Mount Whitney — Peak Field Guide No. 03

Swipe through Mount Whitney's high-Sierra profile: a 6,145 ft climb from Whitney Portal to the tallest summit in the contiguous United States, moving from sparse treeline forest into almost all-alpine granite. The five cards are a stylized field-guide infographic set, not a photo record of the route.

1. Peak identity — Mount Whitney sits on the boundary of Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest; the NPS lists the summit at 14,505 ft / 4,421 m, and Sequoia National Park was established on September 25, 1890. 1 2 SummitPost notes that Whitney has no glaciers, so this issue uses "0 active glaciers" rather than a glacier count. 3

2. Elevation profile — The standard Whitney Portal approach starts at 8,360 ft and reaches the 14,505 ft summit by way of the main Mount Whitney Trail; NPS gives the trail length as 10.7 miles one way from Whitney Portal, 13 miles west of Lone Pine. 1

3. Vegetation zones — NPS describes Sequoia and Kings Canyon vegetation as foothills, montane forest, subalpine forest, and alpine; its subalpine page places southern Sierra subalpine species at about 9,500–12,000 ft, and the alpine page says more than 48% of the parks lie above 10,000 ft. 4 5 6 Because the retrieved NPS pages do not publish park-wide percentages by vegetation zone, the card shows route-share by elevation gain for the Whitney Portal climb.

4. Wildlife & flora — High-country species shown in the grid come from NPS ecology pages: marmot, pika, Clark's nutcracker, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, whitebark pine, foxtail pine, and alpine plants such as sky pilot and buckwheat mats. 7 5 6

5. Field notes — Inyo National Forest describes the Whitney Trail as non-technical but strenuous when snow-free, usually snow-free from July to late September, with winter skills and equipment needed when snow or ice remains. The same page lists the Mount Whitney quota season as May 1–November 1, a $15/person reservation fee for lottery winners, and a 22-mile round trip that commonly takes 12–14 hours. 8 For the west-side national park entry context, Sequoia & Kings Canyon's standard vehicle pass is $35 for 1–7 days. 9