept going as I took my small breaks.

But the giant cairns kept me on the right path. I pulled up my AllTrails app. as I knew I was approaching the summit. I didn’t wanna make a wrong turn and fall off a cliff edge or something. At this moment I saw the couple headed back down already! I was basically there! They had just gone up, saw the view, took their picture and were on their way down. Short and sweet, so I assumed they were day hiking it. Which meant I had the summit to myself! Now this was awesome to be at 14,000 feet looking over Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Lone Pine, and seeing Mount Whitney from a different perspective. I could also see the lakes down below and kind of guesstimated where my camp was. I checked for service, I had enough to give my girlfriend a FaceTime call. This didn’t last very long but it was enough to let her know I was safe. I only sat up here for a short while enjoying the view because I had to hike down, pack up camp, and then hike back out. (Fyi I do not recommend you do this because once I got back to camp I just wanted to relax at the lake again and not head out for the car.) But unfortunately I had to work the next day.

Coming down the very 1st mile you need to make sure you can spot the giant cairns to keep you on track. At one point I noticed I was heading off to the side and not the way I came up, so I used my AllTrails app. to get me back onto my path. That was the only time I lost the trail because it all looks the same up there. Once you’re about a mile and a half down it is all smooth sailing with the exception of the small elevation gain to the top of New Army Pass. I debated going down Old Army Pass, as it would have taken me directly to my campsite and saved a couple miles, but I opted to be safe especially because I was hiking solo. At this point other hikers were making their way over the pass en route to Mt. Langley. Most of them asking me how it was, etc.

Overall this area is gorgeous! I highly recommend you make this an overnight trip so you can enjoy it as well. The next time I go back I would like to bring a fishing pole and fish a few of the lakes. There is definitely a lot of tree coverage for the first few miles but then after that it is fully exposed so make sure you have your sun protection. Also bring plenty of water, and/or a water filtration system. You will need to permit for entering the National Park as well, this information can be found once you are printing your permit for camping. A lot of people use this as a training hike for Mt. Whitney.

As always, leave no trace.

Pack it in and pack it out!

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