It’s almost 5pm and I’m in my tent, in my quilt, and can barely hold this phone to type this up. Holy cow, I’m spent! But.. I SUMMITED MOUNT WHITNEY! (For the second time lol) The tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, coming in at a whopping 14,481 feet!
I slept really well and got up at 6 to get ready. I had already decided I didn’t want to do a sunrise hike, simply because it’s been so dang cold! So, at 6am I got up. I had to take the essentials with me: pack, rain gear, microspikes, TP, wallet, headlamp just in case, food, water and water filter. Everything else I shoved into my pack liner bag and set it on top of my sleeping pad, scootched it all to the center of my tent, then finally propped my umbrella up to cover it.
It sounds excessive, but I knew I’d be gone all day, and I wanted my stuff protected from anything that could happen while I was gone. I then took out my trekking poles while keeping everything else staked tight, tucked the ends and put a rock on each side-hopefully to protect everything inside from rain, wind, critters.. I was nervous leaving it all, that’s for sure.
I was hiking by 6:30 and the first 3 miles weren’t terrible. They were up and down and around water sources, creeks and snowmelt streams.. many flooding the trail. I sat and filtered water at Guitar Lake inlet stream, the last official water source listed, although there was plenty more for the next mile. It was cold, the trail was shaded from the sun because of Mount Whitney looming overhead, AND those little streams all over trail were half frozen and so very slick.
I fell once, on my right hip and jammed my left hand. It hurt at the time but I honestly forgot about it until just now. I was actually quite happy to reach the dreaded rock switchbacks everyone hates-simply because that meant the meadow of mushy and icy streams were over. I trudged along, taking my sweet time, sucking in air like an asthmatic. At one point I thought I could hear myself wheezing. Good stuff. Just. Keep. Moving.
I passed some trail maintenance workers, I will forever be impressed with any trail maintenance crew-but these guys were moving boulders, digging out rocks to make the trail even, all kinds of stuff, but they were doing it at like 13,000 feet! My goodness it was astonishing. Here I was barely able to breathe and take a step and they’re BUILDING actual steps like it’s nothing. Whew.
About half a mile from the junction to the Whitney Portal (where people can come in on a day hike or JMT hikers can leave out of), I saw the couple from Canada I met the other night with Miles. They did sunrise and were already heading back down! They were going to take a nap and consider hiking out this afternoon.
From the junction, the summit is 2 miles more. Now that I was on the trail with day hikers, I was actually passing folks left and right. Some of them worried me, looking like they were seconds from keeling over. Somewhere in the middle of that 2 mile section, I crossed paths with CliffJumper! He was coming down, but somehow we summited on the same day! I was happy to see him, we hugged and talked a bit.. then I sadly had to keep climbing.
The last chunk of trail had snow on it, so people had made rock cairns marking an easier way to rock scramble to the top around the snow. I purposefully didn’t touch even the tiniest bit of that white stuff. When I finally made it to the top, it was only a few minutes before noon. I was pooped! But honestly, I was also proud. I knew it would take me awhile, especially with the altitude getting to me more than it usually does, but 5.5 hours was better than I thought I’d do!
I took pictures and signed the log book. I tried to get service to call mom.. and it said I had service, but nothing was coming in or going out. I probably needed to just give it some more time, but I could see smoke and clouds rolling in and that scared me. I didn’t not want to get caught up here in bad weather. Plus, my head was starting to hurt, which isn’t a great sign at high altitudes. So, I started heading back down.
I checked in with mom on the garmin, so she wouldn’t be waiting for the phone to ring. I had so been wanting to hear her voice. I also checked in with Andrea, because as I was coming down the switchbacks, the smoke was coming in thick and it was getting hard to breathe. I had to use my headband to cover my nose and mouth. She was able to find out that it’s from a contained fire in the Sequoia National Park (the one I’m in) and she even called the wilderness office to verify that I’d be safe camping tonight. God I love her so much.
As I came down I stopped and talked with any and everyone I passed. Many hikers were headed to Guitar Lake to camp and then summit Whitney tomorrow. One lady, Pat, gave me her number and said to let her know if I ever need any help getting to and from trail.. she lives in LA and would be happy to help me, even if it’s somewhere to stay overnight or something! The crazy thing is, I’m flying in and out of LA for my sister’s wedding! Talk about the trail providing!
I eventually filtered more water and got back to my tent. I got my poles in and retightened it all down. I unpacked and I’m laying here, in and out of the sun (I wish it would just stay right on my tent and warm me up like an oven). I’m so tired I think I might cook and eat dinner now just so I can go to bed.. otherwise I won’t eat. Tomorrow, I’m going to try to get up early and be on trail by 6, so I can get to Lone Pine as early as possible tomorrow afternoon. I have 20 miles but I’m praying they won’t feel like the last few days since the elevation gain and loss is much lower.
Ok, that’s all for today. Goodnight y’all.