The first pictures are from the car as we were approaching the town of Lone Pine. Lone Pine is about 13 miles east of Whitney Portal and has numerous places to eat, shop, and stay. We had to buy our passes to drive up to Whitney Portal from the ranger station in the south end of town. Our trip organizer had already reserved passes to climb Mt. Whitney earlier in the year. The hike is one of the most popular climbs, so the number of hikers are limited per day through a lottery system (when leaving from Whitney Portal).
The following pictures are from Whitney Portal Rd as we drove to the portal. The portal has a family campground, backpacker campground (1st come 1st serve and where we stayed), and a stocked trout lake. All at 8,300+ feet. We got there before lunch, found a site, and set up our tents. We had to make sure all of our food was locked in bear lockers, not in our tents or cars, while we were away from camp. They had some pictures of cars with there windows broken out and bumpers torn off by bears looking for food. No bears while we were there :).
Mt. Whitney can be seen in the following two images. The peak is just to the right of the two sharp crags in the center. It may be hard to tell, but they are a good bit higher than the peaks in the foreground.
The area directly below the two crags, where the trees are more dense, is a couple of miles above the Whitney Portal. The portal sits along a fast flowing stream drains the lakes filled with snow melt.
A view as we climbed to the portal the town of Lone Pine is beyond the rock formations. To the right is some sort of salt flat I think. If we would have kept driving about 100 miles, we would have been in Death Valley (to the right in this picture).
Another view from the portal road. These are actually summer homes that we saw on our acclimatization hike on Saturday.
This was taken at about 10,000+ feet on the Mesylan Lakes trail on Saturday. The hike was about 10 miles round trip (to the second lake of three) and was a good trip to get used to the altitude.
This is a marmot.... kind of like a high mountain ground hog (what we have in the northeast). Surprisingly, they really don't worry too much about people.
One of the mountains above the second lake.
More peaks above the second lake. I think these can be seen in some of the pictures from the hike up Mt. Whitney. Whitney Portal is on the other side of the mountain that is directly to my right out of the picture.
Robins are so common back home, I just thought it was funny to see them at altitude.
So after finishing our hike Saturday around five, we cooked dinner and the tried to get some sleep. I should emphasize the word tried! With all of the excitement and nerves going about our hike the following day, it was tough to recharge during the three hours of sleep I was able to get. We rose from our sleeping bags around 1:15 am, packed up our gear and broke camp. Then hit the trail at 1:40 am.
It turned out that we picked a great weekend for a night hike. The full moon had just peaked the Thursday before so most of the time we were able to hike without head lamps. At first I was worried about being tired from the little sleep and the hike the day before, but I think the adrenaline was a great driving force for the day.
I reached the final camp site, Trial Camp, before making the climb to the top of Mt. Whitney around 5:00 am. Most people do the entire hike in two days, while staying at two different camp site locations on the way. I read on someone's blog about hiking Mt. Whitney, "... that there are some nutty people that hike it in one day...", well what can I say.
Seeing the sun rise over the Sierras was brilliant. The pictures don't do it justice. A few of these shots are a little blurred. Even with a good point and shoot, the wind and cold make it damn hard to get a sharp picture.
What was even more spectacular was hiking under the Moon and Jupiter. Again the pictures do not do justice. The light of the moon upon the mountains evoked an ethereal feeling that will be hard to match in my lifetime. This was pretty much the direction we hiked most of the morning.
Again, Mt. Whitney can't be seen in this one (it's to the right behind the closer rocks). The area at the top of snow and left most edge of the crags, is the point called trail crest. This is where the main trail crosses over to the western slope of these mountains. This follows the "97 switchbacks" that climb most of the way to the left of the snow, only crossing it near the top.
One of my favorite pictures. I wish I could have got some more details of the moon... oh well.
Here you can see Trail Camp a little better. If you zoom in, you may be able to see the tents to the right of the lake. This is also the last place to get water before making the summit climb.
As soon as the sun rose, the landscape changed dramatically. The rocks and boulders seem to fill with energy and the climb became a little more daunting.
So far in my life, there have been very few times that I was genuinely scared for my safety and wellbeing. I added a new moment to that list on this climb. By starting so early in the morning, most of the spray from snow melt was still in the form of ice. I learned this earlier in the morning after stepping on some, what looked to be, wet rocks above Trail Camp and having gravity promptly place me on my side. "Ok..." I thought, "those rocks aren't wet, they are icy."
Facing the icy rock stepping stones while making a long reach for the cables on this steep slope, was not so pleasant. It was rather frightening. After getting better footholds by kicking my heels into the snow, I was ok. So I followed up with a break and some pictures. The last few rocks were the worst. (Later in the day this is not a problem since the sun melts the ice and leaves only wet rocks)
This part of the trail was much nicer :).
This was taken after crossing the trail crest. From here you can see into Sequoia National Forest and the trail to Mt. Whitney leads behind the crags that are shown in the earlier pictures.
A view between one of the crags looking in the direction of our origin that day.
On top looking North I think.
On top looking towards Lone Pine in the distance and Whitney Portal where the road disappears into the trees.
Looking more South toward Death Valley (Lone Pine is to the left). I think the mountains from Saturday's hike can be seen in the right foreground, but I'm not entirely sure.
Same view, a little more South. The crags are now low in the foreground of this picture. Trail Camp is behind the smaller rock mound in the lower left center of the photo.
It is amazing how smooth the western slope is compared to the abrupt drop offs of eastern slope.
Need shelter? Not intended to be used in the case of lightening. Good luck!!!!
This was taken after the summit as I was heading back down. Again you can really see the contrast in the western and eastern slopes.
Western slope. If you zoom, you may be able to make out the trail.
Here you can see the John Muir trail as it ascends the western slope out of Sequoia National Forest. It is a popular stop over trip for the through hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. I met and chatted with a handful of those guys/girls. Good people. I gave one of them my chap stick since I was heading back to civilization soon.
Another shot on the way back. Guitar lake is on the right.
Some of the "97 switchbacks" I faced twice. They were easier when going down.
One of the lakes that I passed under the cover of darkness earlier in the day. Simply beautiful.
That's me at Lone Pine lake, about two miles above Whitney Portal. Thanks for taking the picture Christine.
After 22 miles 12,000+ feet of elevation change, numerous Cliff bars, and lots of water; I finished the hike in around 13 hours. Time went by surprisingly fast that day, exept the last three miles or so when my lower body started to complain. I wound up walking like an old man until at least Wednesday, but it was an experience of a lifetime and well worth the pain.
