White Mountain Traverse Info/beta?

Not really a climb, but wondering if anybody has done the White Mountain Traverse from Barcroft Station to Boundary Peak and has any info, topos, beta, advice, warnings to share.  Scant info on the web about it.  Buddy of mine and me got weirdly excited about it after hearing that crazy story on the Sharp End podcast about some guy getting his ass handed to him by a mega storm trying to solo it in winter (we are NOT trying to do it in the summer, thinking end of June).  Yes I did see this old forum post.

Thanks!

Sounds fun. 

Here is a nice trip report, using the way-back-when machine for pictures which are otherwise broken links;

https://web.archive.org/web/20200919225410/ drdirtbag.com/2020/06/03/wh…

Can't seem to figure out how to get the link to not get split up, but if you copy an paste it should work...

My coworker has done it, and I've been on white mountain and boundary peak though haven't connected them. I guess theres a couple of streams that run in that plateau/rolling hills up there. Let me know if you have specific questions and i can relay them to him. 

Also for full credit you need to start the hike in chalfant

I've done it. Did it end of July 2016. You planning on doing it in a day? What kind of beta do you want? Are you planning on staying as close to the ridge as possible or dropping beneath the ridge and skipping some of the named peaks?

The spring was flowing really well. It's your only water source for the entire traverse and is also at the lowest point of the traverse if sticking close to the ridge and tagging the named peaks (something like 11,000').

The ridge off White Mountain Peak has some exposed sections if sticking to the ridge. Like half foot in crack, grab top of rock and traverse 10' with 50 plus feet of air behind you before you hit anything type of exposure.

The rest of the way to the Jump Off is chill.

Then you lose something like 1000' and gain 1000' in the next mile just getting to Montgomery. If you stay as close to the ridge as possible you have to skirt around huge, loose rock formations in sand that at times is up to your knees. Think two steps forward, one step slowly sinking and sliding down the slope.

Ridge between Montgomery and Boundary is more chill. 

Then hike to Queen Mine and how someone is there to pick you up.

If you want more I can give plenty more.

Honestly, it was one of the coolest ridge traverses I've done (and really my first more serious one in terms of effort). Now I try to do a couple big backcountry traverses every year. I did it because my friend wanted to summit Boundary Peak and I suggested traversing just to make it more interesting. I had been considering it for some years before that. I just kinda looked at the 7 1/2 minute topos and decided it looked possible. Didn't have much more info than that. 

Use Caltopo for your mapping.

Thanks!  good stuff.  We are going to do it over a couple of days. Hoping two nights up there is doable with UL kits and packs, but wondering if that is unrealistic (SMC guides this at 4 nights, but that seemed padded with a fair amount of faffing around), though both my partner and I are pretty fast moving and have lots of endurance.  We'd like to stay on the ridge as much as possible.

Couple more questions/comments

• For the exposed section, sounds like probably just 4th class at most? 
• Where is the spring?  I assume between East Headley and Hogue? Are the only other water sources if you drop down off the ridge into the drainages? Seems like you'd have to carry a lot of water with you.
• The saddle between Jump Off and Montgomery sounds very fucked, expect that gaiters are definitely called for!
• Is there even a trail up from Chalfant? Piute Creek?
• Any thoughts on car shuttle? better to go around on US 6 via the CA side or NV 264?

2 days is chill, especially if sticking to the ridge. That's the way we did it. We didn't start hiking the first day till like noon and it still felt chill though a bit rushed at times. 

Only 4th class at most and none of that Sierra or Yosemite 4th class that feels a lot like 5th class.

The spring is between Headley and Hogue. Have to drop down some but not too much from the ridge. Looking at the map it's the Cabin Creek spring. The maps show others but we never saw any others close to the ridge. We carried whatever water you would need for a full day. Expect to make the spring the first day and keep hiking to dark. The 7 1/2 minute topos scanned into Caltopo show it as well as the others we never saw.

From the Jump Off down to the saddle, not fucked. From the saddle up to Montgomery, fucked. We didn't carry gaiters but had long pants on. 

I don't know about a trail from Chafalnt. But you can go up Jeffrey Mine Canyon. You can 4WD part of the way then hike to a miners camp called Black Eagle Camp. Volunteers keep up a few of the cabins up there and you can sleep in them. There is even a stocked kitchen. From there (I haven't done this part) there is supposed to be a way to continue to hike up the canyon, get on the ridge, and ride it all the way to White Mountain Peak. I've long intended to do it but haven't yet. It would be a hell of a way to start.

We had a car shuttle waiting for us at Queen Mine. The road up to the mine isn't exactly easy 4WD but it isn't that difficult. The tailings pile in front of the mine is big and flat and offers a good place to turn around. Otherwise, you can go another like 1 mile plus/minus up to a saddle that is big and flat but that section of road has a narrow hairpin turn and had a rut that seemed 1-2 feet deep winding through it. We got cell service on Montgomery and Boundary so could give or shuttle a time frame for meeting us. We drove along CA 6. The entrance to Queen Mine Canyon (if I remember correctly) is almost directly across from a water tank with JR painted on it. JR is for Janie's Ranch.

I could send some pics of some stuff if you want. Just email me: quin dot hodges at gmail

For the future reference benefit of the community, I did the WMT with a friend the last week of July in 2021, some thoughts:

This is a desolate, exposed, wind-swept, 30+ mile trudge almost entirely above 12,000 ft with only one water source, and two distinct 4th class ridgelines at the beginning and end, the latter one being a terrifying pile of choss towers.

Highly recommended if you hate yourself, or you need vengeance on your partner and want to sandbag them on a "hike".

3rd Class fun (wasn't fun doing it, not really fun talking about it, other people enjoy hearing about your misery).