FAQ

Your body, acclimated to altitude. We recommend guests coming from lower elevations spend a couple of nights in the Owen’s Valley to adjust to the altitude. Going from sea level to 14,000 feet can be a doozy, and altitude sickness can ruin a trip. The Owen’s is a lovely place to spend a few days. We can recommend some great hotels and campsites, hikes and hot springs.

These trips require varying amounts of hiking, and guests should show up wearing properly broken-in hiking shoes, with comfortable clothing and equipment, and the ability to cover the distance specified in each trip description.

Gear

You can find a full list of recommended gear here.

Guests bring their own sleeping bag and sleeping pad, warm clothing, comfortable shoes, raingear, personal effects, and perhaps a nice bottle of whiskey, art supplies, or a good book. We will provide a tent upon request.

Each guest is allowed 30 pounds of personal gear, but can sometimes pay for an additional mule to bring in whatever equipment they prefer.  We've packed in inflatable kayaks and paddle boards, climbing equipment and guitars, countless bags of wine, camera equipment, art supplies, and sleeping cots. We're glamping!

Cottonwood Pack Station is located at the end of Horseshoe Meadows Road, 24 miles southwest of the town of Lone Pine, California. The drive from town to the station takes about 45 minutes -  the road is narrow and twisty, with incredible views.

You can find Cottonwood Pack Station on Google Maps here.

Check-in time for your trip is 7am, and most guests spend the night before in Lone Pine, or camping in the Alabama Hills just west of town.

The nearby towns of Bishop, Big Pine, and Independence also offer beautiful hikes, hot springs, campgrounds, and hotels. Many guests stay in Lone Pine the night after their trip - you'll likely be tired and in need of a hot shower.

• By Plane - The closest major Airports are in Los Angeles or San Diego in California, or Vegas or Reno in Nevada. All are 3-5 hours driving distance from Lone Pine. There are small airports in Mammoth and Bishop that provide limited flights from a few major airports.

• There is no easy public transportation from these airports to Lone Pine, or from Lone Pine to the Pack Station, but we offer guests the opportunity to coordinate travel with others on their trip through WhatsApp.

• By Car - in California, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are 3-7 hours from Lone Pine, and the drive entails some spectacular views of the Sierra. There is free parking at the Pack Station, but you must remove any food or scented items from your car before your trip, which we can store at the pack station until you return.

If you are coming from lower elevations, such as the coast, we strongly recommend that you spend a couple of nights in the Owen’s Valley, and go on some practice hikes, to adjust to the altitude. Going from sea level to 12,000 feet can be a doozy, and altitude sickness can ruin a trip.

The Wilderness isn’t designed for human comfort, and humans have spent much of the last 300,000 years creating a buffer between themselves and the wild. Trails are steep and rocky, the air is thin, it can be hot or cold, and wet, or windy. There are mosquitos, horseflies, sunburns, and blisters.

We have technology to be comfortable in the wilderness. Be that warm clothing, big tarps, hot cocoa, a thick fantasy novel, sunscreen, a hammock, or a comfy chair.

Guests should be prepared for cold nights, inclement weather, physical exertion, and the discomfort of breaking from routine and spending time in an unfamiliar environment.

We’ve rated trips by difficulty to help you to choose a trip that’s right for you. We have a lot of experience making people feel welcome in the wilderness, and I hope these trips will help you to be more confident in your ability to be comfortable in the outdoors.

Probably not. The wildernesses of the West have been engulfed in flames after 250 years of fire-suppression, decades of drought, tree die-off due to invasive bark beetles, and irresponsible fire use by the public.

There are often fire bans in effect in Parks and Forests, including a total ban on fires over 10,000 feet elevation. There is not enough plant matter in high alpine areas to provide wood for campfires. Even if fires are permitted, conditions such as intense wind may make fires unsafe.

There is a record breaking wildfire in California every summer. We keep tabs on any wildfires affecting the Sierra, and the arid, alpine nature of the Eastern Sierra is not an ideal setting for big wildfires, but we have been forced to cancel trips due to emergency Forest and Park closures. Sometimes we can move a trip to a different location, but please purchase travel insurance to protect your trip.

