White Mountain, California

July 8th, 2011 White Mountain is a 2.6 Mile high (14,230 ft), extinct volcano, in the White Mountains, California. This makes it the 3rd highest peak in California. It is considered a good introduction to high altitude hiking as you can drive to almost 2 mile altitude before starting the hike. This gave us the chance to camp at the trail head the night before, and acclimatize to the altitude. Dogs are allowed on this trail as long as they are under voice control. From the bay area, White Mountain is a drive of 7.5 hours, but for us on a Friday afternoon, it ended up taking more than 9 hours. The nearest town is Bishop (about 6.5 hours), and then it's another hour approximately from there. The last part of trip, White Mountain Road is unpaved (see below). Check the weather, the road had only opened the week before we hiked because of snow (this was July!). The road is rough in areas, I would recommend high clearance, 4 wheel drive only.