Sunday I decided to investigate an idea I had of a human powered ascent of White Mountain. I started at 5:20 and biked to Silver Canyon and then up it. It was colder than I expected in the morning and I had to stop to add some layers. The sunrise across the valley on the Sierras was nice. Once I started up the canyon the layers had to come off. At first it was merely tedious grinding up the relentless grade in the canyon. There were a number of stream crossings as the stream and road jockeyed for position on the narrow canyon floor but they were shallow enough so that my feet stayed mostly dry. Then I got to the 4 wheel drive section and it got steep. Then it got steeper. I had to walk the bike. If I knew how much I would have to walk the bike I would have changed out of my bike shoes. I was going slowly. Every once in a while I could ride for a bit, but then it would get steeper again and I was back on my feet. I probably could have ridden more if I was stronger, but some steep rocky parts were just easier to walk anyway. Finally around 6 hours after starting I got to the top of Silver Canyon. oof. The views back to the Sierra just kept getting better the higher I got though.
| |
|---|
 |
|---|
There was a short downhill bit to the main road up the Whites. The sign said 2 miles to Schulman Grove to the right and 9 miles to Patriarch Grove to the left. I went left and stopped at the top of a big hill for some lunch. Then there was a long descent and more up. I figured I needed to turn around by 3, but I got to the turnoff for the Crooked Creek Research Station a little before 1 and decided to turn back from there since I figured it would be many more hours to White Mountain from there (8 miles to Barcroft and then a few more to the Summit - maybe 6 hours round trip. I really didn't want to descend Silver Canyon in the dark). I think I did bike from Crooked Creek to Barcroft and from Barcroft to the summit back in 2011 so I have done all the segments, just not all at once. There was also an unknown but not zero amount of snow up higher. It was a long slow grind back up the hill to where I had lunch, and some quick downhill to the Silver Canyon turnoff. Most of the Silver Canyon road was too steep to be really enjoyable. In fact I was getting hand cramps from the brakes. I had to stop a bunch of times to rest my hands and arms and to let the rims cool down. I think I burned a mm off of the brake pads. It would have been nice to have disk and rim brakes to switch back and forth between them. Full suspension would have been nice too. I did pass a jeep going down, so it is nice to know I was descending rather quickly in comparison. Back on the lower angled and smoother part of the canyon road I was able to pick up a bit more speed. At one of the last stream crossings I stopped to dip my visor and a bandana for my neck. It was hot down there. The final push to Bishop was hot but there wasn't much wind so it went quickly. I got back a little before 4. Then I stumbled around for a bit before just giving in and getting fully horizontal. I probably biked and walked up between 7 and 8000 vertical feet. It would be over 10,000 to get to the summit of White Mountain.
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
I learned a number of things such as:
Maybe one day I can get all the way to White Mountain in a push out my door but I will need to start earlier, be stronger, and perhaps go when there is less snow in the way...
 |
|---|