I love cooking over a campfire, and they add so much comfort and joy to a camp, but increasingly we must alter the way that we recreate to protect and preserve the wild lands that we love. When conditions are right and fires are permitted, we will talk with guests about fire safety, gather firewood as a group, and enjoy the ancient ritual of circling around a campfire.

Nope, and we strongly encourage guests to enjoy some time offline. Guests can bring a satellite phone or Garmin to check in with friends or family members via text or call, but it’s really nice to enjoy the wilderness and other people without interruption. Please don’t be the guy making work calls next to people enjoying the sunset, and doom scrolling is (unofficially) forbidden in the wilderness. Guides carry a Garmin device for emergencies.

We set up a latrine tent with a wooden seat over a big hole, and provide toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and a handwashing station. In some of the National Parks, we aren’t allowed to bury toilet paper, and instead deposit it into a sealed container to be packed out.

Usually the latrine is situated someplace scenic, so you can sit and do your business while taking in the view. It’s nice!

You can pee 100 feet from the water, anywhere a person wouldn’t like to sit or camp. If you use toilet paper when you pee, you can carry a ziplock bag for TP or use a pee cloth.

Going to the bathroom outside can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be unpleasant.

Most people find a dip in the creek or a lake, and a scrub with some sand or a bathing mitt, sufficient for staying clean. We recommend abstaining from body lotions or DEET if you plan on swimming or bathing in the wilderness. Soap is not permitted in natural water sources, but guests who would like to wash with soap can use a solar shower or a bucket of water with a cup for pouring. We recommend packing baby wipes, and whichever toiletries you prefer.

The wilderness is where bears live, we’re just visitors. There are lots of wild animals in the wilderness, the most frightening of which are mountain lions and bears. I have never seen a mountain lion in the Sierra, and I’ve mostly seen the backside of bears as they run away from me. Negative wildlife encounters are incredibly rare, and you are in more danger crossing a street in a city than you are in the wilderness.

Bears can be a menace, and I tend to think of them as large and annoying raccoons. We provide bear boxes and locking coolers to keep our food and any scented personal effects inaccessible to wildlife, and our cooks and packers are skilled in deterring curious critters. Many trips will include a camp dog, and our pups are excellent at bear patrol.

I love seeing animals in the wild, and if you’re lucky you might spot bears, deer, pika and marmots, birds and ground squirrels, snakes and butterflies. They have their own lives to live, and we are lucky to bear witness.

Yes, but you should filter it first. There are a lot of humans in the wilderness, and that means there’s a lot of poop. The lakes are full of sunscreen and bug spray, and I don’t trust any creek frequented by people. I provide a group filter in camp for clean water for the kitchen, and guests are welcome to refill it for drinking water. We suggest that guests bring their own water filters (Katadyn and Sawyer make good ones) so that they can filter water as needed.

Our most accessible trips are multi-day Basecamps a short distance from a Pack Station. The hardest part of any trip is transitions - packing and unpacking, settling in, and adjusting to a new routine. I strongly suggest trips of at least 5 days, with a solid 3 days in camp to acclimate and enjoy.

Pack mules allow us to get creative in providing comforts and mobility aids that may not otherwise be available in remote areas. We are happy to provide pack support to people of all abilities, and many of our guides have experience navigating the wilderness with a disability or compromised mobility. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Guides are certified in Wilderness First Aid and CPR, many are Wilderness First Responders, and all have experience in moving safely through the wilderness. Every camp is equipped with a Wilderness First Aid Kit and an emergency beacon.

All guests are required to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks involved in a pack trip. Injuries and emergency evacuations are uncommon, and guides are experienced in keeping guests safe, but your safety is your responsibility, and all wilderness ventures involve risk.

For your own safety, you should bring:

• Small first aid kit - band-aids, pain and allergy medications, prescription medications, alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, gauze, eye drops, tape or moleskin for blisters. There will be a first aid kit in camp but guests should be prepared to treat minor injuries on trail. People with severe allergies should carry an EpiPen and inform their guides as to where it's kept.

