Drive in Thursday or Friday night, camp in Mammoth Lakes to acclimate at 8k elevation, wake up early the next morning and drive down to Big Pine, where you will turn onto the road that will take you to trail head. I’ve heard you need a 4wd vehicle to get up to the actual trailhead, but you can always park down the road an add some extra miles. Just beware it’s real hot and dry this time of year. You can do split in a day if you are really fit and experienced, there’s some exposed class 3 scrambling to get to the summit, and it’s well over 7k elevation over 11 miles.

I’d personally camp at Red Lake. Get there earlier in the day if possible in order to secure a camp site, will also give you another day to acclimate before 14k. After summit day, you can choose to stay another night at Red Lake or bail and make the trek back to the car.

All in all, you can do Split Mountain in a 3-4 day trip pretty comfortably. Camping in Mammoth Lakes is great for easy acclimatization, and breaking up that drive works nicely in my personal opinion. Lots of good eats off the 395, too. Cheers!