After 5 years of planning, I am finally heading out to Mt. Whitney @ 3:00 am. For the past 6 months, I have been training for this moment. Our permit is for a one-day assent. This will involve over 6,100 feet of elevation gain, as well as 21.4 miles of hiking.
I have been in hard-core training for the past two months. I have summited Humphrey’s Peak 4 times, as well as doing other high altitude hiking in Flagstaff. We attempted to climb Humphrey’s Peak on the 24th, but had to head down the trail @ mile 6, when a rain/hail storm blew in. There’s nothing like being battered by hail when you are trying to get down a mountain. This also happened to me on the 12th when I hiked the Bear Jaw/Abineau trails. The rain and hail was so bad, I kept slipping and sliding on the sleek lava rocks while hiking down Abineau. By the time I reached my truck, I had been on the trails for 5.5 hours and I looked like I took a bath in mud.
I will be meeting my partner, Leo, @ the Lone Pine Camp Site. Bears are a big problem @ Whitney, so we will need to rent a bear canister for our food. I had to make sure that I grabbed all snack bars; I normally keep in the truck, and put them in my ice chest. Bears @ Whitney will actually destroy a car if they smell food. They are known for breaking into trunks and tearing out the back seats to reach food. In fact, if a bear is found by your vehicle and trying to break in, and you are not near, they will tow it. There have been quite a few bear’s shot, over the years, because a careless hiker left food in their vehicle, and the bear was creating a hazardous situation.
Saturday afternoon will be spent picking up the permits and setting up camp. The evening will just be spent relaxing. We plan on hiking up to the “Lone Pine Lake” on Sunday. This will include a 1,490 feet of elevation gain, and almost 6 miles of hiking.
We plan on beginning our hike @ 3 a.m. We know this will be a very long day, and may take 12-14 hours or more. The goal, of course, is to summit Whitney. At this time, there is snow and ice on a lot of the top parts of Whitney (from a late season storm). However, we understand from the rangers that the trails are clear.
Here is the trail mileage & elevation:
- Whitney Portal Trail Head starts @ 8,360 feet
- John Muir Wilderness Sign @ 8,500 feet (.5 miles)
- Lone Pine Lake @ 9,850 feet (2.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1,490 feet)
- Outpost Camp @ 10,365 feet (3.5 miles with an elevation gain of 2,005 ft)
- Mirror Lake @ 10,640 feet (4.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 2,280 ft)
- Trailside Meadow @ 11,395 feet (5.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 3,035 ft)
- Trail Camp @ 12,000 feet (6.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 3,640 ft)
- Trail Crest @ 13,777 feet (8.2 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,417 ft)
- John Muir Trail @ 13,480 feet—yup we climb down some (8.7 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,120 ft)
- Mount Muir @ 14,015 feet (9.0 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,655 feet)
- Keeler Needle @ 14,000 feet (10.2 miles w/an elevation gain of 5,640 ft)
- Mt. Whitney Summit @ 14,494 feet (10.7 miles w/an elevation gain of 6,134 ft)
WHEW----NOW WE GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, BUT CLIMBING DOWN
My good friend, Cherie who would have climbed Whitney @ midnight to be able to view the sunrise wants to meet us for dinner Monday night. Geez, I am not even sure I will be able to walk after all that, let alone have an appetite. I guess we’ll just have to see.
Tuesday morning will be spent relaxing and I plan on having one of the “Whitney Portal Store & Restaurant” famous big pancakes for breakfast. We will head out sometime on Tuesday.