• Emergency beacon or satellite phone - guides carry a Garmin, but guests may prefer to carry their own emergency device for solo hikes, or to check in with family.

• Medical, Emergency, & Travel Insurance -

  • Medical insurance - if you are injured, medical insurance will help you to access affordable medical care. If you are uninsured or under-insured, you can purchase emergency or travel medical insurance.

  • Emergency medical insurance / air ambulance insurance - this can cover the cost of a helicopter evacuation in case of emergency, and in some cases, your medical costs once evacuated.

  • Travel insurance - wilderness trips are subject to cancellation due to extreme weather conditions, and the best laid plans can be ruined by a missed flight or illness. Travel insurance can protect your trip, your health, and your belongings.

  Insurance providers include: Global Rescue, Faye, AirMedCare, Seven Corners, Allainz

You are safer on a pack trip than you are driving to work or crossing a busy street in the city. Your guides will go over best practices for safety, and help you to gain confidence in navigating the wilderness.

Pack Trips:

Keeping mules alive is expensive, and pack trips are intrinsically costly. We have over 180 horses and mules at Rock Creek, and keeping them happy and healthy is a momentous undertaking. With permits, payroll, insurance, increasing grocery prices, kitchen equipment, packing equipment, hay and grain, the cost of operating is very high. The packing industry as a whole is struggling to stay afloat, and everyone is doing these trips out of love.

I’ll be offering some affordable trips with scholarship opportunities in 2026, sign up for our newsletter to hear about new trip offerings.

Cooking Services:

My rates start at $250/day, depending on group size, location, trip length, logistics, and menu. Grocery costs vary by menu, and are not included in my daily rate for cooking services.

Non-Profit Programs:

I offer discounted services for nonprofit programs, especially those serving young outdoorsfolks. If your mission statement aligns with my values, I am happy to negotiate rates that accommodate limited budgets.

Tipping is a huge part of the culture for Guide Services and one that I find really wholesome. I would rather have kind guests experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip than make an extra buck.

We mostly exchange money as is legally required. Tipping is one of the last bastions of human kindness and sovereignty in how we pay people. A good tip means that someone saw me, appreciated my work, and chose to pay me for it, and I think that's really sweet.

A good tip is 10-20% of the cost of your trip, or, for the group as a whole, $100-$200 per guide per day. Each day of a pack trip you go out to breakfast and dinner, you hire a bellhop to move your luggage, and an Uber to carry your stuff over a mountain pass. Guides are hospitality workers as well as wranglers and cooks, they work from dawn to dusk, often waking at midnight to manage the mules or pesky bears. It's a lot of work!

Which is to say, tip well if you can, and know that it’s ok if you cannot.

Regardless of when you cancel, if we fill your spot*, you will receive a refund of all fees paid less a deposit of $500.

*canceled spots are filled after the trip reaches full capacity

All cancellations must be made in writing. 

If we cannot fill your spot, the amount of your refund is based upon the cancellation date:

• Cancellation 90 days or more from trip start date: 100% refund of fees paid less $500 deposit. Deposit transferable up to 24 mos.

• Cancellation 60 days from trip start date: 50% refund of fees paid less $500 deposit. Deposit forfeit.

• Cancellation less than 30 days from trip start date: No refunds.

• Payments made for private trips that you arrange with us are not refundable, but may be transferable.

• We are not responsible for costs you incurred in preparation for your trip, including airfare, travel to and from the pack station, gear, insurance, or any other costs not charged by The Backcountry Cook and its partners. 

Please purchase Travel Insurance to protect your trip. Wilderness trips are subject to cancellation due to extreme weather conditions and other emergencies, and the best laid plans can be ruined by a missed flight or illness. Travel insurance can protect your trip, your health, and your belongings.

Insurance providers include: Global Rescue, Faye, Seven Corners, Allainz

You can view our Cancellation Policy and Terms & Conditions here.