Day Hike to Mt. Langley

I started my hike to the top of Mt. Langley at 3:30a.m. while it was dark.  It is a 23 miles out and back.  It is 14,042 ft. At 14,042 feet, Mount Langley is the ninth-tallest peak in California and is generally considered one of the state’s easier fourteeners to climb. The most popular approach, via the Cottonwood Lakes Trail through New Army Pass, offers Class 1 hiking to the summit and meanders past lush alpine lakes, streams, and meadows.  Langley is considered an “easy 14er” (though still a bit tougher than Whitney) and the trail to the top is more tiring than technically challenging. 

While starting my hike in the dark, I was debating whether it was a good idea or not to go alone.  Putting my fears aside, I ended up keep going forward.  For a couple of hours I hiked in the dark. Along the way, I met couple of hikers on the trail.  We conversed for a while and kept going up.  After hiking for more than five hours, I reached the summit.  I reached the summit around 2p.m.  By the time, I got to the summit, not a single person was at the summit.  I stayed on the summit till 3p.m.  By the time, I started descending down, I saw dark clouds rolling in.  I knew the storm was coming.  Instead of hiking down, I ended up running down the trail as fast as I could to the tree line before getting hit by lightning.  Thankfully, I was able to reach the tree line on time and from there, I safely hiked down back to my car.  The hike was amazing, but intense for my level of ability.